KNIGHTTIME NEWS: Fall 2026
Move-In Day Reflections from Menlo Alums
The Menlo College Counseling team had the privilege to hear from an amazing group of Menlo alumni from the Class of 2026, asking them a simple but important question: “How was move-in day?”
DAVID MELENA Associate Director of College Counseling
Amanda Wu - University of Southern California
My move-in day went pretty smoothly! We left the house at around 4:15am to start the drive down to SoCal. I had barely slept at all because I had two of my friends, Malia and Lily, over until super late as I was super apprehensive about leaving. So we woke up at like 3:30am, and while I had a knot in my stomach, I had to be super focused on all my last-minute packing. Once everything was all loaded into the car, I definitely had an emotional moment leaving the house, getting tear- eyed with my mom. The actual move-in process was very simple: I am staying in an apartment this year on the seventh floor. My roommate Cora arrived around the same time and we instantly clicked and started getting to know each other. A couple of hours later my room was already looking complete and I was starting to feel a bit more excited. At night, we went out to dinner with my Menlo classmate Alex (who’s also going to USC). I have continued to bond with my roommates and settle in and the homesickness comes in waves, but I am very excited for this new chapter.
Zoe Zdrodowski - Tufts University
Moving into Tufts felt like a blur! Moving cross-country definitely was a hassle as I flew in the night before and shipped/ordered as much as I could to the mailroom beforehand (this has led to my very special relationship with the mailroom workers!). My roommate and I only had a two-hour slot before mandatory activities started, so don’t be fooled by everyone’s perfectly decorated rooms online, I’m definitely still moving in! Tufts freshmen start with a week-long pre-orientation program, which was a great way to meet a smaller group of people and reminded me a lot of MTerm. They keep it very structured and busy on purpose to try to combat homesickness. Classes have just started and it has definitely been a jump straight into college academics. On my first day I had all four classes which is unusual, but some days I don’t start until 3 p.m. I also joke that I’m taking night school this semester, with all of my classes ending somewhere between 7-9pm.
Asher Darling - Washington University in St. Louis
I have been loving WashU so far. The move went really well. My roommate and I are super close and I got an awesome dorm room. My first day of classes was great. All of my professors are really good and I’m only in one class with over 40 students and have two with fewer than 20.
Ava Wang - Barnard (Columbia student-athlete)
Moving in was great! My parents and I arrived at Columbia almost a month before school started for volleyball preseason. I ended up getting a single dorm since I have to be at the gym by 6:30 am for lifting and practice, and I LOVE my room because it’s HUGE for a single! I’ve made some awesome new friends across both the Columbia and Barnard communities, and my teammates are some of the kindest and most hilarious people ever. We started school about a week ago, and I love all my classes so far. Columbia volleyball is currently 5-1! We have a tournament this weekend (3 games), and I’m super excited to start Ivy League play next week!. And one more detail: NEW YORK IS SO AWESOME! I’ve been getting to explore a lot, eat a lot of good food, and just live!
Ananya Goel - Stanford University
My move-in day at Stanford was both exciting and terrifying. Stanford doesn’t tell you who your roommate is in advance, and so I was worried about whether or not we would connect and what my room would look like. Showing up at my dorm (Rinconada) where it was all decorated to the theme of Incredibles and all the RAs chanting my name made me feel like this was really a place where I would thrive and belong. My parents were a huge support system for me in my move-in process. I think the best thing that happened was that my mom left a note for me under my pillow that I found right as I was going to bed. It was a crazy, overwhelming day and I was already missing my family, but seeing that letter from my mom made me feel loved and supported (Spoiler alert: I cried). It can be overwhelming to meet so many new people, and I definitely experienced that. But it was nice that we went to all of the events as a dorm, so I got to know more of the people I was living with!
Diya Karthik - Carnegie Mellon University
The move-in experience was extremely rewarding and wholesome.To me, coming back to Pittsburgh and CMU after the pre-college with my roommate feels like home away from home. I’ve been in the studio working on my projects every day, but there is truly no other way I would want to spend my time. The people here are so talented and creative, and getting to work alongside them has inspired my creative exploration. Overall, the transition has been pretty smooth, and I have loved having all my classes curated to my passions because it truly feels like I have the privilege to constantly be immersed in a world of art. I can’t wait for all the clubs I am in the process of joining (Lemon, which is the arts newspaper and Abhinaya, which is the competitive Indian classical dance club). And I start work next week as a design tour guide! I love it here, and I’m so excited for the coming memories.
Eisha Yadav - UC Berkeley
Coming from Menlo, I was expecting to get lost and wait for hours at a huge school like Cal. But somehow everything moved smoothly and quickly and I was in my dorm within two hours! The first few weeks at Cal have been super fun, with a football game that we won in spirit, 25+ coffee chats (who knew I needed to bring a full suit to college?), to my first CS midterm already (class average was 69%!). While my classes all have more students than my grade at Menlo (300+) somehow I don’t feel overwhelmed at all! The big school feels a lot smaller than it sounds.
© 2026 Menlo School. All rights reserved.