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Hi! I would really appreciate some tips on how to decorate my dorm room. Most of my life I've had my own room, though not extremely huge, and all of the dorms I've seen are dismally small.

I want to make it as cheery and nice as possible. Is it usually allowed to paint your walls as long as you paint them back? What are some must-have things in your room? What did you take with you, and now never use? I have a lot of shoes and clothes, does anybody have any tips on how to store everything?

I know I sound a little materialstic, but I want to be comfortable without taking up more than my fair share of space. Thanks for your help!

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Sunday, March 16, 2003 - 06:14 pm: Edit

*materialistic

By Kelly_Johnson (Kelly_Johnson) on Sunday, March 16, 2003 - 08:39 pm: Edit

I am not in college yet, but I have a few things to say.

You are never allowed to paint your room.

I have seen a lot of dorm rooms on college tours, and some are nice like Bryn Mawr (They have fireplaces and window seats) and some are small and disgusting like Bucknell (They smelled like public restrooms). I also spent my last summer in one at FSU for a music camp. If I could recommend one thing, it would be a lamp. There was only one small one on the top of the door and it gave off only enough light to see the top of the door frame. We were all miserable at night. Something else that may be helpful would be a small stack of shelves. Make sure you bring several changes of sheets, because some dorms do not have any a/c, and some have ones that malfunction and spread more moisture than a rainstorm into the air. You are going to want to change them often. I do not know if you know this yet, but tide makes these nifty soap cakes that you stick into the washing machine. One of my roommates brought a container of the liquid kind and it spilled all over the floor. That was very gross.

Some college's housing websites have lists of things that you can bring, should bring, and can not bring. You might want to check that out.

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Sunday, March 16, 2003 - 11:29 pm: Edit

Thanks for your insight Kelly! I too stayed in a dorm last summer and I'm aware of the absolute necessities for dorm rooms. Truman State University allows students to paint their dorm rooms as long as they repaint them white at the end of the year. I was just wondering if many colleges allowed this practice. Also, I'm trying to figure out the little things I can take that will make it a home and comfortable, not just extra sets of sheets. And, I want to avoid taking things that I thought I just couldn't live without, and then never end up using--like the complete collection of Jay and Silent Bob movies, etc.

By Kelly_Johnson (Kelly_Johnson) on Monday, March 17, 2003 - 12:05 am: Edit

Really? That is so weird. All the colleges that I have checked fine you like $300 if you paint your room. Crayola makes these wonderful paint/window cling thingies for $7 at Wal-mart. You can make all sorts of colorful flowers or butterflies and stars and stick them to the window and they will peel off when you leave.

Do you know where you are going yet?

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Monday, March 17, 2003 - 12:08 am: Edit

Cool, thanks for the info on the window things.

I haven't a clue about where I'm going. The only place I'm in at right now is Truman. Their dorms are pretty cool, but I want east coast. At least I haven't been rejected anywhere yet.

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Monday, March 17, 2003 - 01:32 am: Edit

Also, what happens if I absolutely loathe my roommate??

Kelly, I know that you've done a lot of visits, but I can't remember where.

If you've toured them, what did you think of Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, or Smith?

By Kelly_Johnson (Kelly_Johnson) on Monday, March 17, 2003 - 10:57 pm: Edit

You can request a new roommate. :-)

I actually do not remember where I've toured! My parents picked out most of the places for me last summer. The ones I can remember: Davidson, Bryn Mawr, Bucknell, University of Pittsburgh, Haverford, Florida State, Colgate, Bard, Sarah Lawrence, Clemson (Ew, that was the worst!), and Furman (Close second!). I am going to see Mount Holyoke, Wellesley, and maybe Smith this summer. :-) Sorry.

Have you visited the housing website for Wellesley? The dorms are the nicest I have ever seen, but those are only pictures. Also, I think review.com lists their dorms in the top 20.

By Wembleyfraggle7 (Wembleyfraggle7) on Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - 09:41 pm: Edit

Kalitiha...
how could you even consider not taking jay and silent bob along to school with you?
i mean really...no matter how harsh life gets, won't it be great to know that you can always go to you room, pop in clerks, and just feel the stress melt away while you watch crazy people play hockey on the roof of the quick stop?
:-)
(i for one already have my collection packed)

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - 09:50 pm: Edit

Wembley, good point. You're right, I must have been delusional! And "Clerks" is the only one currently missing from my collection....must rectify soon. But, if I take Jay and Silent Bob, what do I really not need? I won't have a problem packing, it's more like, not packing too much. I don't even know where I'm going yet, but I'm so excited I just want to plan everything out.

