Moving Into College

Packing and moving into your college dorm room is an incredibly stressful time. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also stressful. You have to be prepared for a few things that will happen in the process of packing, moving and unpacking.

Packing is never fun. It’s not fun when you go on a trip and it’s definitely not fun when you’re packing up to move into your dorm room. It may not have hit you yet – you can’t take everything in your room to college with you. It may not fit and then you’ll be sending stuff that didn’t fit back home with your family if they helped you move. As you’re packing up stuff in your room to take with you, set aside the absolute necessities first. These are the items you absolutely cannot be without so you don’t want to have them get accidentally left behind because you haphazardly went through your room packing everything in sight. This is where it might be beneficial to make a list of what you need to bring with you. While you may think everything in your room is essential and the thought of leaving anything from home behind may sadden you, trust me – your dorm room will be a lot cleaner, a lot more organized, and you’ll be able to find things easier if you leave behind some of those things.

You’re going to be learning a lot as you pack and go through each year and semester. You’re going to be learning a lot about what you can and can’t bring to college. As you go through college, some of the items you thought you needed your first year, you ended up never using so you know not to bring it. It’s a learning process and you may find that you don’t have it down pat until halfway through college. You’ll be finding new ways of packing and unpacking to make things more efficient. Your first year, though? Your first year will be a little crazy and that’s okay. You’re going to be stressed, but try not to be upset. Try not to take frustrations out on those helping you. This is an incredibly exciting time – enjoy every moment, even the ones that may seem like a hassle such as moving.

Speaking of moving, don’t wait until the last minute to pack. In the couple weeks before you move, pack up things you aren’t using in your room at the moment and set them aside. If you wait until the last minute the day before or the day of moving, you’re going to be A LOT more stressed and these are the perfect conditions to forget things. Reserve the day before or day of moving for things that you were still using up until moving time.

Enjoy this time with your family and friends. Whether you’re going to be an hour away or across the country or world, take the time to spend time with family and friends. Even if it’s just sitting at the kitchen table or on the couch with your mom in the morning and drinking coffee. Make that time and live in the moment and enjoy it. Even if you’re an hour away, you’re going to go from seeing your family every day to a couple times a month or less.

You’re going to get homesick. Nothing can prepare you for it, no matter how much time you spend with your family. It will be extremely rough at first but it does get better. Just remember that you are beginning an amazing experience and you’re going to be learning a lot, and not just in your college classes. You’re going to be learning independence and you’re going to be a stronger person from this experience.

Shipping to College Made Easy and Stress-Free!

Moving into college can be stressful. You have to pack up everything in your room to take to your college dorm room and then you have to fight to fit everything in your car which could result in you taking boxes and bags out a few times and rearranging them to be able to fit. Moving to college doesn’t have to be this stressful! With Dorm Room Movers, moving to college will be super easy.

When you register with Dorm Room Movers for their Ship to College service, all you have to do is pack – they’ll send you the boxes, you pack them up then they’ll pick up your boxes and ship them to your college.

For a limited time from July 24, 2015 – August 24, 2015, DormCo is teaming up with Dorm Room Movers so when you register online for services with Dorm Room Movers, you will be entered to win our 3-in-1 Multifunction Breakfast Deluxe!

How does it work? Simply register online or over the phone for their Ship to College service and choose one of 3 sizing packages – 5, 10, or 15 box kits. Then Dorm Room Movers will make moving to college easy – they’ll send you the boxes and tape and then you can pack up all of your college supplies, print your labels, and schedule a day for them to pick up your boxes. Dorm Room Movers will then ship your boxes directly to your college. 

If you are at one of Dorm Room Movers featured schools, you can also upgrade to VIP service! That means you can send your items to the storage facility ahead of time and your dorm items will be stored up to 2 weeks prior to your arrival. Then when you’re ready to move in, a local moving team will deliver your boxes to your room on a date that you select.

Make moving to college easy and stress free by registering here and have the bonus of being entered in their 3-in-1 Multifunction Breakfast Deluxe Giveaway!

