Going into College as a Technical Theater major, I would greatly love some advice on what supplies I should bring. Ruler, graph paper, the obvious ones, of course, but what about more critical ones that one wouldn't normally think about?
I was there about 3 years ago. Like others have said, the college will usually have most of what you need or charge you for it as a materials fee. I brought all my own tools, but that was because my dad likes buying tools and so sent me to school with enough gear to
build a small
house. Most of the supplies you should bring are personal supplies:
Gloves - I like setwear ones hot hands for LX work and Camian for carpentry. You dont need to buy nice ones though. Just make sure they fit.
Safety glasses - Need these
Ear Plugs - Even if you like going to loud shows, you need these. I have ones from Surefire that are open up to 80 dB and then at that
point cut off all other noise, so I can wear them all day and no one notices I have them in. No reason to have these, I just like them. I would say if you dont like having things in your ears all day, just go ahead and get a set with a string holding them together, this seems to work fine.
+1 on having blacks when you go. This means your parents are likely to have bought them, not you. College budgets suck. Trust me.
+1 on good shoes. I have a pair (ok, multiple pairs) of black boots in
safety and non
safety toe versions, as well as brown boots in the same plan. Dont do this unless your like me and need to have your shoes match your outfit.
Some sort of bag to carry books in.
Some sort of bag to carry tools in
+ 1 on the laptop, but I would recomend making sure it will run VW, AutoCad, or whatever your prefered programs are.
Mac or PC will probably serve you fine, get what your comfortable with.
An external hard drive (or 2) - Loosing stuff sucks. Loosing an entire laptop worth of stuff really sucks. I have 2 primary physical backups and an online backup as well.
An iPod or your prefered brand of
MP3 player - so as you can listen to music on the go
+1 to Mrs Footer on the DVDs. I met all the guys Im living with now by watching every episode of Futurama with during the first month of college. Bring as many as college people might actually enjoy.
+1 to Mrs Footer again on quarters. Everythign useful takes quarters: the washer, the dryer, the advil dispenser, pretty much anything that dispenses anything on campus, Tacco Bell, the carts at Aldi,
etc. Quarters are useful.
Headphones and speakers - so as you can listen to music and watch youtube (2 of the most common things you will be doing in college) either with others or without others. Dont get too big a sub, seeing as people tend to dislike it when your thumping Ke$ha at a wild party at 3 AM. The RA was not pleased with us.
Hoodies - College students wear hoodies a lot. Actually, pretty much most of the time. To fit in, you will want a selection of hoodies in solid colors, not solid colors, college logos and ones with witty sayings on them.
A selection of stylish but functional clothes - Dont bring too many however. No one likes that guy/girl with 50000000 clothing items. Plus, its acceptable to wear the same shirt twice as long as it does not smell bad. Pants can be worn for a week or so before they get bad. I like my wardrobe to be nice enough that i can
throw on a cool hat and go out, but functional enough that before I go out I could be in the shop. Again, dont bring too many clothes.
Power Strips (multiple) - your dorm room wont have enough outlets for all your stuff. This is a given. Compensate with
power strips with fuses and surge protectors.
Something to make ramen in whilest in the dorm, generally not requiring a stove - this is important.
Some other notes: Bring more socks and underwear than you think you need. Both get smelly fast, and are one of the few things you cant wear twice (or more) without smelling funny. Socks are good. You should have a lot of socks. Underwear is also good. Lots of good. You should also have enough clothes so as you dont look like you just woke up all the time. Im also a fan of the GPS, because you can tell friends exactly where to pick you up. This is, however, expensive, and will most likely get stolen rapidly, thus leaving you at the mercy of the
driver. If you are going to college somewhere in Michiga, Wisconson, Minnesota, New England,
etc, bring a lot more socks, hoodies, fleeces, scarves, gloves,
etc. than you think you will need. It gets UNGODLY cold up here. Also remember, most of your time at college will be spent hanging out with other people, usually in the dorms, at parties, or at parties in the dorms. Try and meet non-theatre people, as its always good to have people to bring to the killer
theatre parties. Thats all that I can think of at this
point, or at least that I can think of thats forum appropriate. Except for the most important thing: You MUST bring an interest in learning, meeting people, having fun, and working hard to college. Otherwise, you will get depressed and have no fun. Make sure to get out, meet as many people as possible (unless they have spray on tans. Thats a good indidcation that they are a, an oompa loompa, or b, a guito. Stay back 500 feet. Also stay away from frosted tips.) from as many different departments as possible. This is good practice networking, and can help a lot on future shows. Meet someone in video, well, when you need to create a ton of content for a show, a good video person can help you, and its cheaper if they are your friend. Also, study hard, but get out there and hang out. Dont be the creepy techie kid. Those people freak me out. Have fun in college!
