Back to school shopping list for university

Laptop

A good laptop is important for taking notes, accessing course materials, writing papers and so much more! You can find suggested devices based on your faculty on the IT Services website.

To ensure that your laptop is updated with the appropriate software needed for a successful school year, check out the Software Portal for all of your software needs!

Water bottle

Staying hydrated is a must in between classes and study sessions! If you’re interested in Ontario Tech merchandise, our bookstore has a water bottle available for purchase.

Backpack

A reliable backpack is crucial for safely moving all of your school supplies to and from classes. I personally love backpacks with wheels. It is so convenient and takes the strain off of my neck and shoulders. My backpack is a Tracker Wheeled Laptop backpack from Bentley. 

Pencils

These are essential for completing labs and tutorial assignments! I prefer mechanical pencils so that I don’t have to worry about sharpening them. 

Pens

It is recommended to write assignments, midterms and exams in pen so it’s always helpful to have them on hand! I love coloured pens for making my notes vibrant and fun.

Highlighters

Highlighters are great for outlining important details in assignments and readings!

Sharpies

Sharpies are a Science lab must-have for marking microcentrifuge tubes, Petri dishes and more! 

Ruler

 A ruler is always helpful in the event of drawing graphs, labelling diagrams etc.

Calculator

A good calculator will come in handy for courses that require you to do calculations! My brand of choice is Casio, it has gotten me through my 3 years at Ontario Tech.

Folders

I recommend folders for keeping loose papers or printed materials organized. This helped me a ton during labs and tutorials.

Notebook

My favourite notebooks that I buy time and time again are the campus bookstore ones that are 5 subjects and say Ontario Tech on them/ They last forever and are a great notebook to carry in your backpack to ensure that I’m never without lined paper.

I have an Instagram link to a post where I showed what the notebook looks like: 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sylvia (she/her) 🇨🇦 (@studywithsylvia) on Apr 27, 2020 at 11:38am PDT

Mini-stapler

A mini-stapler comes in handy when I need to staple my printed lab report minutes before it’s due but don’t have enough time to run to the library! It will also gain popularity among your peers who are in the same boat.

Planner or wall calendar

There’s nothing worse than when midterm week rolls around and the cramming has to begin because I didn’t realize that I had two midterms on the same day! To avoid this a planner or wall calendar is helpful to keep track of important dates for assignments, midterms and exams. 

Textbooks

To find any textbooks that I might need for the upcoming semester I would refer to the syllabus or check out the Campus Bookstore which has a search engine to narrow down your hunt based on department, course and section.

Finally, make sure you check your syllabus for any other supplies you may need. Oftentimes the syllabus or lab outline will state if there are any mandatory materials that need to be purchased for the course such as a computer program, lab coat, goggles, or lab notebook.

Happy school supply shopping!