what to bring and not to bring to college

With everything else in the globe happening correct now, higher packing hacks are probably not your superlative concern on your Back-to-School: Corona Edition priority list. But with UVA confirming its plans to bring students dorsum on Grounds this week, packing for college is withal a very real thing. Figuring out what to bring to higher and what to get out at home for the first time is stressful enough without adding the uncertainty of existence sent home at whatsoever minute. In hopes of making your packing feel as stress-free as possible, we asked real UVA students what they're glad they brought, wish they brought, and regretted bringing to their starting time year of college.

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DO BRING:

• Multiple reusable masks. UVA gives offset years 2 masks, but seeing that you have to habiliment them basically everywhere except for your room and you lot're technically supposed to wash them after each use, you're gonna need more than that. At that place'southward no such thing equally bringing too many masks.

• School supplies from home instead of buying the overpriced notebooks from the bookstore

• An extra long telephone charger that reaches your bed from the inevitably awkwardly placed electrical socket.

• Extra storage. Dorm rooms are small and don't come with a lot of storage space, so information technology'southward helpful to bring extra storage units that yous tin stack (have reward of vertical space!) However, the rooms are only so big and there does come up a point that more storage just takes upward more space that you don't accept.

• First aid kits are and then helpful when you have a splitting headache or newspaper cut and don't want to wake up your RA for Tylenol and a cast past midnight.

• A rolling laundry basket and then y'all don't have to acquit your calendar month's worth of laundry between buildings.

• Scissors and a stapler! Somehow anybody forgets these!

• Multiple pairs of headphones/earbuds and an extra charger

• Extension cords!! And then helpful when your dorm has 2 sockets for each person.

• Small trash bags. You'd call up the school would provide them, merely alas.

• More than i pillow and an extra pair of sheets.

• Hangers. Easy to forget, but a total necessity.

• Noise canceling headphones to drown out your snoring roomie or your hallmates that won't terminate singing Taylor Swift the night before an exam.
  

  

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• A step stool if you're short and/or your bed is lofted

• A shower caddy that drains

• A bathrobe and then you don't accept to walk down the hall naked in a towel.

• Shower shoes. I don't know how people forget this but someone always does. Trust me, y'all do Non want your anxiety to touch anywhere in those showers.

• Bottled body soap. A bar of lather is difficult to store (you normally end up putting your shower stuff in the cupboard) and you will 100% drop it in a clump of someone else'due south wet hair.

• An extra chair/bean bag if y'all have room (although yous hopefully won't be having people over to hang out in your room this yr).

• Fans, especially if your dorm doesn't take AC. A fan that clips to your bed is SO not bad on hot September nights.

• An umbrella and pelting boots. Charlottesville gets a lot of rain and has weirdly bad drainage, and so ane storm oftentimes turns the roads into rivers.

• Tissues, considering even if you don't get COVID, you'll probably cease up with the First Year Flu.

• Sunglasses!

• Gloves, assuming UVA doesn't ship us habitation before Oct. Charlottesville falls are BEAUTIFUL, just your hands volition get a bit nippy.

• Plug-in string lights, not bombardment powered. The batteries die and there's a 100% chance that you'll forget to replace them. Too, UVA is paying for electricity, and then take advantage of it!

• Batteries and a flashlight (always good to have)

• Thumbtacks! Command strips are cracking in theory, simply they rip the cheap pigment off the walls. Just rub a bar of soap over the hole to fill up it when y'all're done. (Notwithstanding, some dorms only accept cinder block walls and thumbtacks aren't an option).

• A moon cactus, if you want a plant. They're low maintenance and pretty hard to kill. Keep in mind, cacti were also brought up on the "regret bringing" list because they can attract fruit flies.

• Snacks! Especially at present that social distancing is bound to be difficult in dining halls, you may want to avoid that risk some days and just swallow in your dorm. As well, having food in your dorm is super helpful for when y'all're hungry tardily at night or don't have time to run to the dining hall.

• A mini-fridge and microwave, for same snacks and dorm meals.

• A Brita pitcher and then you don't take to potable the dorm bathroom tap water (information technology's fine to drink, information technology just always tastes a little off and is never cold).

• An electric water kettle to make tea, ramen, etc.! So helpful on cold mornings.

• Cutlery and plates. You don't demand a agglomeration, one or 2 plates at most (throw in a slice of Tupperware for good measure), but having something to eat with isn't something you think virtually until you're trying to eat ramen with a pencil.

• A reusable h2o canteen. Y'all won't understand how you always survived life without information technology.

DON'T BRING:

• Too much junk nutrient. Earlier yous know it, you lot'll have gone a month without a fruit or vegetable, completely surviving on dining hall pizza and your 2 am Oreo stash.

• Perishable foods. No, y'all aren't going to drink milk every twenty-four hour period, and yes, it will become bad in your fridge.

• As well much Tupperware/dishes. They're good to have, but don't bring a whole family unit gear up with you lot. In that location'due south non a ton of storage and y'all just won't need 12 clean plates at once.

• Poster putty. It just doesn't really work.

• Too much wintertime gear. Though gloves and a coat will come in handy if we actually make it to fall, you lot definitely don't demand a ski jacket, multiple winter hats, etc., and they're bulky to store.

• A laptop example. Yous won't employ information technology. Instead, invest in a sturdy backpack with a laptop sleeve that volition concluding you all iv years.

• Too many dress. This was the thing that anybody said they regretted bringing. You may desire to pack for every occasion, just keep in mind that 1) you're in higher and will near probable wear Nike shorts and an oversized T-shirt every twenty-four hours and 2) we're in a pandemic, you're not going to any assurance. Fifty-fifty if we weren't in a pandemic, y'all still probably don't need your prom dress. People likewise bring way too many shoes when they really only end up wearing 2 or 3 pairs.
  

  

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• Your loftier school T-shirts. On the topic of clothes, it needs to be said that you lot don't need to bring every shirt you have. Even more chiefly, don't bring all your high school T-shirts. No i cares if you went to TJ, or if you lot were on the varsity soccer squad. You usually get *so* many free T-shirts as a first year anyhow that non having enough shirts won't be an issue.

• Political party shoes. Yes, you'll desire to have a pair of shoes y'all tin can get muddied, but don't bring party shoes. Why? Because parties are canceled, read the room.

Happy packing!

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Source: https://www.hercampus.com/school/uva/what-bring-and-not-bring-best-college-packing-tips-real-students/

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