5 Must-Have Supplies for College Students
-Originally posted on September 7, 2018-
It’s my first week back at school, so naturally, I needed to make another school-related blog post. Today I want to talk about my 5 top supplies that every student should have going into college. Obviously, this can be dependent on your area of study. I’m a Communications student and I’ve taken arts classes in the past so my exact supplies would be different than a science student. Still, I think these are cross-curriculum supplies. I’ll also link the ones that I have.
PENS
I LOVE PENS. It’s no secret that 95% of the reason I enjoy school is for stationary. And, if you’re going to be working hard, why not reward yourself with some great supplies! My all-time favourite pens are the Staedtler Triplus Fineliners. Here’s a secret: You can buy these at Staples and get 10 for $13.15. HOWEVER, if you buy them on Amazon, you can get 10 for $10.95 or 20 for $25. These are the best pens for notetaking, bullet journaling (they don’t bleed through the pages!), and colour-coding to your wildest dreams. You can also get just black ones on Amazon as well ( for the more subdued notetakers).
HIGHLIGHTERS
I hate to break it to you, but no matter what program you’re in, you’re going to have to read in college. The best way to keep track of the most important information is to have highlighters. I use these to highlight anything from one section of a book to my most important notes from class that I know I’ll need to study. This is a great way to simplify things for your mind when it comes to tests. My personal choice for highlighters are the Zebra Mildliners. You can get these on Amazon (Note: They take forever to arrive so plan ahead) at about $7 a pack. You can also shop local for these at Recess. My favourite part of these is that they are double-ended. One side is a thick highlighter, while the other side has a finer tip so that you can get those precise lines. I use these for planning as well as for note highlighting. They are also pastel, so they aren’t as blinding as the yellow highlighters of your youth. If you’re balling on a budget, there are some great ones for sale at the dollar store that do the job too!
NOTEBOOKS
Okay, I know this sounds really basic. But notebooks are a crucial part of my study tools. Even if you take all of your notes on your laptop (we’ll get there in a second), writing things down can always come in handy. I personally prefer taking all of my notes by hand (especially the ones that I’m going to be being tested on), but I know people who take notes on their computer first and then copy them down onto paper. It’s been shown that writing things down physically on paper can help increase your memorization. I definitely notice a difference when I write down my notes on paper. It can also come in handy to get things organized, planned out, or even just making a to-do list! These ones are cute.
MICROSOFT OFFICE/GOOGLE SUITE
If you do bring your computer to class, which most of us do, you want to be using one or both of these programs. Microsoft Office, which does cost money, is the home of Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and more. Students can generally get this at a discounted price. I’m a fan of Microsoft Office because I’ve been using it my entire life, but there are some free alternatives, namely, Google Suite! If you have a google email account (and who doesn’t???), you have access to all of Google’s tech without paying anything! This includes programs such as Google Docs, Google Drive, and Google Slides. There are definitely some major perks to this as it is not only free but also makes group projects run more smoothly. You can collaborate with other Google users in Slides and Docs to create projects even when you aren’t in the same room! Also, Google Drive is free storage for all of your documents, regardless of if they are on Google or not. Simply upload your document to google drive and it’s stored there forever. One other cool tip, it’s accessible from every computer, as long as you know your login info. This makes it super easy to login and do work at school or at someone else’s place.
PLANNER
Don’t question me on this one. This is a necessity. It doesn’t have to be physical, it can be a calendar, but it is a crucial step to getting organized for school. On the first day, you’ll receive all of the due dates for the whole semester and you’ll need somewhere to put them so you don’t show up to class, and all of a sudden, there’s a midterm. I personally use a planner for this because I find that my bullet journal doesn’t allow me to plan ahead enough. Instead, I purchase a day planner that has monthly and weekly spreads. The current one I’m using doesn’t quite seem to be working for me, so I’ll link some other ones.
Let me know what your go-to school supply is below and don’t forget to check out my college videos on my Youtube channel. If you have any topics you’d like me to post about, leave me a comment below, or message me on Instagram or Twitter!
