Hey y'all! Now that I've graduated college, I thought I would update my "College Confidential" series with the perspective of someone who's graduated. I'm going to have these posts divided out in categories and cover everything from important documents to dorm/apartment decor! Recently, we are dealing with the reality of COVID-19 and how that will affect us all as we move on to college, grad school, or adult life. Within my circle of friends, many of them are still expected to attend college in person with certain restrictions. Keeping the situation of the virus in mind, I will try my best to include tips for that.
Post #3: Tech and Study Essentials
Figuring out what to bring to college is stressful - > especially because you're an adult and most professors are not going to give you a school supply list. In my freshman year I made the mistake of bringing multiple binders and other supplies that were essential in high school but not pertinent for college. Here's everything that's useful to bring IMO:
2 Large sturdy binders -> I only used 2 binders all four years of college. I think these are useful to keep a track of all of your notes and papers you got for each class. Get a set of dividers and divide up your classes. I know two binders may not seem like enough, but most universities are going paperless and most of you class notes are going to be on your laptop since a lot of professors teach with slide sets. Thus, you don't really have much paper unless your professor gives you something.
Notebooks -> I recommend getting one for each class. Since I took all my notes on the powerpoint slides my professors gave me, I kept notebooks for each class so I can rewrite material from class or the textbook when I studied back in my dorm.
Textbooks -> DON'T immediately buy every book listed on your syllabus. Wait till the first day of class and figure out which books are NECESSARY (I've had any professors that would list 2-4 textbooks but then only require one of them). Make sure you join buy/sell FB pages for books so you can get your books for half the price. Better yet, see if you can borrow the book from the library for an extended period of time. Many university libraries even let you photocopy chapters from the textbook.
Pens, pencils, highlighters -> nothing fancy, just ones that do the job.
Laptop, charging cables, headphones
Blue light glasses -> I WISH I had gotten these during undergrad. Now that I'm going to medical school these are at the top of my list. You're going to be looking at a screen a lot during college, these are such a great investment!
Planner -> There's a lot going on in college, planners are the best way to keep track of everything! I personally just get a basic one that's cheap and easy to organize in.
Post-It's -> I'm someone who loves writing lists. I really love post-its because I can jot down my study plan for the day and stick it on my computer so I can always see it!
Let me know what your study essentials are! The next post will be all about budgeting and money management in college!
Peace and Love,
Srini
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