Carlynn Ross and her parents met her roommate, Kathleen Kappos, in the parking lot behind McElvaney. There, they loaded a pick-up bed full of clothes and dorm accessories onto a cart and into arms waiting to help.

The several loads of items were then piled into what space was left in the already packed room.

More than 1,300 first-year students had similar experiences Wednesday as they moved into their first college dorm at SMU. The early move in allowed students to get somewhat settled before heading to Mustang Corral Thursday morning.

SMU staff members, corral leaders, RLSH staff and other volunteers were outside every dorm to help carry loads from cars in to the rooms.

Vera Bradley volunteers were in front of the South Quad with branded baskets loaded with students’ luggage.

Ross and Kappos were shocked at the amount of stuff packed in their room.

“We have a lot of stuff,” Ross said. “It is going to be a very cozy room.”

The roommates did do some planning for their room over the summer. They met on Facebook and planned a design for their room over Facebook. They also ordered coordinating bedding and some decorations online.

Despite pre-planning, organizing the contents of two lives in to one tiny dorm room was ominous for the roommates.

“The scariest thing is figuring out how to organize all of this stuff,” Kappos said.

While their parents helped load everything into the room, they weren’t too sure about helping to organize it.

“We’re looking at her room right now,” Terri Ross, Carlynn’s mother, said. “That’s why we’re not in it, because we can’t get in it,” her husband Dave Ross said.

The family-filled halls of the dorms were buzzing with suitcases, boxes and emotions. Terri Ross’s eyes filled up as she spoke about what this day means to her.

“I’ve just been waiting for this day for a really long time, and now its here,” she said.

She said she cried just as much at her eldest daughter’s first day of kindergarten as well.

Parents said they hope social media will help make the separation easier. Ross’s parents said they hope to Skype with their daughter while she is away at college and talk over Facebook as well.

For the first year students, Wednesday’s move was the start of a new chapter in their lives.

“It’s just a new start, new life, new state for me, completely new weather, new environment and it’s just exciting,” Kappos said.