Struggles at College

College can be a weird mixture of fun, excitement, stress, and frustration. It’s going to be fun and exciting meeting new people and learning about topics you love and are interested in. However, there’s a certain amount of stress and frustration that can occur in college and the best thing to remember is to not give up and that everyone is going to feel that way at some point.

First of all, you’re going to be away from your family and friends. Whether you’re going to be an hour away or on the other side of the country or world, you need to prepare yourself for this. It’s not going to be easy no matter how close or far away you are. You’re going to feel lonely at college when you’re away from everyone you know and love and it may not hit you, you may not think about it until your first night in your dorm. Bring mementos from home with you to your college. Whether it’s your favorite blanket, photos, or even a small stuffed animal, bring some things from home to put in your room to feel a little bit better. Perhaps the most important thing to do and remember is to call home once in a while, whether it’s every day or once a week. Sure you can text your friends and family, but don’t underestimate the value of hearing their voice. You’re going to be away from your loved ones for the first time. This is going to be stressful and you’re going to be sad about it, no matter how much you love your college and classes. The important thing to remember is not to let it affect your grades and college courses.

Along with feeling homesick, a universal thing in college is struggling with a class here or there. It happens and it’s nothing to leave college over. You’re going to have to take certain core classes which means you have to take science and math even if they’re your worst subjects. Don’t just not show up to class and not do your homework, either. That’s a waste of your college courses, time, and money. You’ll just have to retake the class later. You need it to graduate, so do your best the first time around so you don’t get stuck in it again. Not doing anything for that class may seem like a good idea at the time, but every time you consider doing nothing for the class, remember this: if you don’t go to class or do your homework, you’re going to be stuck with the class longer. Do your best – you need a certain grade in your core classes in order for the credit to count.

You may have a picture in your head of what college will be like and maybe it’s based on a TV show or a movie you saw. College isn’t as easy as it is portrayed. It isn’t as easy as high school. These aren’t facts to send you running away from college. These are facts to help prepare you. You’re going to be incredibly overwhelmed at the start of college. There is going to be a lot more homework. There is going to be a lot more studying. You’re going to have to change the way you do homework and study. Teachers aren’t going to be as lenient as they were in high school. They won’t provide you with guided notes, they won’t hunt you down and personally remind you to turn in your essay that was due a week ago and still give you credit for it. You have to work in college. A lot. But you will become used to it, it will be fun and exciting again once you get used to it. The beginning is a struggle for everyone. Once you get over the hurdle at the beginning, it will be so much better and at the end it will be worth it. The homesickness, the struggle with your classes, and more will all be worth it once you walk across the stage at graduation. You will have accomplished a huge thing. Until you get to that point though, you’re going to be struggling with a lot and learning how to deal with those struggles. 

Studying In College

When you’re in college, you’re going to be studying. A lot. You may have seen a movie or TV show where the college students are just sitting in class watching the professor write on the board. They may or may not have notebooks in front of them but one thing is for sure. They’re sitting their glassy-eyed, slumped in their chairs and maybe even talking with friends. That is not the reality of college courses. How it’s actually going to look is you’re going to be hunched over your desk, barely looking at the board unless the teacher is writing on it and you’re going to be writing or typing notes furiously. Don’t think that the note taking is going to be just in class. When you’re back in your dorm room or in between classes, you’re going to be doing even more studying and note taking. Yes, your hands are going to hurt. After a while you will get used to it though. And at some point in your college years, you’re going to start recognizing what is important to write down and what isn’t. You’ll learn ways of taking notes that allow you to write less without losing any content. You won’t know when it will happen – it just will. One day you’re still furiously taking notes, the next you’re writing abbreviations or page numbers in your college textbook.

Use the time in between classes for studying. The time in between classes (if you have time in between) is valuable. You’re already in the main part of campus where the class buildings, computer labs, and library are. You can even grab a bite in the college café to eat while studying (you’ll also learn multi-tasking in college). Use the resources you have around you while you’re out on campus. It will allow you more time to hang out with friends later or simply relax and play games, watch TV or read for fun.

