3 Ways To Master The College Drop Off

It’s here – time to trundle your precious child off to college!  I successfully delivered 3 freshman over 5 years. Those experiences combined with lessons learned from clients informed all of the advice in this post. The College Drop Off is a time of big feelings, physical exertions and organized chaos. It pays to be as organized as possible heading into the big event. This post covers my 3 biggest pieces of wisdom as you launch the child who, mere moments ago, was headed off to Kindergarten(!)  Hopefully it will make the ride on the emotional roller-coaster a little less bumpy.

Before I get to the 3 ways to a smooth drop off experience a quick disclaimer: your experience will be very different moving a boy in vs a girl.  I have both and it was like night and day.  In most cases a boy will need/want 50% less of everything I’m going to talk about here. Nor will he have big opinions about decor.  When I moved my son in we stopped at 3 stores for the shopping. The actual move-in took about an hour. The post-game analysis was that he didn’t use any of the additional items I thought would be nice to have (e.g. folding gaming chair!)  When I moved my first daughter in it took two days, multiple store trips and hours of furniture assembly. Not kidding. True story. 

Regardless of the gender of your darling, here are 3 guaranteed ways to make your college drop off easier!

Research The Room

The first thing I advise doing before you shop for the college drop off is try to get a visual of the dorm room. This is way easier to do than you’d think. First resource is the college’s website – many offer 3D tours of the rooms in each dorm.  Some even have a feature that allows you to take measurements of the dresser, closet, bed height, etc.  This is VERY helpful to have when you are planning your shopping trip!  If your kid’s school does not have visuals on their site I recommend looking on YouTube for room tours that various students put up. You are almost sure to find not only your school but your kid’s actual dorm and can see how students have set it up.  Most of the time they even walk you through why they set up the way they did.

For my middle’s move-in we bought the exact products from Target and Ikea that were in the dorm tour we found. It eliminated all of the time we would have spent trying to optimize. (Which was good because we spent that time assembling drawer units instead!) Getting the room visual up front will also save you money and unnecessary trips back to the store for things you missed or to return what wouldn’t fit.  If you really want a slam dunk you could purchase a DIY plan from a Professional Organizer. Most organizers offer one and if you have a good visual and measurements you can cut your move-in time in half!

Have A Shopping Strategy

If you don’t have a shopping list for the college drop off yet you can download my College Essentials Checklist.  Once you’ve done your room research and have a list of essentials you are ready to shop.  Where and how you shop depends on whether you are driving your student to move in or flying.  If you are driving I recommend doing your shopping before you leave and packing up your car Tetris-style. It will streamline your arrival and enable you to pull up to the dorm like a boss at your assigned time.

If your incoming freshman is going to school in a state that requires a plane flight I recommend the following. Identify the stores closest to campus (Target, Ikea, The Container Store all have a lot of what you need) and shop online before you arrive.  Most stores will hold your purchases for several days before you pick them up. However, it is a good idea to check first to see how long they will keep your items before they refund you and return them to stock.  The number of days varies by store (and sometimes by location) so it’s smart to get that info so your stuff is actually there when you show up.

Here’s an inventory of my favorite storage essentials in my Amazon shop. They work in almost all room sizes and configurations. In most cases the place you will be able to squeeze in the most extra storage is under the bed that is at chest height to accommodate drawer units.

Clutter Prevention

Dorm shopping trips tend to explode into carts full of stuff your student will never use if you aren’t careful. The offender is what I call the ‘amenities’ category.  These are things that in theory should make the room comfortable, more like home.  Except the kid isn’t at home, and this isn’t a studio apartment it’s a dorm room.  It’s not supposed to be like home.

The three amenities your child is most likely to use and appreciate in their freshman dorm are a mini fridge (drinks), a microwave (leftover take out) and a coffee maker (IF your kid likes coffee). Any other appliances are extraneous and unnecessary.  Avoid any extra furniture.  Your kid will study, eat, sleep and hang out on their bed – it’s really all they need. 

So go nuts buying things to make the bed comfortable but stay away from extra chairs, futons, etc.  I recommend a lean approach to dorm room amenities for the college drop off. Here’s why: Amazon will deliver should the need arise for something that you didn’t deem ‘essential’ during the shopping trips. Let them order what they need (if they need it) later. That way you will avoid a bunch of clutter coming home with them when the school year is over. Trust me, I’ve seen this happen with multiple clients. All the ‘just in case’ things their parents purchased at move-in never get touched. Let them go nuts decorating the walls if they want, but don’t buy a bunch of stuff they’ll likely never use!

So there you have it.  If you get a dorm room visual ahead of time, plan your shopping accordingly based on whether you are flying or driving to school and keep the amenities to a minimum you are setting yourself up for a smooth transition from parent-of-a-teenager to parent-of-a-college-student.  I wish you well on your journey!