Thursday, August 18, 2022

Overrated College Items

Last week, I talked about the most underrated items and now I’m going to talk about a controversial topic: the most overrated college items in my opinion. These are some items that I’ve seen recommended on YouTube or other websites and others that I’ve seen with people around campus that I think are not needed at all.

  1. Wall decoration – I don’t get the point of decorating your room and making it look so nice and fancy with different wallpapers and lights. Like you are not going to spend time looking at your wall during the semester, “Hey, let me spend time looking at how beautiful my wall is”. In addition, it is a hassle to put the pictures on the wallpaper and then also removing them. I’ve heard some people damaged the wall when they removed their stuff and so they had to pay extra. If you want to do it for aesthetics or just because you want a nice environment, then go for it. I can’t tell you how many dorms I went to that had these fancy room decorations. 

  2. Canada Goose – During the winter semester, you will see more than half the people around campus wearing “Canada goose” winter jackets. I genuinely see no point in you wearing this really overpriced coat. A coat of Canada goose could cost you anywhere $800+. That much money for a jacket that essentially provides the same amount of warmth as a normal $100 or even cheaper winter coat.



  1. Brita (Water filter) –Frequently, I saw people on my floor in the dorm use Brita to collect the water and then transfer it to their water bottles later. The Brita has a carbon filter to make the water “Cleaner”. I see no point in this as The University of Michigan has very clean water and it is very safe to drink. These Brita filters are costly, they cost around $20+ on Amazon and in addition to that, you have to replace the filter when one finishes and a filter can cost you $4. 


  1. Buying a Microwave (dorm students) – Okay, so a lot of dorms have microwaves on each floor. However, my dorm (Alice Lloyd) didn’t have one on every floor but instead had one on the first floor. A microwave is very useful, but I rarely needed it because I had an unlimited meal plan from the dining hall. I didn’t mind going down to the first floor and warming my food and back to my room once a while. In addition, sometimes I just used my friend’s microwave who just lived next to me. There are options to rent a microwave so you could for that option.

  2. Throw pillows – These are probably the most unnecessary items you don’t need with you. You will only use them for a nice dorm picture. Most of the time, they end up on the floor. 


Honorable mentions – A coffee maker (all dining halls have coffee machines and they just take up space if you do buy them), cooking set (dorm students)


Written by Harshit Nanda

Summer Orientation Peer Advisor

Undergraduate Student

Zambia/India

No comments:

Post a Comment