Freshmen, Don’t Forget These Items!
A short list of essentials you’ll miss if you forget to bring them with you to college.
Some personal and academic items are obviously not going to be forgotten as you head to college for the first time. Clearly you’ll need a backpack and other study and dorm supplies, but some items aren’t as obvious. So here’s a run down of the commonly over-looked or forgotten items that aren’t necessarily on your average college supply lists.
1) A paper planner or calendar. You’re probably going to enter everything into your cell phone but you should also write things down on a hard copy in your room. In the even that your phone is lost, stolen, or broken, you will still have your schedule and important due dates available to you until you can replace it. Also, it’s something you can glance at every morning. It’s a little harder to ignore that upcoming exam when it’s on your calendar in red.
2) At least one professional outfit. You might need it for a job interview, classroom presentation, or networking event. You might want it for a date. Don’t forget the shoes.
3) A collapsible drying rack. If you have items of clothing that need to hang dry, it can be a life saver. You don’t want to completely rely on the use of a (likely shared) bathroom to hang items up to dry. Additionally, if you have a particularly expensive item of clothing, it’s likely safer drying in your room, rather than tumbling in a community dryer in your dorm.
Clothes get stolen all the time. If you’re not planning on watching your laundry the whole time, protect the items you’d most hate to lose by removing them earlier. People are generally less likely to steal wet clothes vs. dry. To be fair, laundry bandits can strike anytime, but over all, dry clothes are a lot more appealing and are more likely to disappear!
4) An emergency phone numbers list and identification, medical, and financial documents. Especially if you don’t have all your emergency numbers memorized, don’t forget to write them down and store them someplace safe in case of a lost or dead phone. Ensure you also have your pertinent medical documents like insurance cards. Don’t forget your social security card and other identification that you might need for things like applying for jobs.
5) A decent raincoat, umbrella, and cold weather clothing as appropriate. Weather happens even when you need to get to class. Don’t forget, just because you’re in Texas (or another warm state), doesn’t mean cold weather doesn’t happen. When it does, you’ll want to be prepared- especially if you have to leave your dorm to get to class, work, or get a meal.
6) A Thermometer, a simple first aid kit, and basic medicines like painkillers, allergy medication, cough suppressant, and antacids. Especially now, you should have your own for your dorm or apartment. You wouldn’t believe how many students don’t even have a band aid for when they need one!
7) A mini safe or small lock box that you can secure to your bed or in some other fashion. It doesn’t have to be a huge investment, it just has to keep small valuables and things like your social security card safe. Do NOT keep your important documents and valuables in your car.
8) Simple back-up sheets. There’s all kinds of reasons your sheets might need to be washed just when you really can’t do laundry. Having a second set can be a life saver.
9) USB flash drives. Yes, you might still need to use them. They’re cheap and easy to use, and if the internet goes down and you can’t access cloud storage, you’ll want it.
10) An extra phone charger or two. Your phone is pretty useless if the battery dies. Just keep an extra charger handy. You’d be surprised how often they are lost on campuses.
11) At least one thermos mug and an oversized ceramic mug or microwavable bowl. Even if you plan on always eating and drinking at the dining hall, I promise you, at some point you’ll want a mug. You’ll also likely want to be able to microwave liquids at some point, so make sure you have an appropriate dish.
12) Mace or pepper spray. It doesn’t matter if you’re a guy or a lady, bring mace. I’d love to say that all colleges are safe, but plenty of data says otherwise. Hopefully you’ll never need it.
13) An overnight bag. It might be a short research or extracurricular trip. It might just be a quick trip home. Having an overnight back is always a good idea.
14) Extra masks. Even if your college doesn’t require them, local business that you’ll want to patronize still might! Have some on hand even if you don’t normally wear one.
15) A filter pitcher and water bottles. Sometimes dorm water is just awful! That doesn’t mean you’ll want to buy bottled water for the foreseeable future. If you can afford get a pitcher, do it.
Small items like paper plates, can openers, tissues, nail clippers, batteries, backup toilet paper, pocket knives, scissors, duct tape, stapler, basic cleaning supplies, pencil sharpeners, flashlights and extension cords are also commonly forgotten and usually sorely missed when needed. So make your list, check it over a few times, and be prepared.
Good luck as you start this new and exciting chapter of your life!
