So what kind of stuff does my kid need for college?

Page 5 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

dbk

Lifer
Apr 23, 2004
17,685
10
81
Mini Fridge <---- most important
Alarm Clock <---- 2nd most

Don't take something that is value because it's liable to be stolen.
 

Q

Lifer
Jul 21, 2005
12,046
4
81
Earplugs!! You have no idea how handy these are when trying to sleep
 

coldmeat

Diamond Member
Jul 10, 2007
9,234
142
106
I wish my parents had bought me a car, a laptop, a tv, etc. I paid for everything. My parents didn't give me any money, besides buying me my bed sheets and my fridge for my birthday. I paid for my tuition, my meal plan, my computer, my rent.
 

The_Dude8

Diamond Member
Jan 8, 2000
5,167
1
71
1. a small digital camera
2. a portable hard drive to back up her works, just in case her laptop hard drive dies.
3. hand sanitizer
4. sandle for walking around the shower
5. voice recorder for lectures and notes taking.
6. a watch for keeping the time during her tests.
 

ChAoTiCpInOy

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2006
6,442
1
81
Amazon, check around the college she's going to because there are used bookstores around them that sell for really cheap. Good luck to your daughter.
 
Jun 19, 2007
37
0
0
I'd add another strong endorsement of the egg-crate mattress pad. Also, didn't think the mini-fridge would be really necessary, but it definitely is--coordinate that with roommates. For shelves I had some plastic milk crates and a wire frame shelf thing you build--wait till she sees the place though to get stuff that takes up space.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer
Oh, and never ever allow her to sell books back to the campus bookstore at the end of the semester. Stop feeding the vampires.

Works well in thought, but to a college student that needs the cash and can't find someone else to buy their books...doesn't really work except to screw yourself.

Buy used and sell used back if you can. Personally some books I kept.
 

2Xtreme21

Diamond Member
Jun 13, 2004
7,044
0
0
Damn, that article on parents coddling their children is really good. Everyone should read it.
 

EGGO

Diamond Member
Jul 29, 2004
5,504
1
0
By the way, juuuust in case, did you get insurance? I remember that I got a paper that I use where the people will cover stolen MP3 players, computers, even clothes or something if it's taken by theft, fire, etc...

Don't know where it is but $800 covers I think $15,000 of dollars worth. Look into it if you want to, I can't find the info anywhere.
 

Pliablemoose

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
25,195
0
56
Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21
Damn, that article on parents coddling their children is really good. Everyone should read it.

Yeah, a bunch of loosely strung together assumptions, and random studies, folk in the industry call Psychology today a "cookbook".

I'm a massive pussy compared to my father who was literally horsewhipped for misbehaving. (You may have seen the fake scars in the movies, they look a lot like the real thing.) My dad never took off his shirt in front of anyone but my mother, until he was dying from a brain tumor in a hospital bed, and my mom showed them to me.

But yeah, our kids are pussies & wimps, times never change, expectations from our kids are just the same, & horsewhipping your kids is still legal.

Psychology Today is pretty much tripe.

Honest to god, I started paying attention to the Asian posters on AT a long time ago, their parents gave them hell, and they did/do well in school.
 

SirStev0

Lifer
Nov 13, 2003
10,449
6
81
condoms and my phone number?

good luck with text books, you won't find them cheap anywhere. Tell her to make friends with older people in her major. You can find a few that way. Unless she is a big reader, I would tell her to wait until week or two into classes to decide if she will even need them. Also find out if her library has one. I made it through three years of college buying the absolute minimum amount of books. Fresh year I was an idiot and bought everyone they had on the list even the ones that weren't required. Ended up opening like 2 of them.

Most dorms come with minifridges and microwaves, at least at the big sexy university I go to. Def get a printer, I can tell you for sure that a majority of prof's offer powerpoint slides to use as notes and that will be a billion pages she will have to print.

Flash drives are the new cool things for in class presentations... just tell her not to keep porn on it. (I kid you not it happened twice in a row in the same class; never have I laughed so hard).

things I forgot were things like light bulbs. make sure she has duct tape.

 

SirStev0

Lifer
Nov 13, 2003
10,449
6
81
And don't know if it has been asked yet... but where is she going. AT has to have a poster who is an alum. I am sure they can give you the low down.
 

Demo24

Diamond Member
Aug 5, 2004
8,356
9
81
Originally posted by: MrLee
Has anyone said rubbers yet?

Often times those are free at the health clinic.

Or at least they are at my school, infirmary ftw!
 

Eeezee

Diamond Member
Jul 23, 2005
9,922
0
76
If male - condoms
If female - condoms + birth control prescription

Edit: This is not a joke.
 

Nerva

Platinum Member
Jul 26, 2005
2,784
0
0
tell her not to buy any books, borrow from library or photocopy. you dont really need textbooks unless its in your major