Back to School Must-Haves

Everyone says it: College is stressful. With classes, clubs and taking care of yourself, it’s hard to keep track of everything going on. It’s essential to have a planner or agenda book to keep track of assignments, scheduling appointments and day-to-day life. Most planners include daily sections, a general month-long calendar and a notes section. These are all useful in helping you handle an, at times, overwhelming schedule.

Every professor will inform you of the proper reading materials to be equipped with in class, either in the syllabus, with an email or verbally. If a textbook is required for a class, then it’ll probably be your gospel for the semester. Make sure to order the textbooks sooner rather than later to get a jump start on the readings and be super prepared for the course.

More often than not, classes use online materials like online textbooks, quizzes, discussion chats and more. Though this is the norm for a lot of courses, online isn’t always the way professors do things. So it’s important to have a few notebooks in case you’re required to take handwritten notes. Notebooks are also just useful to have because sometimes you want to draw or doodle, and your computer isn’t always equipped for that.

Professors like to hand out papers. Even if it’s just the syllabus at the beginning of the semester, you’re likely to get papers from your professors. Binders and/or folders are helpful for organizing subjects and even useful when it comes to clubs and activities on campus, which sometimes also require papers and handouts.

It sounds pointless to emphasize, but there’s no way you’ve never experienced someone asking you to borrow a pen or a pencil in class. Having pens, pencils and highlighters not only for yourself but for others to borrow as well can be extremely smart. It might even make you a friend and act as a conversation starter.

Backpacks are a must. You walk pretty much everywhere on campus, so a backpack is essential to carry all of your stuff around campus: water bottles, sweaters, computers, textbooks and more. Pencil pouches are optional, depending on what kind of backpack you use to carry stuff around campus, but they can be useful in keeping all of your loose items, like pens and pencils, in one place that’s easy to find.

Not only are they a great way to save the planet, but reusable water bottles make life easier. You can carry it with you all day, refill it at the water fountains around campus and feel good about not wasting a lot of plastic while doing it. Plus, they come in all sorts of sizes and styles, so you can get super cute water bottles to act as an accessory. You can even get stickers to put all over your bottle as decoration.

Let’s be honest: If you have a roommate, sometimes they want to go to bed earlier than you, and you’re still trying to get work done. A reading light that attaches to the side of your bed is the perfect supply to get you through late nights of homework while your roommate tries to sleep. Not only does it show that you’re a considerate roommate, but maybe when the roles are reversed, you can get some sleep while your roommate uses their reading light.

Computer chargers, phone chargers and even portable chargers are all important. In the age of electronics, it’s essential to have something to keep the battery alive and well in every electronic you own. However, if your bed is lofted in your room, it can be useful to have a 10 foot charger so you can use your phone in your bed. Not only is having a charger necessary, but bringing the proper chargers will help you be super prepared and charged up.