Going back to school is always hard. After all, we just spent a few months doing everything but school. Still it pays to get ready ahead of time and I would like to remind people of what to get for school and where.

Since this is the 21^st century the first thing you should focus on is getting a decent laptop. Laptops come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. There are heavy-weighing gaming laptops which have enough processing power for any video game or engineering majoring. Then we have the Chromebook which offer sleek performance in a light-weight shell. Although the bookstore at USG doesn’t offer laptops, they do offer many useful laptop accessories. Also, for interested students, there are school discounts on laptops purchased online with codes at the USG website. These purchase programs can be found at: https://shadygrove.umd.edu/campus-resources/office-of-information-technology/additional-services/computer-software-purchases. Software is also available for purchase but can be free depending on your school.

Perhaps just as important as laptops can be the mighty pen and paper. In this case, you’ll need notebooks, scrap paper, pens, pencils (or some variant of), highlighters, and folders. Everyone has different preferences and so your ultimate school kit will be filled with whatever helps you most. I recommend at the minimum; pens, pencils, mechanical pencils, highlighters, notecards, 1 subject notebook for each course, and folders. All of these and more can be found at the bookstore.

Of course, any post on school preparation isn’t complete without talking about the dreaded textbooks. The cost of which feel like robbery sometimes. When purchasing or renting your textbooks you have a few options. The bookstore is a solid option when you want to rent and even purchase certain used books. The bookstore also has a website where you can purchase your textbooks and other school materials/apparel. The website can be found at: https://shadygrove.bncollege.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/BNCBHomePage?storeId=39051&catalogId=10001&langId=-1.