Soo, since school is just around the corner i will be doing some school supply shopping; however, i've never supply shopped going into university, so i'm not sure what i'll need. i'll be entering the nursing program which means i'll be taking physiology & anatomy classes, psychology, as well as biochemistry. my electives include linguistics, human geography and history of music (1aa3) ... though i'm just going to shop for what i need this term (linguistics). should i get binders, or notebooks? if so, how many, and how big? i have a laptop that i'll be bringing with me to lectures, but i'm not sure how often i'll be using it in the classes i'll be taking. soo, any suggestions would be great!

I got into the habit of using duitangs last year because I found the pages easily fall out of notebooks and binders take a lot of space. The good thing with duitangs is you can add pages at anytime if you have missed a class and they are super cheap.

My basics include: clipboard, loose papers, 4-5 binders. I bring the clipboard with paper to school and at the end of the day, I just transfer the pages to binders I have at home =)

A functional bag is good too! Something that will hold those heavy textbooks, but not too big that it bashes people from behind on the bus! Some people have a recorder, but I find that a waste of time b/c you're doubling your lecture times... and you might not have that much time in the day.

If you have an SPC card, you can shop at Zellers and save 10% (some exclusions apply though)!!

They give you a MAC clipboard during welcome week. I've using this for almost every class for 3 years. I just take out my paper and write down notes and then file it back at rez in a couple binders. There's no need to bring lots to lecture, most lectures you either print off notes or will write on paper. I've never brought my laptop to lecture before, and I don't find too many people doing it. But some people like to type so they don't fall behind. I would suggest you not go buy tons of stuff yet, and wait until you see what you need. A lot of courses also do the work straight from courseware so you don't need to bring anything extra.

Instead of binders, I use loose leaf binder rings (http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/ca...fixedcod e=WW) which are binder rings that are not clamped in a binder. And then I put everything in a plastic. Its HALF the size of a binder and HALF the weight and still extremely organized!

Does anyone know if the 2008/09 SPC is out yet? And if so, where can you buy it from?

Originally Posted by mitch

They give you a MAC clipboard during welcome week. I've using this for almost every class for 3 years. I just take out my paper and write down notes and then file it back at rez in a couple binders. There's no need to bring lots to lecture, most lectures you either print off notes or will write on paper. I've never brought my laptop to lecture before, and I don't find too many people doing it. But some people like to type so they don't fall behind. I would suggest you not go buy tons of stuff yet, and wait until you see what you need. A lot of courses also do the work straight from courseware so you don't need to bring anything extra.

I never got a free clipboard =(
Is this only for those on res?

Originally Posted by Videlle

Instead of binders, I use loose leaf binder rings (http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/ca...fixedcod e=WW) which are binder rings that are not clamped in a binder. And then I put everything in a plastic. Its HALF the size of a binder and HALF the weight and still extremely organized!

Oh! I love those. They're great for night class, when you have tons of papers... lol. I managed to grab some a while back at the dollar store near my house =)

Originally Posted by Videlle

Does anyone know if the 2008/09 SPC is out yet? And if so, where can you buy it from?

It's out =)
I ordered mine online ... and it came out to $10.50. I also got a $10 Best Buy coupon =D

Anyways... the stores that sell them...
http://www.spccard.ca/get-the-card.aspx

Yeah, the free clipboard is given to the students on rez. I need a new one every year because it is totally ruined after 8 months!

Originally Posted by mitch

Yeah, the free clipboard is given to the students on rez. I need a new one every year because it is totally ruined after 8 months!

I see... I guess I still have to keep buying mine =/ ... I live at home.

Yay, I won a McMaster notebook and clipboard at the wheel game at Welcome Day. I'm going to have two now I guess lol

Haha. I wanna win a notebook too. ;P

Well, today I bought a huge academic calender that dates from August 2008-July 2009. I'm using it to write down assignments and plan out my weeks/months which is said to be essential in university.

I bought five notebooks for five classes (where pages can be taken out) and I also bought five colourful folders in case I want to transfer notes into them.

Pencils (plus lead if you have mechanical) pens (blue, black & red) and highlighters are usually the basics, and really all you need. (Maybe a ruler too.) In the end though, I'm going into my first year and I'll see what works and what doesn't work. For example, writing down on paper vs. Laptop.

But that's for social sciences classes. For everything else, calculator, graph paper, math set, all that nice jazz. ;P

It's hard to tell you what to buy, because there are so many note taking options. Basically you have:
- notebooks (one with all your classes or one for each class)
- binders
- clipboard
- laptop

What I bought in terms of school supplies was
- pens, pencils, highlighter
- one notebook for each class
- bag big enough to fit my laptop
- agenda

Plus clothes. I have no idea what specific things to buy for your program though.



**IF YOU ARE USING A LAPTOP TO TAKE YOUR NOTES, ALWAYS TAKE A PEN AND PAPER JUST IN CASE!

I was just wondering...do we get an agenda or anything or should we buy our own?

The MSU gives away free ones! They're in the MSU swag bags, which I believe they start giving out on the Tuesday of Welcome Week. You also get a wall calender, a reusable mug and a bunch of other free stuff!

YAY MSU!! <3