5 Freshman Dorm Must-Haves

Check out this article for the 5 essential items for your freshman dorm room. Here are a few things to know before you move to college.

For many incoming freshmen, dorm shopping is one of the most exciting aspects of their new college life. There aren’t enough YouTube dorm room tours or hours spent scrolling through Dormify to fill the epic room-shaped hole in all of our hearts. From the pictures you’ll hang above your desk, the fluffy white pillows you’re adorning your bed with and the countless hometown touches you’re bringing to Los Angeles, getting the perfect freshman dorm room is the goal for many of our newest Trojans! However, it’s easy to focus on the aesthetic side of things and to forget about the practical, kind of boring but nevertheless essential, dorm items. We’ve compiled a list of some freshman dorm must-haves that the Class of 2022 needs to get their hands on! Enjoy!

1. Shower Caddy

Whether you’re lucky enough to have your own bathroom this year or you’ll be making the trek down the hall to the communal stalls, a shower caddy is a key item for you to have for your freshman dorm room. It’s an easy, compact way to keep all of your toiletries in hand, and still being able to transport it with facility. Most shower caddies come with multiple dividers so you can keep your products in their respective slots!

2. A good full-length mirror

How else will you check out your super put-together, cute OOTDs before heading to your 9AM lecture? But in all seriousness a full-length mirror is a MUST for anyone, fashion obsessed or not. Most basic mirrors from IKEA or Target will retail for less than $100 and you can always split the cost with your roommate since you’ll both be using it. Just make sure and check that your freshman dorm room layout doesn’t already come with mirrors, so you don’t end up hauling it up flights of stairs for literally no reason.

3. Under the bed storage bins

It probably won’t come as a shock to you that the freshman dorm rooms at USC (and at most other colleges) are pretty small, so making the most of the little space you do have is a must. Under the bed storage bins are a great, cost-effective way to pack in as much stuff as possible into your dorm. Instead of cluttering the living space you have with boxes of snacks, first-aid kits and random stuff your parents made you pack, use the space under your bed!

4. Eye mask

No matter how hard you work to coordinate your busy schedule with your roommate’s, it’s inevitable that there will be times when all you want to do is knock out and sleep, while all they want to do is study for a huge exam or even go on a Netflix binge. In order to keep the light out of your eyes — and to keep the peace — we recommend bringing an eye mask to college. Although you may feel a bit weird at first if you’re not used to wearing on, in a couple of days you’ll be sleeping like a rock and looking bougie while you do it.

5. Command strips

One of the best things about decorating your freshman dorm is putting up cute pictures and posters, but you don’t want to (and legally can’t) ruin the dorm walls when hanging stuff. Command Strips are perfect solution to this problem as they’re affordable, easy to use and even easier to remove. They may seem simple, but these Strips are truly must-haves!