My older child is in college already and it’s a plane ride (or long 2-day drive). It worked well to stuff bed linens, towels, and comforter into a big Ikea bag and check it for flight. That’s because it gave us time to buy the stuff, unwrap all of it, and wash it before they used it the first time. We also went very minimalist–few decorations except for some photos in frames that I hand-carried on flight, no big shelving unit, etc. I pre-ordered things like hangers+ mattress topper at Bed, Bath, Beyond (are they still around?) and had them ready for pick-up the day we arrived. We didn’t ship anything ourselves.
Also had heard that it was a good idea to keep your stuff in hotel room or at least out of sight in car, until you are ready for move-in. We moved everything into the hotel room, so it was chaos for a night.
Just adding a friendly reminder: deciding that you are committing to a school, posting about it on instagram, buying the sweatshirt, picking a roommate, making all the plans is NOT (apparently) the same thing as actually going in and MAKING THE DEPOSIT and saying yes. We were so wrapped up in the “hooray the decision is perfect for you!” energy that no one in our family actually paid anything. Happy as can be in our post-decision bliss…I think my husband and I both assumed the other had done it or something. (To be fair, we are living in different cities at the moment due to my schooling and we have 4 kids whose lives we are juggling.). ANYWAY, luckily it came up randomly today that she hadn’t paid anything to anyone so we got it in under the wire. Phew! Don’t be us! Don’t forget to say yes! Can you imagine what a debacle that would have been? (funnily, I did email her a few days ago to remind her to say NO to the other schools…). I need summer I think. :). (who am I kidding …I have the final two kids applying to college this upcoming round…). I’m so glad to read all the final results!
There’s no more Bed, Bath and Beyond but you can order from Target online and have it shipped to your store of choice.
We are flying to D24’s college for move-in, as it’s about a 22 hour drive. We’re planning to buy bedding and towels before we leave so they can be washed at home and pack them in a duffle to bring on plane. Other than clothes, personal items and electronics, we’ll buy everything else at Target near her college. I might look into ordering online and picking up locally. Things we miss can be purchased from Amazon. I’m sure we’ll end up having 6 pieces of luggage between then 3 of us - bedding, clothing, shoes, and some small and packable room decor items. I’m trying to get my maximalist kid to think like a minimalist, wish me luck. She loves clothes and knows she needs to pare down and bring only what fits in a few duffle bags. We have thought about shipping her bike but haven’t made a decision on that one yet.
We will also be sending S24 across the country. From CA to Maryland. Our plan is take clothes, shoes, electronics, towels, bedding ,first aid kit, medications from California. Plan is to take this in checked luggage with us.
There is a Ikea 5 minutes from UMD so plan is to buy any small furniture, baskets and other items needed at Ikea.
Another thing I am thinking about is we have family who lives 2 hours from UMD so I may ship stuff via amazon to their house so that we can pick the items and then drop the stuff at his dorm. This is our first kid going to college and I am not at sure what all we need to take to a dorm. I need to start making a list.
A man after my own heart
Rumor has it there was a rare second cocktail on a weekday, and that a full dropper of absinthe worked out just fine.
Two full droppers feels like it might be excessive, but there is only one way to know for sure . . . .
we are on East Coast and daughter is at UW in Seattle. We brought two suitcases on plane- sheets, 1 towel, minimal toiletries, medicines, and clothes. Everything else was shipped or done in a big target run. It was actually better to have her move in and then ship what she needed. Thus, she did not get more than she required- which helped with move out and storing over the summer.
S is declining offers right now. For some of them, he also needs to send a personal e-mail to a horn teacher, so I imagine it will take a lot longer than it should. As far as we can tell, Amherst hasn’t announced orientation dates yet for this year, so my plans to look at hotels today have been thwarted!
I’m impressed you haven’t gone to the 23-24 orientation schedule and compared dates with the start of classes for the 24-25 school year to back into when orientation most likely will take place. You haven’t succumbed to compulsive research and logistics over-planning (like some of us, lol).
oh, I’ve definitely done that! But I’m not confident enough to book a hotel room based on it. Although I guess as long as it’s refundable…
EA versus ED!
(Edit: I actually really don’t like making even non-refundable reservations unless I at least believe at the time I want the reservation. I am not at all saying it is bad to do that sometimes, I just don’t like doing it myself. And I tend to think between AirBnB and such, there is usually a way.)
Sounds about right!
Re: cocktails, it turns out that kids getting into and committing to college does not magically remove the desire for a martini.
My in-laws live in NH; last night my FIL suggested that we could leave stuff with them when we visit this summer (we already had a road trip planned that involves visiting them) and then they could bring it to Amherst for him. I had figured we’d drive him up (it’s around 1000 miles), but that makes flying a more intriguing possibility. So I guess I get to look into flights, too (which is not as much fun as hotels)
For all those trying to figure out how to get stuff to school, here’s what we did with D23. She’s in school in Texas and we live in the PNW.
The infamous ikea bags are great, be careful you don’t overfill but they fit a lot and you can check them.
Amazon Prime. D23’s school lets the kids start shipping a few weeks before they move in. We kept a list going all summer and just hit purchase when the mailroom opened. It was all waiting for her when we got there in August.
Target run.
The bigger issue has been moving out! She doesn’t have a car, she did get a storage unit with some friends but I have only minimal faith that she’s going to get it well situated without a panic at the last minute. I guess we’ll see!
If nothing else, this board reminds me that I am not the only one doing exactly this. It’s all helpful research, right? It’s all just information gathering, right??? 
That’s crazy that the card took that long to arrive! St Olaf is not dominated by pre-law. The sciences are strong and some of those students go on to med school, but I don’t feel like pre-med dominates the school’s culture. If anything, the culture is dominated by music.
The school has an amazing study abroad program. Students involved in music ensembles have special international trips supported by an endowed fund to cover the travel costs for all members. Last year they went to Japan. You can read more about it here: St. Olaf Band will travel to Japan in first cost-free international tour for students – St. Olaf College
yeah, he definitely didn’t get that overwhelmingly pre-professional vibe at St. Olaf like he did at Emory; I just thought it was funny that he happened to get a postcard written by that particular student! And he knows about the international tours–that was one of the big things he liked about St. Olaf–sounds like an amazing opportunity! Ultimately he had two schools he really, really liked, which was a great position to be in.