I know some of us have been through this process at least once (such as myself, MsMary, and Aliantha) - I thought we could toss advice at Menolly - things we wish we had known beforehand.
For me:
* the dorm room mattress might not be the size of the mattress you have at home! technically they are both twin, but the dorm my older son lived in had these hugely long matresses that needed special sheets! (so much for saving a bit of money and having him take sheets from home!
)* your kid will only need about half of what you/he packs! the second year my kid took only about half of what he had the first year, and he had a lot more room and was much happier! weed through the packing mercilessly!
* the exception to the above is towels! if your kid packs two, throw in an extra. if your kid packs three, throw in an extra, if your kid packs four - well, you get the idea
* crocs make great shower shoes, and yeah - if your child shares public showers with other students, you will want him to have shower shoes to avoid shared skin infections!
anyone else have any pointers?
Also, there were no meal plan options -- it was every meal, all-you-can-eat, for everybody. But meal plan choice is one thing that gets sacrificed when the undergrad student body numbers less than a thousand....
)
The food there is notoriously awful, so I expect him home for pantry raids regularly.