By Emily Schoch | Staff Writer
From packing up personal belongings to scheduling check-out appointments, the move-out process can feel overwhelming without a plan. To help make things easier, Rob Engblom, senior associate director for resident learning, gave advice on how to make for a seamless move-out day.
Engblom said there are many mistakes that students typically fall into during campus move-out. Engblom has five tips that students should follow when moving out.
1) “Follow the directions for Command strip removal — don’t just rip them off or you could cause damage to the walls,” Engblom said.
2) “Carpets that were purchased through Collegiate Bed Lofts aren’t rentals — you need to remove them from the room during move-out,” Engblom said.
3) “Give yourself enough time to pack and clean your room; it takes longer than you think,” Engblom said.
4) “While you might have received volunteer help moving into your room, you’re responsible for removing all of your belongings, so plan ahead,” Engblom said.
5) “Take trash from your room to the designated dumpsters outside of the hall — floor trash rooms are closed during move-out,” Engblom said.
To help students stay on track during the end of semester transition, Engblom said Campus Living and Learning offers several resources to guide the move-out process. From in-person meetings to emailed instructions, CL&L ensures residents have clear expectations and support as they prepare to leave campus.
“Every community leader holds a floor meeting to review the move out process,” Engblom said. “Residents also receive a checklist of move-out steps taped to the outside of their door. Finally, residents receive email instructions and the summary information is available on CL&L’s website.”
Balancing finals and packing can be a challenge, but Baylor staff encourage students to take a proactive approach to reduce stress. By spreading out tasks and using study breaks efficiently, students can avoid the last-minute scramble that often comes with move-out week.
“If you’re traveling home before move-out, start taking things now,” Engblom said. “Work ahead of time in short bursts. Spending 15 to 20 minutes breaks packing and cleaning between studying is a productive way to utilize your time well.”
Engblom said there will be designated donation zones in residence hall lobbies to make it easy to repurpose clothing, decor and other belongings, while sealed, non-perishable food items can be dropped off for donation to The Store, Baylor’s on-campus food pantry.
Boerne sophomore Sara Simpson said as an upperclassmen and having walked through move-out before, she is able to share a few tips and tricks that will benefit the freshmen moving out of the dorms for the first time.
“I was nervous to move out of the dorms just because while in the midst of finals you also have to pack up everything and that can be stressful,” Simpson said. “But I think my biggest tip is to make a schedule and plan out when all of your finals are, when you’re going to study and allocate specific time to packing. If you don’t, it’s really easy to get overwhelmed.”
