After graduating high school and being Mr. Billy Badass with your
sweet car, you might be urged to bring your car to college with you
for freshman year. But if you think about it, you really don’t need
a car for your first year (if you live in the dorms). Living in the dorms
simplifies every student’s life to the max (which is probably why
they encourage it for your first year). You don’t have to take time to
cook food because you eat on campus, you can wake up five minutes
before class and still be on time and best of all, you don’t have to
drive to school in the morning! If you want to go somewhere off campus,
there will most likely be someone else in the dorms who has a car
and has everyone bumming rides off of. So you might as well bum a
ride of this person too. With gas prices rising, this should really
be a no-brainer, leave that sweet ride at home for your first year.

So you’re about to move into your dorm room, but you need to figure out what to bring? Well guess what, I’ve got the top 8 things you MUST have in your dorm room to survive your first year of your college career. Check it out.

1. Mattress pad

This is one thing you probably won’t think of right away just because you’re used to sleeping in your comfy bed at home at good ‘ol Mom and Dad’s house right? Well guess what, the beds in your dorm rooms are most likely old and certainly not new. My dorm room bed felt like the springs were poking through the sheets. So definitely get a mattress pad of some-kind, your back will thank you in the morning.

2. Shower caddy

You probably haven’t thought about taking showers in the dorms yet, but guess what… most dorms have showers that aren’t connected to your room. So you need to have something to carry all your soaps, shampoos and whatever else it is you use to keep your body clean to the bathroom without making several trips and dropping things along the way.

3. Fan

Unless you’re going to school in Alaska, you’re going to want to bring a
fan for your dorm. Most dorms don’t have air conditioning because the Chair
person for campus housing is most likely a Nazi. So you’re going to want
to have some way of keeping cool or at least keeping the stale air and
funky smells your roommate puts out, out of the way.

4. Slippers

If you don’t mind getting foot fungus from the showers, just leave these
at home. Otherwise bring some slippers to keep your feet clean when
you go to the bathroom.

5. Laptop

Is there even an explanation why this is important to bring. I mean, sure
there are free labs on campus that you can use to check your email and
stuff, but how else are you supposed to check your Facebook account
every 10 minutes and of course check StuVu for the latest on your favorite
colleges.

6. Bedsheets

Unless you’re going to school in Miami or something, you should probably
bring bedsheets to keep warm. Or at least have some privacy if you have
some ‘guests’ sleeping over.

7. Alarm clock

If you’re like me, and you’re an absolute zombie when it comes to waking
up early for those morning classes, you should probably invest in an
alarm clock.

8. Storage containers

This is a big one. Most dorms don’t have a whole lot of room to store your
stuff. Buying some plastic storage containers that can go under your bed
or in your closet are awesome.

So you’ve finally chosen which college you want to go to and now you have to choose which dorm to live in. Usually there’s a bunch of options for dorm styles ranging from community living to field of study-related dorms. The people you meet in the dorms could very well become the people you hang out with for the rest of your college career, so choose carefully. This is just a list of popular dorm styles and what you should know about them.

The All Freshman Dorms

At school’s that offer dorms to students beyond freshman year, they often have some dorms designated to just first year college students. This can be cool because you will be living with people who are in the same boat as you (brand new to the college experience). You will probably be dealing and struggling with a lot of the same issues as your dorm mates like tough classes, getting lost on campus and adjusting to the independent college lifestyle in general.

Dorms divided by college of major

Some schools have dorms designated for students who wish to live with people from their same college or field of study. This can be beneficial because you will most likely share classes with people you live with, which could help when having trouble in certain classes. You can also build relationships with people you will most likely share classes with for your entire college career. Lastly, you will most likely have similar interests with people who chose the same major as you did.

Independent or Community Living

These dorms are for students who feel that they want to live a more independent lifestyle on campus. This means that the dorm is more like an apartment, where there is a kitchen and the flat is usually shared with 3 other students. The kitchen allows the students to cook their own food rather than rely on a meal plan. These living situations are usually a little less social than the standard dorms, but offer the student with more privacy and a shower that can be shared with fewer people rather than everyone on the entire floor.

No matter which dorm style you choose, keep in mind that this is an important choice and you’ll be living in these dorms for at least one year. Don’t wait too long as many times dorm choices are on a first come first serve basis, so act fast.

Most people have heard of the dreaded freshmen fifteen and how easy it can be to gain weight during the first year of college. One thing is for sure, and that is that it can happen very easily. But it can also be prevented with a few simple changes in lifestyle.

One major factor in the gaining of weight is the diet that is available to the average first year student living in the dorms. Generally speaking, dorm food is a buffet style all-you-can eat marathon. Which doesn’t necessarily mean you actually have to eat ALL that you can. The other factor is that when eating with your dorm friends every day, you tend to take your time and hang around the food for longer than normal which leads to eating more than you normally would. A certain amount of self control is needs to be obtained to stay in shape.

The other major factor in gaining weight is the lack of exercise. If your school has a gym, by all means take advantage of it. People pay a lot of money in the “real world” for gym membership, and yours is included in your tuition. A lot of recreation centers have free classes such as yoga or kick-boxing that you can get into. You can also get into an intramural sport or take a physical education class that will force you to exercise. If you’re not the kind of person that will be self motivated to go to the gym, you should definitely find a friend to exercise with, that way you can push each other to stay active and healthy. The key is finding a form of exercise that you enjoy doing, that way it doesn’t feel like you’re doing a chore to exercise.