I will soon be a college freshman and I don’t know what to carry around in my backpack on a daily basis.
I know for sure that things no longer work like they did in high school. For example, in high school I basically needed a notebook for every subject and one big folder for pretty much every paper I was given, but will I need any notebooks at all in college? If so, how many? Also, should I carry around my laptop in my backpack? Back in high school I carried a big-ass backpack, mainly because sometimes I would have a lot of homework and I would need several books that where usually put away in my locker. Does my backpack need to be any big at all?
A lot of it depends on the nature of your courses (seminars, lectures, labs, etc. along with the subject itself - English, Chemistry, Mandarin, etc.) – a lot of people use one notebook and one folder per course. Some people type up all their notes on a laptop. Some people use binders. A lot of it is completely up to you.
Are you going to be living on campus or commuting? If you’re commuting, you’ll likely need a larger backpack to carry essentials that you can’t leave at home (textbooks that you might need to study in the library, your laptop, a water bottle, umbrella, and so on) - but if you’re living on campus, you have the luxury of only really toting about what you need for any given class which might not even require a backpack at all. A lot of women carry tote bags (the Longchamp Le Pliage is hugely popular at my school) and most guys carry around either an L.L. Bean/North Face/Eddie Bauer/Patagonia/High Sierra backpack.
Personally, I’m the forgetful type. It’s not recommended because of how expensive and heavy textbooks are, but I carry all of my spirals and books with me in case I need them. Of course, people like my sister are the opposite and will just carry what’s needed for that day.
I had someone spill coffee ALL inside my backpack at Starbucks this past spring, so a lot of my books got coffee all over them. Luckily they were just books for reference and not actual textbooks I rented or intended to sell back.
I agree, if you’re commuting, you’re going to want to bring more stuff like snacks, water, books, spirals, emergency medication, umbrella–things that are not as easy to just drive back and get. Of course, on-campus isn’t much better if you’re on a large campus. At bare minimum for success, you should probably carry the textbooks and notebooks you plan on using that day. So maybe you’re going to go to the library after class. You should probably bring those textbooks/notebooks with you.
Lastly, ask yourself, “What worked for me in high school?” If you feel you work better with a notebook for every single class, then get one.
I personally only had one notebook that I used for everything. I had so much homework that things just kept getting mixed around. I didn’t forget any assignments, but I’d get a little scared sometimes when I’d go looking for my homework assignment and I couldn’t find it only to find it the exact second it needed to be turned in because it accidentally got stuck with another stapled paper :D.
But just know that in the dead of the semester, that backpack WILL get heavier, even if you don’t add anything to it.
Personally, I carried my backpack with me everywhere or at least nearby (in my car). Inside, I had at least 10 pens, a graphing calculator, my iclicker, a poly-subject file folder, a mini umbrella, my laptop and charger, and 1 spiral notebook (all of my notes were within my laptop and notebook was for anything I needed paper for).
Textbooks I needed to bring to class were kept in my car and were only taken out when I needed it.
Last year, I almost always had my backpack with me with the exception of music rehearsals in the evening (even then, I often had it with me if I didn’t have a chance to go back to the dorm). I also carried a purse, which I never did in high school.
My backpack has a lot of stuff in it. I always had dance stuff (pants/shorts, shirt, knee pads, half-socks, jazz shoes, etc), basic first aid stuff (bandaids and my ace bandages), umbrella, pencil pouch, graphing calculator(s), some music (piano stuff mainly), my folders (one had papers for class in it, the other had loose leaf) and I almost always had my laptop with me, even though most professors at my college don’t allow us to use laptops during class. Then I would in the morning put what I needed for my morning classes in it and switch out my stuff during lunch for afternoon classes if I could. Second semester was a little bit more hectic, so I tended to just put all my books for the day in there so I wouldn’t have to go back to the dorm. I think I’ll probably continue with this pattern next semester because of how my schedule lined up (my dorm is far for the dining hall and close to my morning classes, but not my afternoon classes).