By Pisces (Pisces) on Friday, March 21, 2003 - 04:35 pm: Edit

Kalitiha- i visited Smith several months ago. I really doubt that you could paint the rooms there- i dont even think i could use the term "dorms" to describe the rooms. They dont have halls- just enormous houses. The rooms are similar to a regular bedroom- bigger, obviously. The houses are just way too old and expensive for them to let you do anything permanent- or even semi-permanent. The first floor of each house is the dining room, living room, "library"- if you can call it that. You would have to do some major and creative redecorating if you go there. It seriously looks like a rich, stuffy old lady's house- the living room- which is similar to a common room- is all fancy, dark, furniture, old lady wallpaper...definitely not someplace you would expect to find a group of supposedly modern, involved, college girls. Basically- you will have your work cut out for you if you attend Smith. (and if you have an issue rooming with a lesbian, seriously consider requesting a single.)

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Friday, March 21, 2003 - 06:42 pm: Edit

Pisces, thanks for the Smith description. I don't really have a problem rooming with a lesbian as long as she doesn't try anything out on me in the middle of the night. I read in a guide book about one of the colleges--I think it was Smith, might have been Mount Holyoke--that some girls have girlfriends on campus, some girls have boyfriends elsewhere, and some girls have both. Seems funny anyway.

Back to Smith's decor, I don't think I'd really mind that....I like old antique furniture and if the room was a nice size, it might not need painted. It's just if the room is the size of a shoebox and a dingy grey color.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 04:40 am: Edit

Smith student living quarters are rated #2 on PR's list of "Dorms like Palaces." #1 is Boston U.,
#3-10 are Bennington, Sarah Lawrence, Elon, Wellesley, Middlebury, Dartmouth, George Washington, and Mount Holyoke.

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 03:41 pm: Edit

Thanks Thedad!!!

Score! Half of my colleges are on the top 10 best dorms list!!

By Thedad (Thedad) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 04:35 pm: Edit

We saw the dorms at GW...I wasn't that impressed with the one I saw but I understand there's a wide variety. The fact that you share a bathroom with only one or two other people is a biggie, I suppose.

I'll let you know about Smith...we're spending almost two days there next month along with half a day at Mount Holyoke.

I've talked to Smithees about their living quarters and they're _all_ very enthusiastic. I've also gotten unanimous feedback that the lesbian presence isn't an issue if you're straight and want to keep it that way.

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 05:56 pm: Edit

I am applying to:

Yale
Dartmouth
Wellesley
Vassar
Mount Holyoke
Middlebury
Smith
Dickinson
Truman
Grinnell

If that helps anybody who might know specific information about dorms at any of these schools. Thanks a bunch!

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Monday, March 24, 2003 - 08:10 pm: Edit

bump

By Pisces (Pisces) on Monday, March 24, 2003 - 10:41 pm: Edit

Hey. Didnt mean to bash Smith as much as I apparently did. It is true that everyone who goes there pretty much loves it. I'm probably just not that type of person. The rooms are spacious, but the whole school is just too structured for my taste- i mean the *whole* campus shuts down from 1200 to 1245 for lunch. And every Friday afternoon they have a tea party at each house. Candlelight dinners every Thursday night- just the girls. Anyways- just not my thing.

But that's not why i posted. When i visited Midd., the dorm i saw didnt seem to have any windows. Do most colleges have rooms like this? If anybody has visited Middlebury, I just got a quick glance, did i miss it or something? I mean this might not sound like important criteria when choosing a college (not that I plan on getting in, but...) but i kinda like windows. Well any info is appreciated.

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 02:46 am: Edit

Pisces...you are so right about Middlebury! I haven't visited, but the dorms I saw online were hideous. There didn't appear to be any similarity in architectural style, and some of them looked downright like barns. I don't know what that means about the quality of dorms. Did you get to check the theme houses?

And I loved your Smith description.....info like that is what I need to know. I wonder if I could deal with 4 years of tea parties and candlelight dinners? It might be fun to begin with, but afterwards?

By Thedad (Thedad) on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 11:25 am: Edit

KT, when my daughter was reading up on Yale, there was this exclamation of, "Cool! Tea parties just like Smith." Having met a number of Smith students, I think I can say that the attendant conversations would be extremely stimulating and non-dorky. Ymmv.

I'll post first-hand impressions when after we've actually been there...three weeks from today! EEeeek!

(One of the things that impressed me about meeting a bunch of Smith students was how they could disagree with each other about different aspects of the campus...there wasn't a "herd mentality" that everyone felt compelled to follow.)

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 12:28 pm: Edit

Thanks Thedad. I'll be going east myself to check out colleges after I get my acceptance letters. And, assuming I don't get into Yale or Dartmouth, my visit will include the Smith and Mount Holyoke areas.

I got rejected from Dickinson yesterday, which I thought was an extreme safety. I'm hoping they rejected me because my stats were so much above their average that they knew I wouldn't go there if admitted. I hope that's the case, cause if they rejected me because I wasn't qualified enough, then I'm completely screwed at all of my other schools and it'll be Truman State for me.

