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Late Preparations

During this last month

  1. Look carefully at your class schedule. Mistakes happen, and you will find it much easier to correct them in the week or two before classes start.
  2. Do a campus walk-through. We are a small campus, but we are still big enough to be confusing. Some buildings are known by more than one name. (A great example is the building our class is in: commonly called Bixler, it’s on the campus map as “Center for Humanities 14,” and it shows up in your computer list as “Center for Humanities Bixler.”) Your Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule is different from your Tuesday-Thursday schedule. Walk both of them and actually find the rooms.
  3. Get an eye exam. Don’t laugh. At least one student in every section I teach sits in the back, squinting and struggling to see the board. If you need glasses, get them. Wear them. They don’t look weird.
  4. Go shopping. I assume you’ll buy new clothes and such, but don’t go overboard. What you wore in high school will probably work in college. Do be aware, though, that your class schedule will probably have you doing ten minutes of power-walking several times a week in November weather. If your aunt wants to buy you clothing, ask for boots, hat, gloves, and a warm coat. Dorm room stuff? Again, don’t go overboard. Those rooms are tiny, and you don’t know what your roommate will bring. If you are thinking of renting a truck to bring your stuff, you should scale back.

Things to buy before you get here

  • Books? Probably not. A better option is to wait until you get here and buy them at the college bookstore. Books are very expensive and places like Amazon can save you money, but Amazon can cause trouble too.
    • For one thing, you will probably need your books by the second week of class, and you don’t want to wait for Amazon to get around to sending them.
    • For another, the college book market is very confusing. If you order the wrong one, you will face a delay and extra expense. The campus bookstore has what you need, and they are quite good about getting things before the first day.
    • Our course will not have any purchased books. (Everything is online.) Don’t panic about buying textbooks for our course.
  • Computer stuff
    • I will have more to say about computers in a week or so. Don’t panic! If you have a good working computer from high school, just bring that. We have computer labs on campus, too.
    • Apple/Windows/Chrome? They all work here.
    • Tablets? Perhaps. You will be writing papers that are four or five pages long, so if you’re doing hunt-and-peck on a glass screen, you will go insane. Those new “tablet plus a keyboard thing” devices (Microsoft Surface is one example) might be OK, but if you’re buying, spend some time in the computer store trying the keyboard to see if you can really use it. If you just have a tablet alone, you can probably buy a Bluetooth keyboard to go with it.
    • Just a phone? It’s technically possible to type a paper on a phone, but you will waste a lot of time that way. You need something better.
    • Do not buy a copy of Microsoft Word. You can get it free, and there are other alternatives you might like. (I’m a much bigger fan of both Google Docs and Apple Pages.)
  • Notebooks, pens and paper. Definitely. Try out several pens and buy a couple that work well for you. You will be doing a LOT of writing in college. I recommend a wire-bound notebook for each class you take.
  • Backpack or courier bag. You’ll need a portable office, and a good backpack is a great help. I am also a fan of accordion file folders, the kind with several pockets so you can organize things for each class. Teachers will give you loose handouts, and you want them available.
  • Office supplies. Take a trip to a place like Office Max or Staples and stock up. You will want (at least) highlighters, a good stapler, staples, pens, paper, and paper clips. I get a lot of use from a ruler. If you are bringing your own computer printer (not a bad idea), get a package of ink cartridges. All these things are available at the campus bookstore, but the selection is limited and the prices are higher. Besides, if you take your rich uncle with you, he might pay for the supplies.
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