Stumped on What To Pack? What To Take To College Can Help
Friday, July 16, 2010 by Sean Quinn 
One small step for student. One giant leap for freedom. Photo courtesy of Flickr user dvortygirl. Licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0.I'm hardly an expert on packing for college. In fact, I'm quite the opposite. If it's a weekend trip or quick getaway, I've got it covered. Weeklong endeavors with the family? No sweat. But living on your own is a daunting endeavor. Thankfully, the weeks-long process and otherwise inevitable arguments with parents can be avoided. Enter What To Take To College.
Now, the site didn't exactly the get the Web 2.0 naming memo like Twitter or Tumblr, but its interface embodies the principles of simplicity and smart design that has becoming the new meme in web design. It tells incoming students what is "recommended" and what is "optional", breaks those items into categories like "School Supplies" and "Hygiene and Beauty", and provides links to Amazon for those items - be it a laptop or a desk lamp (And this is a good time as ever to use Amazon - check out Mike's post on Amazon Student for more details).
What To Take To College is all-inclusive. Frankly, it's probably a bit excessive in some areas and completely lacking in others. For example, I see no logical reason to bring your high school yearbook (granted, it is listed as optional) but silverware and non-disposable plates aren't listed in "Kitchen Essentials". Most guys won't need makeup or ponytail holders, either.
What To Take to College is not meant to be your final college packing list, though. It's a place to start, to figure out what you currently own and what you need to buy, and it is ideal as a place to begin discussions on packing with the parental units.
Do you remember your first time packing for college? What'd you do right, and what'd you do wrong? Leave it in the comments or hit us up with your first-time packing experiences on Twitter.
Reader Comments (10)
I feel like, since girls make up 60% of most liberal arts schools, you can give us ponytail holders and makeup as common items. :p
Ah, this site is going to be so helpful. Last year I forgot to pack so many things. Luckily my home is less than an hour away from where I go to school, so it wasn't too much of a hassle taking a quick trip home to retrive the forgotten items.
Sending first kid off to college next month and this is super helpful! As is your entire site, actually.
Wondering from others' experience: saw bed risers on the list - are they really good to have? Aren't they only like 4" or something? Do you really gain that much storage and would you guys say yay or nay to them? I'm not even sure/can't remember from our tour, I think that both beds in the double room can be low or high/loft, but I'm not positive.
If you can't purchase what you want in the college town, you don't need it.
Thanks for the comments! I hope it proves helpful.
@Emily: No objections to that at all. I'm just noting that the list is more suggestions than anything else, and not all items are applicable to every single incoming freshman or returning student.
@Dan: Glad to hear it. I think it's important to realize, that regardless of the distance, forgetting one or two things isn't the end of the world and they could always be obtained or re-bought, if necessary.
@Stacy: Awesome! For me, I plead the fifth - bed risers are actually banned in the residence hall I'm moving into (much to the chagrin of my roommate) so I've got no info on that.
@hardcases: I think that's mostly true, but some things - usually that of sentimental value are better brought from home. I think most students want to have a good number of their supplies - at least their essentials - coming from home, with some supplemental items - a vacuum was the example a fellow editor gave to me - able to be bought in the town.
This reminds me of The toy Story..when the kid has to think hard which are for college and which one is trash.
Hey everyone, I'm the guy behind the site.
I'm glad to see that people are finding the list helpful and thanks for the blog post Sean!
Dan O'Connor
Eric: I was just speaking to a fellow incoming freshman about the same thing! It is very life-or-death to a sense or a variety of items.
Dan: Thanks for your site, it's been invaluable, and it was a pleasure!
Dan, Wish we would have had the list a couple of years ago when the oldest went off to college. Might want to add a kitchen towel to dry dishes and glasses. Pictures of the family. And notes from mom (or dad) on how to separate the laundry, instructions for who to call when there is a need to go to the ER. Don't forget to give your folks your roommate's cell number and roommate's parent's phone number and vice versa. Never thought we would need them and then we did because of an emergency. Thanks again. A Mom
On Bed risers - They aren't all that useful. Nearly all colleges have identical furniture. It can be lifted to the highest loft which is comfortable for sitting/sleeping/studying but you can still slide a footlocker or those large Rubbermaid bins underneath.
I had 5 large Rubbermaid bins, a footlocker, a laundry basket, guitarcase and a crate full of engineering textbooks comfortably under my dorm bed. My bed surface was about 3 and a half feet off the floor and the bottom of the bedrails was about 2 and a half feet off the floor.