College life ain’t what it used to be: New students reveal dorm life pros, woes, and tips

SPRINGFIELD, Mo- It’s been a busy weekend in Springfield and really across the whole state of Missouri.

Parents and their new-to-college offspring drove from across the state to Springfield to start a new chapter in life.

I spoke with three MSU students, all from the St. Louis area, about how they are adjusting to campus life and how the move-in process was.

Sam Pannett, a sophomore at MSU, is starting his second year just off-campus in a fraternity house but like those in the dorms, he had to move into a whole new room.

“Me and my mom came down. We moved all my stuff up here, we kind of rearranged somethings in the room, and that was really it. We dropped it off, she hit the road, and I was just left to set everything up,” says Sam.

Simon Benben, a freshman at MSU, is starting his first year at MSU and says overall the move-in process was a good experience, and he is thankful he is not on the fifth floor. He is on the second floor.

As for Simon’s roommate, Collin King (also a freshman) the move-in process was extremely fast.

“The move-in process was easy for me, we tried to get here early so the line wasn’t that bad. Whenever we got here like six people came and brought up all my stuff within like three minutes. And I had two parents down here, and they got everything unpacked. It took like three hours and they were gone,” says Collin.

With Sam starting his second year he helped new students move into the dorms and saw a variety of students prepared and overprepared to live in the dorms. He says he saw people loading way too much stuff for the dorm room to people with the bare essentials.

All three guys say they were prepared, and they have their mothers to thank for that.

“Just make sure you and your mom make a list of what you need for there and just plan it like way ahead, and not rushing it at the last minute,” says Collin.

“I think the best piece of advice I would give to parents and their kids is parents should stick around a little longer than they think they need to. Like on that mone-in day cause you never really know what you’re missing until you got everything in the place that you want it. And you’re like ‘oh man I don’t have paper towels, or I don’t have any silverware, anything to eat with, that kind of thing. I think Walmart is a huge tool during move-in for any student honestly,’” says Sam.

The only thing both Simon and Collin wish they would’ve brought more of are… snacks.