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As the summer fades away and school is fast approaching, one thing that many first-year students have in common is the drama-filled frenzy of thinking about what to bring for their residence hall room. There are many lists online from different universities as well as advice on TikTok from students who just finished their first year. While all of these sources are great for advice on what to bring, I thought that some of the recommendations weren’t as useful as I had hoped. So with that, I figured why not tell all of you what I personally recommend to bring to school. Avoiding the obvious options like bed sheets and towels, I would like to focus on more of the necessities involving bathing and food-related items.

One thing everyone will recommend to you is to get a shower caddy. Now there are many different options like having a plastic or a mesh/cloth shower caddy. While many of my peers used a mesh bag, I personally used a plastic one and loved it. It was very easy to clean and never got moldy. While it did accumulate some soap that eventually dried over, I found it far easier to clean compared to a typical mesh/cloth shower caddy. There are some pros to the mesh shower caddies such as being easier to hang and they can carry more things, but for my personal routine I found it best to have two separate baskets, one for my shower items and one for my skincare/hair routines. I got this recommendation from someone on the internet when I myself was searching for college items and still use my plastic caddies now even when living in my own apartment. 

Another item you will hear a lot about is an iron or a steamer. You do not need one, trust me. I thought I would use one in order to get the wrinkles out of my nicer dresses and dress shirts, but I personally never used it. My greatest piece of advice is to just try your best to not wrinkle your nice shirts and put them away neatly. You also will probably never wear your super-pretty long dress because there aren’t very many opportunities to wear these, especially in freezing weather we have 85% of the time. If you do want to bring these items of clothing but do not want to keep around an iron or steamer, bring a garment bag to hang in your closet. I used one as a first year living in the provided student housing and found that it really helped keep my items from getting wrinkled at all.

These items may seem a little extreme but I really do urge you to consider them: a mini fridge and a microwave. (Just make sure they fit Housing’s specifications!) Each and every dining hall has amazing options for every single meal, but sometimes you may just want a light snack or you are craving something different. Having a mini fridge and microwave made my first-year experience a lot better because I was able to have frozen meals from Trader Joe’s ready for whenever I was hungry or needed some brain food. It can also store your drinks like soda and bottled water if you don’t see a need for having refrigerated snacks. I felt that having my choice of food in this instance made me a lot more comfortable with my diet as well with my lifestyle for my first year.

Lastly, something I do not recommend you bring is a water purifier. Especially at the University of Michigan, the residence halls and academic buildings have a filtered drinking fountain on every floor for the most part. I recommend you invest in a nice reusable water bottle that will last, and you can just refill it when needed. I personally did not have a water purifier pitcher and did not need it due to my easy access to purified water fountains. I felt no difference between the water pitchers and the purified fountain water, and the pitcher just took up space in my friends' rooms.

These are just some of the recommendations that I have for when you decide on what to bring to school, but I find that it is important for you all to figure out on your own what will be useful for you. I wish you all the best luck with your first year. Happy packing!