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 04:16 pm: Edit

Don't worry about the Wellesley dorms. Actually, nobody worry at all about how to decorate a dorm room. The only place I am going to receive an acceptance letter is from Truman State University.

yeah go truman

By Thedad (Thedad) on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 06:17 pm: Edit

KT, I'll bet you don't go to Truman.

As Zeus said to Athena mid-birth, "Hang in there, baby."

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 07:47 pm: Edit

Athena split his head open and sprang from him fully grown and clad in armor. My armor is cracking with each rejection. I just want to figure out how to turn time back 4 years but still remember all my class work so that I can easily get straight As and have time to single-handedly pull a country out of the third world.

And I'm pretty sure Zeus didn't say that, but if I don't get into somewhere east, I'm gonna pull a Medea and wreak havoc and revenge.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 09:18 pm: Edit

That's why Zeus said "Hang in..." when she was half-way out the forehead...you don't think all that armor hurt?

I suppose I can invoke the ancient Athenian adjuration: "With your shield or upon it."

And it's a darn good thing you're not applying to Syracuse.

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 11:56 pm: Edit

Sorry, but I don't understand the Syracuse quip.

By Pisces (Pisces) on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 - 03:22 pm: Edit

Hey. Kalitiha, I read your post in the parents forum and I have a site that you might like. It's for the Midd. housing lottery and it gives the layouts and dimensions of all the dorms. It looks like they all have windows, maybe i just missed it on my tour- the roommate was sleeping so we just got a quick glance. Anyways, it seemed like most of the rooms were around 9.5' by 16'. I dont really know how this compares to most colleges, i dont even know how it compares to my own bedroom. I was researching it on PR though and apparently, they are rated #7 for dorms like palaces.
Anyways...here's the site- http://www.middlebury.edu/commons/Housing/information/floorplans.html

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 - 03:28 pm: Edit

Hey, thanks for the link! I've already looked at the dorms and the floor plans. I was really disappointed because all of the architecture is so haphazard....there's that one dorm that looks like a French chateau gone crazy and then there are identical grey buildings that look like barns, then other buildings that are just houses. I don't know, I better learn to like it b/c Middlebury is probably the only school I'm getting in to. I only know this because I'm still getting requests from the Financial Aid office, so I know that they're making me a package. Middlebury seems nice, but really it will just be a stepping stone to transfer to Dartmouth. I wish I'd taken a gap year, this entire college process sucks.

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 - 03:30 pm: Edit

Pisces...do you want to chat?

I have--
AIM: JGrillas
Hotmail messenger: grillas15@hotmail.com

By Kelly_Johnson (Kelly_Johnson) on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 - 08:41 pm: Edit

Oh, no. Where did you get rejected from Kalitiha? What were your stats?

By Summergurl21284 (Summergurl21284) on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 02:31 pm: Edit

I am going into my second year of college...I go to North Carolina Wesleyan and I realized I had taken way to much stuff this past year...like you I have way to many clothes and way to many shoes... you just need to think of what is really comfortable and what you will wear the most...think sweats...and of course some dress up clothes for though nights out...You really dont need to take your stereo cause everyone just uses there computers...well at least at mine...we cant paint our walls but we just went to Spencer's and bought all kinds of different posters with funny college stuff on them... you really dont have to paint your walls to make it feel like home... me and my roomie also went out one night and got some road signs and those plastics beer signs...it is college your suppose to decorate with simple funny stuff...we also saved all of our beer caps off of our bottles and I am making a table top outta them..family pics are a must have and just pics of friedns....once you figure out what campus you are going to find out if you can put a shelf in there like in mine there is a really long bullitin and I have made a shelf to fit on top so I can put picture frames and shot glasses and empty bottles...you just have to use your imagination and you will be able to come up with alot of different things to use in your dorm room

By Bentherdonethat (Bentherdonethat) on Thursday, July 31, 2003 - 11:32 pm: Edit

Hey! I'm going to be sophomore at Midd in the fall and I have a few comments to make about the dorms. As a freshman, all of the dorm rooms are about the same although the "crazy" chateau has really nice rooms but they are mainly for upperclassmen. As a sidenote, I have friends at other schools and they have said that freshmen usually get the lower end in room draw so I think you'll encounter the same deal at any institution. I've also found that many rooms have cement walls (that you can paint and then repaint at the end of the year) so masking and duct tape are must-haves. Pictures of friends and family are really effective as decorations and they also obring pieces of home with you. When you get to school look around in other rooms and you can get ideas. You should make sure also that you check out fire codes too because many schools don't allow Christmas lights. I hope I helped in some way...

By Dixieanne (Dixieanne) on Sunday, September 07, 2003 - 09:13 pm: Edit

Haha im a senior in highschool and i love this page and cant wait till i get to worry about college! its really cool how you guys help each other! i hope you will help me when i go to college!! oh and good luck Kalitiha on your applications!!!