5 Things to Buy or Set Up for a First Time College Student

The Problem: First Time College Students Don't Know What They Need Because They've Never Been to College

If your son or daughter is going off to college for the first time, I have no doubt they will tell you all about the laptop, iPad, and smart phone that they absolutely need. While they do need some of those things, this is a list of smaller, very helpful, 100% academic things that help my students.

I am not affiliated with any of these companies or products. I just like what they do.

1. Wolfram Alpha

If your first time college student is going to be taking precalculus, calculus, or beyond, check out Wolfram Alpha. I would purchase their pro for students for $4.75 a month. What is great about it is that it breaks problems down step by step so they can get help even when the tutoring center is closed.

If you don't purchase the pro version, still go check it out because it can help you in Biology 1107K by helping you compute homozygote frequency using the Hardy-Weinburg equation. 

​Still not impressed? They can also help you write electron configurations for your Chemistry 1211. Yes! Seriously.

​That is all in addition to the math help they can offer you. It's a really great tool to have in your back pocket!

2.An Agenda

I don't care if you buy an agenda, use your phone(Did you know you can set alarms to go off when you enter a certain location?!), or use a Google calendar. But, set up an organization method so that you don't forget tests and projects. Trust me-there are plenty of professors who will have no problem weeding you out of their program because you "aren't ready" when you really just need to organize yourself!

3.Scantrons

Buy Scantrons, or whatever your professors prefer, and keep them in your backpack for when you forget about the exam. At least you will be able to take the exam! You can even charge your classmates who did forget, $0.25 per Scantron and you will pay for your packet of Scantrons that way. Or, you could be nice and give them away. It's your choice!

4. Set up Dropbox 

Or, you could buy a flash drive bracelet. I like the bracelets because they get washed...less. I like Dropbox(or other cloud storage brands) better than flash drives because you can't lose a cloud! I have a flash drive bracelet and I love it. But, you would not believe the amount of flash drives that are left in the computer lab...EACH WEEK! So make this decision...carrrefullyyy.

5. Ecampus Giftcard for Textbook Rentals

The easiest place I've found to use a gift card for renting textbooks is with Ecampus. You can buy gift cards for college students textbooks here. They can be in amounts of $25, $50, $100 and the best part is that the gift cards can't be spent on beer, or ice cream, or other necessities.

​What do you think of this list? Did I miss something helpful?