The “Stuff” to Bring to College
How do you pack and prepare for what’s bound to be one of the biggest moves of your life? There is simply no way to anticipate every little thing you might need when you start college—luckily, both Chatham’s Shadyside and Eden Hall Campuses are just down the street from a Target. But, in order to help you get organized before you arrive, we gathered a guide to some of the most crucial tangible and intangible items, ideas, and recommendations to help you prepare for what’s bound to be a life-changing semester. Below, we highlight the physical, mental, and emotional “stuff” that will help you thrive in college—
What to Consider Bringing Physically
It has been a while since we packed for college so for a comprehensive list of all the materials you should bring, click here. But, more importantly, we have a list specifically tailored for the needs of Chatham students—for a complete guide to what you should bring to Chatham, click here. Below, we highlight a few oft-forgotten and lesser-known items in each category.
Shower Stuff
shower caddy
robe
shower shoes
Dorm Stuff
décor & lighting
a mattress pad
fans
Food Stuff
mini-fridge
food storage containers
silverware
School Stuff
notebooks/pens/pencils
general office supplies (stapler, paper clips, highlighters, notecards, etc.)
Clothing Stuff
The weather in Pittsburgh is a bit…er…unpredictable. We truly host all four seasons and sometimes, a summer day shows up mid-fall. That’s why it is crucial to pack clothing for any type of weather. Chatham (and Pittsburgh in general) are extremely hilly terrains. While it makes for a stunning landscape, it’s important that you consider how best to trek across it. We recommend bringing plenty of comfortable, walking-friendly shoes to traverse across campus as well as the city. Pittsburgh also has the tendency to be quite rainy, so we highly recommend bringing a rain jacket, rain boots, and an umbrella. In the winter, we sometimes get heavy snow and below-freezing weather. For those days, ensure that you have a sturdy winter jacket, snow boots, and a hat, scarf, and gloves. And, for the days when we boast all four seasons in 24 hours, you’re going to want some sweaters, light jackets, and lots of transitional layers.
What to Consider Bringing Mentally
Time Management Stuff
Organization will be crucial throughout your whole college career. Staying on top of your schedule, readings, and assignments is vital to feeling like you can manage your workload. Invest in a planner, an app, a calendar, a good old fashioned to-do list, or all of the above to ensure that you are tracking everywhere you need to be and everything you need to accomplish this semester. The Office of Academic & Accessibility Resources is a great resource for study and test-taking assistance, time management tips, and plenty more—check them out here.
Memory Stuff
Challenge your memory and your social skills by learning as many names, faces, buildings, and Chatham terms as you can during your first few weeks of school. As with any challenge, there are bound to be hiccups and hurdles as you take in all this new information. Have patience with yourself and think of all the new terminology as a fun memory puzzle.
Class & Homework Stuff
No matter your major, you’re going to be doing a lot of note-taking and out-of-class reading. Find a note-taking method—whether pen and paper or on your laptop—that makes the most sense for you (and that keeps you focused in class). If you’re an avid reader you’ll likely have no problem adjusting to the workload. If you’re not, give yourself ample time to complete readings, i.e. don’t wait until 20 minutes before class. In order to ease anxiety and improve your confidence, figure out where your classes are in advanced of the first day. We also highly encourage testing out different study spots until you figure out what works for you—some people love the library, some people love coffee shops off campus, and some people like to study at home in their dorm common rooms.
What to Consider Bringing Emotionally
Homesickness Stuff
There is nothing wrong with getting homesick during your transition to college—it happens to everyone and it is part of the transition process. The key is to take care of yourself by reaching out to people on campus that can help ease your transition—classmates, teammates, roommates, professors, the Counseling Center, and Student Affairs staff. Don’t let sadness fester without letting someone know you’re feeling down. If you’re looking for some advice for your first-year of college from some friendly Chatham faces, click here.
As a trick to help with homesickness, ask that your at-home friends and/or family members write you a few notes and letters that you can take to college and save for a rainy day. Homesickness tends to fade significantly after the first year of college or so, and though it may seem counterintuitive, staying at Chatham and forging new connections rather than going home every weekend can really pay dividends. Schedule meetings with your professors in order to form bonds with them early and touch base with your resident assistants and orientation leaders when you need help.
Resiliency Stuff
College is a huge part of growing up and growing up means building out your resiliency toolkit, i.e. your strategies and coping mechanisms for when times get tough. Healthy coping mechanisms can look like working out, meditating, spending time with friends and loved ones, taking a walk, or just prioritizing your self-care routines. Include time in your schedule daily to eat healthy meals, rest, exercise, and do classwork. When you’re feeling overwhelmed or burnt out, it can be easy to turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms like avoidance, substance abuse, over- or under-sleeping, and over- or under-eating. If you need help identifying healthy coping mechanisms, Chatham’s Counseling Center is a great place to start. You’ll also learn a lot of transition-to-college tips in your SDE101 class. For some additional tips on how to navigate stress and overwhelm, check out Emeritus Professor of Nursing, Dr. Kathleen Spadaro’s effective tools for self-compassion and self-care.
Putting Yourself Out There Stuff
Making new friends in a new place can be scary, especially for people who don’t identify as particularly outgoing or extroverted. But in your first few weeks of college, you’ll have a lot of opportunities to meet people who you vibe with. Here are some great opportunities to meet a new friend: orientation events, residence hall events, student organization events and meetings, in the dining hall, on a team or at a sporting event, and of course, in class. For a comprehensive list of Chatham events throughout the year, head to our MyChatham Happenings page at any time. Showing up to things in person, getting involved in a campus club or job, and generally opting to put yourself out there are all great strategies for making friends and meeting people.
Roommate Stuff
Spoiler alert—you and your roommate do not need to be best friends or even good friends. In fact, setting the expectation that you will be best friends without meeting a person is not a great idea. Instead, focus on communicating openly, honestly, and kindly with your roommate. You will be sharing relatively small living quarters and it is important that you communicate about your boundaries. It is likely that over the course of your first year of college, you will have a time where you need to have productive conflict with your roommate. This is normal and expected. If you are kind, receptive, and empathetic towards each other, conflicts will be easier to resolve. Ideally, your roommate can be a person to turn to with questions and share a dinner with now and then. If they end up being your best friend (like these two Chatham roommates), that’s great too!
Staying Patient Stuff
Despite all the advice about what you should do here, it is important that you don’t overwhelm yourself immediately by taking on a hundred leadership roles in different organizations or on-campus jobs. Your first semester of college is a huge learning curve and it just takes time. There is no rushing away the discomfort of it. We recommend exploring your emotions as they come up, staying plugged into the community, and having patience with the process. Everything isn’t going to come to fruition in the first week—give yourself the space you need to grow a little more each day. For a little more start-of-college advice—could there ever be enough?!—check out these 8 tips to ease your college transition from an orientation leader.
For your complete guide to Chatham’s 2023 First-Year & Transfer Student Orientation, click here.