It depends on what classes your taking, but I had to bring my textbooks for a lot of classes to class, especially for my math and music classes. I generally tried to keep the textbooks for the day’s classes with me so that after or in between classes I could work on hw. I used my laptop a lot too since I had evening music rehearsals. I would work on it before rehearsals in the music building.
This is not something you’re expected to have optimized on day one.
A lot of this depends on you and your schedule for any given day. You’ll figure it out pretty quickly. College isn’t a magically different place. Think through your day and bring things you might need. If you’re going to class, bring something to take notes on and to take notes with. If you’re a paper kind of person, bring a notebook/binder/paper and a pen/pencil. If you’re an electronic kind of person, bring your computer or tablet (although, it’s good, in general, to have a piece of paper and a pen/pencil, just in case, but usually other students will give you a piece if you need one). Textbooks are generally not needed in class, but if you find that you need/want it, then bring it.
Then just bring things that you might need the rest of the day. Wallet, keys, phone, an umbrella if it’s raining (or might rain), a jacket if you need one, a water bottle/snacks if you want it. If you’re going to be out all day, bring things to do. If you think you’re going to the library after class, bring what you need to study. Really, it’s not rocket science. I’m sure you’ll be fine.
This is what my dd carries in a small backpack:
- Keys for apartment and bike lock and student ID (attached to lanyard)
- iPhone, small IPad
- memory stick
- 1 spiral notebook,
- mechanical pencil, a highlighter, pen,
- ATM card
Stuff I almost always carry on me, regardless of whether I’m going to class or not:
Cell phone
Wallet with student ID, driver’s license, ATM card, gift cards etc.
Keys
I often just take notes in one of those 5-subject notebooks (better than 5 notebooks unless you forget it). I rarely use my laptop for notes although I tried LaTeX-ing my notes one semester to reasonable success. Also pens/pencils, earbuds. I don’t often carry much else though.
Headphones. Trust me.
Also forgot to add USB and headphones lol. I was willing to drive 30 minutes to go back to my apartment just for my headphones.
^Something I had no idea until I worked there was that you could check out headphones, USBs, calculators, and other random things at my school’s library. Don’t be afraid to ask, just in case your school does too.
Don’t forget to bring a towel…
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels.
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value — you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble‐sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand‐to‐hand‐combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindbogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you — daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: nonhitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might have accidentally "lost.". What the strag will think is that any man that can hitch the length and breadth of the Galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through and still know where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in "Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is."
^^^^ Love this!
I was willing to drive 30 minutes to go back to my apartment just for my beats because the headphones you can check out from the library were doodoo and probably older than me*
All the essential “school stuff” for starters: pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, folders, calculator, etc. On top of that is more variable. Headphones are good, a couple powerbars are a good idea. I might also reccommend from experience contact lens solution, pepto bismol and a small travel umbrella. Not a bad idea to have a backup pair of sunglasses in there as well.
Realize that unlike high school, you will have fewer classes in a day, so you won’t need to be carrying around as many books and notebooks each day.
This girl’s YouTube videos may come in handy: [What’s in My School Bag](What's in my School Bag?! - YouTube) and [What to Bring to College](What to Bring to College - YouTube)
It depends. My freshman year I ended up carrying around a ton of stuff that I thought I would need, and never actually needed.
Now I carry around my laptop (sometimes), two 5-subject notebooks (one for notes, one for practice problems and homework), and whatever textbooks I need that day. In my experience though, most classes don’t really require students to actually have the textbook in class with them. For the first couple weeks I’ll usually always bring my books to my classes, but after that I just kind of feel out whether or not I’ll actually need it in class. If I don’t think I will, then I’m not going to carry it around. That really depends on the class though.
Aside from that, just a couple of pens, my pencil with some spare lead and erasers, and my calculator. That’s really about it.
And as previously pointed out…Don’t forget to bring a towel. That’s the best advice in the whole thread.