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A fridge is essential, bring lots of bottled water for move in day
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I think it's cheaper to just use the water fountain? If you get into Brown or the IRC, there'll be communal kitchens so you can get by without a personal fridge. (The only issue is people sometimes steal food -- but this can be avoided by clearly marking your stuff.) Make use of that expensive dining plan to get free ingredients for a midnight snack before you leave. You can make fantastic 10-minute curry using stuff from the O-Hill salad bar...(well you have to get your own powder of course but it's really cheap).
Transportation -- in addition to the UTS system, there's the CTS system which takes you downtown, and up Emmet / 29 into Barracks' supermarkets and big box stores. And when you get sick of dining hall food, there's an Asian market right after Barracks, and an Indian store across the corner from Fashion Square. Please don't get ripped off by Crossroads. They love to price-gouge students.
Oh SafeRide. I use this a lot. Sometimes if it's 11:30 and I'm far from my dorm I'll wait until midnight intentionally rather than take the bus because SafeRide brings you right to your door. They start service after midnight and end on 6 am on Sundays to Thursday nights (when I say Sunday night, it's really more like Monday morning but you get what I mean). And to prevent people using them as party transport service, they only start service after 2 am on Friday and Saturday nights. They'll eagerly transport you HOME from a party though.
A lot of parties held at apartments on JPA or the 14th St area will last longer than 2 am. So if you find yourself without bus service, and you're willing to wait 10-15 minutes (about the time it takes for a cab anyway), you don't have to waste money -- SafeRide will take you home for free.
Undergrad opportunities -- while you're looking for classes, if you're looking to get into research early, you can start looking for profs you'd like to work under, even if you won't be in their class. Start the search now
and you could be doing exciting stuff early on! A lot of profs like to talk about their research, especially to curious and impressionable young first-years.
CavLink -- if you haven't heard of this and you're looking for a student job or volunteer opportunities, check this out right now!
Avoiding markups -- the Bookstore and other official vendors will rip you off on mini fridges and box fans. For these items, please buy elsewhere (like CVS).