University Essentials

I'm currently one week and two exams away from finishing my second year at university, and over the last two years I've become an expert on what you really need to manage at university.

1) A planner

Some kind of organisational system is essential for life at university. You're gonna have a lot of meetings, particularly in the first few weeks and then of course you have lectures and seminars to attend. Towards the end of the year you'll probably have revision sessions and the like, so some kind of diary is definitely going to help organise your life.

2) Pens

This one goes with the first one really, but having coloured pens will just make organisation a bit more interesting. There's only so many times you can write the same lectures in every week in the same old black pen!

3) Textbooks

To be honest, this is probably a bit more specific to my course, but having all the textbooks we're studying is so important. The only person who's going to suffer if you don't do the reading is you, and you don't want to look like an idiot if you're the only person who hasn't done it.

These things obviously go alongside all the obvious things: pens, paper, etc. I just thought it would be helpful for people who are interested about what actually gets used at university, because I know that in first year I brought a load of stuff that I never used again.

What are your university essentials?