Planning freshman move-in day is a complex endeavor. It’s about far more than just making sure new students pick up the key and know what residence hall to go to. For your first-year students, it’s the foundation for a successful four years in college.
Of course, college move-in day is also inherently stressful for incoming students and their families. Planning this day properly and building a positive college move-in experience ensures that these students will have a great start to their academic year, starting long before their check-in on the big day.
Essential Resources to Provide Students on Move-In Day
At its core, planning freshman move-in day is a logistical undertaking. You have to make sure that your first-year and transfer students have the resources they need to thrive at your college or university. From your college website to printed materials, these resources can help you make the move-in time as successful as possible for students and their family members.
Welcome Packet
Before students move in, provide them with a welcome packet that includes all the information they need to navigate both this day and the days that follow on campus. This welcome packet can be printed or digital, including information like:
- Their move-in time slot and housing assignments, along with any other logistical information for the move-in process
- A campus map to help them find their campus housing details
- Information on where students can find dollies and other equipment to help them unload the car
- Move-in day schedules, including both check-in time slots and any welcome events
- Contact details for residence life and other relevant offices and staff members
- A potential packing list that includes items your students may not allowed to have depending on their room assignments, such as a coffee maker
Providing these resources will help to make planning freshman move-in day significantly more straightforward. You’ll receive fewer questions. You’ll also have a better understanding of what open questions new and returning students may still have ahead of the big day.
Student Information and Resources
It may be tempting to avoid overloading your incoming students with information. But research shows that a lack of information can become one of the biggest impediments to a successful transition to college.
Instead, be sure your students and families get the resources they need, including items like:
- The student handbook
- A residential life guidebook
- A health and safety guide
- Any relevant financial aid information
- Early arrival policies, if applicable
Not all of these items need to be printed. Consider creating a Student Move-In Information webpage that includes them as optional resources for any students and families who might need them.
Interactive Map
Never underestimate the importance of an interactive campus map when planning freshman move-in day. A well-executed map allows you to highlight the physical locations that will become relevant for your students, including their dorm rooms, dining halls, academic buildings, and other essential facilities. It makes their first week significantly less stressful thanks to its ability to provide easy directions to anywhere they need to go on campus.
Event Calendar and Orientation Schedule
In addition to the logistical components, move-in day is also a crucial time to build belonging among your incoming students. Events to connect them with their peers and classmates integrate them into campus life, laying the foundation to help them engage more within the community throughout their four years in college.
Use your event calendar to communicate important events easily. Include basics like move-in appointments and welcome week activities. You can even use it to plan further out, highlighting events like a family weekend as an opportunity to reunite with those who have helped them move in.
Tech and Connectivity Information
As your move-in date gets closer, you’ll also need to consider exactly how to make the technological piece of the equation as simple as possible. This is, after all, a generation more reliant on tech than any before them.
Make it easy for them to find information about connecting to campus WiFi. Provide contact details for IT support and highlight any resources they can easily find online. Communicate this piece of the equation well, and you remove a significant stress factor for all new students as they try to acclimate to life on campus.
6 Tips for Planning a Successful Move-In Day
At its core, planning freshman move-in day starts with the resources shared above. But it also helps to go deeper, strategically creating a move positive move-in day experience for your students and their parents. These six tips can help.
1. Optimize Your Interactive Campus Map for Easy Navigation
Yes, you need an interactive campus map. But how that map is built matters just as much. For example, consider creating a layer specifically for move-in day. You can use it to highlight:
- The important buildings
- Parking lots
- The right spot to get their photo ID
- Other relevant resources during that day
Everything about your map during this day should be focused on a single goal: to help new students and their families easily find their way around campus when the big day comes. A mobile-optimized map can go a long way toward accomplishing that feat, especially when linked prominently across your other move-in day resources.
2. Plan Staggered Arrival Times
Congestion or blocked building entrances are the last thing students and families need during an already stressful day. That’s why staggered arrival times are such an important piece of the puzzle when planning freshman move-in day.
First and foremost, avoid having your first-year and returning students arrive on the same day. You can also spread it out between first-year and transfer students. Even within your first-year student body, you can stagger arrival times as much as possible.
This is also a great opportunity to improve the planning experience for your students and families. Offer a limited number of time slots for each day and time block. Then allow them to sign up on a first-come, first-served basis. That helps them better plan their day while also spreading it out to be more manageable on your end.
3. Make Sure the Campus Is Well-Marked With Directional Signage
When they first arrive on campus, will students know where to go? The interactive map can provide a significant part of the answer, but it’s not enough. When they arrive, the physical signage they encounter will be crucial to help them find their way.
That signage, of course, has to start at the campus entrance. But it also goes into the nuances of finding the right resident hall, key pickup area, and dining hall. Keep a consistent design and visual look to all of your signage to make it easy to find alongside the various yard signs, sidewalk chalk, and other pieces different offices or student organizations may use to advertise to your incoming students.
4. Send Detailed Move-In Instructions to Students (and Parents!) in Advance
Remember that welcome packet mentioned above? Planning freshman move-in day means not just putting together the right materials but also planning exactly how and when your audience will receive them.
In this case, that means sending detailed instructions well ahead of time. Let them know what to bring, where to go, and what procedures they may have to follow. Universities like Carnegie Mellon have created extensive resources online that offer a good template to follow for the type of information to share.
5. Build an Event Calendar for Orientation Week
What happens after move-in day? For most colleges and universities, it’s the time for Welcome Week. Academic orientation may also take place at this time. Create a comprehensive and easy-to-follow event calendar for the week. This information will help your new students engage with campus life while ensuring they don’t miss out on important activities and sessions.
In addition to the logistical benefits of a calendar that highlights all relevant events, the right management of this calendar can also make the events seem more attractive. Add example visuals from previous events and highlight which events might include refreshments, and then you’ll increase attendance from students excited to be a part of it all.
6. Set Up Assistance Stations Around Campus
Finally, it pays to play an active role in getting your new students acclimated to campus at every stop. Key locations around campus can become the home of assistance stations where students and their families can get help and information during the big day.
For example, an assistance station in front of the dining hall can help with meal plans. A financial aid station can help with last-minute loan and billing questions. And, of course, a general assistance station can help with any number of topics beyond these specifics.
Plan an Impactful Move-In Day for Incoming Freshmen With Concept3D
Planning freshman move-in day is no easy feat, but it’s certainly rewarding. Get this process right, and you can set the foundation for four years of a successful college experience. As countless articles outline what students can expect during the day, colleges and universities can do their part to make those positive expectations a reality.
To get there, you need the right tools. Your interactive campus map and calendar solution will become integral tools to help you succeed. This is where Concept3D can help. Learn more about our higher education solutions and how we can help you build a move-in day experience your incoming class will remember positively for a long time to come.