Don’t highlight everything. This may sound like a silly tip for studying, but it’s important! When you’re reading through your college textbook for homework, you may find passages that are important and you decide to highlight the passages. And of course passages in college textbooks are incredibly long, not nice and short like in novels. As you read, try to pick out what is extremely important. When you first start college, you may think that the whole thing is important and you highlight furiously. Trust me – don’t highlight furiously! Here’s a little story – when I was first in college, I would highlight a lot of information in books. Then I would go to study or write an essay later and know what happened? Many pages in a row highlighted. Top to bottom, mind you. That meant I had to re-read those pages to pick out what the important information was. Multiple that times 4 or more classes and that means a lot of wasted time. Study smart and pick out what is important at the beginning.

Invest in Sticky Note Flags or Post It Notes. A lot of them. Considering you’re avoiding highlighting whole pages, you’re going to want little flags to point out important information or pages. Same thing with highlighting – only point out what you absolutely need. Otherwise instead of a book that’s highlighted top to bottom of every page, you’re going to have a book that has a sticky flag on every page. And yes, I’ve done this studying mistake as well. Try writing an essay and really wanting to include a certain passage that you know you’ve marked with a sticky flag and having to jump to each point where there’s a sticky flag to reread it and see if it’s the one you’re looking for. More time wasted and more frustration. Use time studying wisely. It may mean an extra minute or two when you are in the process of reading, but it’s worth it in the end when you don’t have to reread multiple pages and hunt through a book. Regular Post-It notes also come in handy. You can write on these and place them on the page you’re writing notes about. It will save you writing super small in the margins. Think your margins are large enough to write in or think that you write really tiny already and your handwriting is the best handwriting in the world? When you go to study later, you still won’t be able to read it. Invest in Post-It Notes. Trust me.

How to Get Through a Class You Don’t Like

It’s bound to happen. You’re going to be in college for 2 years, 4 years, or even longer if you pursue a Master’s degree or Doctorate degree. With all those classes you’re taking, there’s bound to be a few that you don’t like for whatever reason. In fact, you could be dreading it right from the start of the semester when you first found out your schedule.

It could be that you’re really bad in the subject. Maybe you’re a History or English major and have a really hard time with Math or you’re a Science major and have a hard time with English. If you’re dreading that class because you’re not understanding concepts, then there is actually a lot of resources that will help you get through this. The most important part to remember is just because you don’t understand the concepts, doesn’t mean you can or should take it out on the professor. In other words, don’t dislike the professor just because you don’t like the class. In fact, if you’re not understanding something, go to the professor and ask for help. There’s no reason to be embarrassed about going to your professor for help. They keep office hours for a reason. They don’t expect everyone to be an expert in the subject. You can also get a tutor for the subject from your college’s tutoring office. There is also no reason to be embarrassed about this, the tutoring office is also available for a reason.

Of course there are other reasons you could not like the class. Maybe you don’t like the professor or the class in general for whatever reason. Maybe the professor talks in a monotone voice all class and it makes you sleepy. Whatever the reason is that you don’t like the professor or class, one of the most important things to remember is to not take it out on the professor. This is one of those times that you have to use manners and still be polite. They’re just doing their job and teaching what they love. They know there’s going to be some people that don’t enjoy the class – not everyone loves Math or English. The other important thing to remember is to not let your feelings affect your grades. Don’t put off your homework or essays and not do anything simply because you don’t like the class. Put aside your feelings and do the work. One tip I have to get through this is to do that homework first. Get it done and over with so you don’t have it on your to do list throughout the week. If you put it off to do it last and procrastinate, you may end up not doing the work at all because the dread of the homework will build up until you have spent all your energy dreading the work and have no energy left to actually do it! Your time in college will go by quite quickly – those couple months of classes with only two or three classes a week of that dreaded class are nothing when compared to how long you are in college. Get your work done (don’t slack off – do your best!) and get credit for the class – trust us, in the end it will be worth it. Who knows – maybe in a few years you will have more appreciation for the class and what you studied!