I'm not sure what you mean by "ship directly to the dorm". Maybe it's school dependent, but at DS's school there is no way for packages to be delivered to the dorm. The doors are locked 24/7 and there is no reception area. We use the address the school gave us and now ship to the school's mailroom, or to a nearby Amazon locker, but for move in we just brought everything or purchased there. Move in day was hectic and I'm honestly not even sure the mailroom was open since it was the weekend.

Yes. It was very convenient and didn’t take long at all to pick up packages near kid’s dorm at the mail center.

We shipped some to hotel and some to the Amazon desk at a nearby Whole Foods. Checked four large duffles, plus rolling carryon. And had a huge Target run.

I had Amazon stuff shipped to the hotel and I did a large target order that I picked up locally.

One recommendation I found was to order at the nearest Target/WalMart/store and choose the pick up at store option. Then when you arrive, you can pick everything up and take to the dorm. A little late now but maybe someone will find this thread next year.

This is entirely school dependent. We shipped things to both my kids schools. Zero lines to pick up packages on move-in days. They’re at different slacs. Both schools accepted packages from Amazon/Target etc starting a few weeks before move-in.

Both of the colleges the my kids have gone to didn't start accepting packages until 4 or 5 days after move in. And even now, the delay in receiving packages is significant.

Each school has a different policy on this. My oldest could only receive items at school 5 days prior to arrival and people didn’t seem to ship much ahead. This was an SLAC and we drove for move in.

My younger one went to a much larger university further away so we flew there, and they had a whole system to ship items ahead by about 2 weeks, and many items were waiting in the assigned dorm room when we arrived for move in. Other items were staged in large tents near each dorm area for pickup. We also did order ahead pickup orders at target and Walmart upon arrival (that I placed 2-3 days before we arrived) and went to Costco as well for snacks.

School said that packages would be delayed the first few weeks. After that timeframe, I found that sending things to the amazon locker on campus was the way to go. (Sending directly to dorm wasn't an option)

We shipped to Whole Foods near campus. We had heard the mailroom was a mess the first few weeks. Super easy.

If you are driving to the school, I don’t see a reason to do this. If flying, then do it. My son’s school’s mailroom is a mess the first few weeks and students are often delayed in getting their packages.

It can take a long time to get packages the first few weeks.

We shipped 2 boxes to our hotel in the first year. We did a target run right after move-in for things she didn't ship. We fly so she only brought a few suitcases and bags.

I would not want to do this because of all the packaging.

DD's school didn't accept packages until 8/1. But other than that small inconvenience, it was pretty great. We flew to move in with clothes,
Shoes, personal items, and then bought stuff like groceries, mirror, and other stuff we knew would be in stock, in her college town.

No reason not to do that, right?