11 Absolutely Necessary Grad School Essentials Every Student Needs

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Want to know the grad school essentials that every student should have? These are the absolutely necessary items that need to be with you at all times.

Starting grad school is such an exciting time. If you are like me, you are trying to figure out everything you need before the semester starts. As someone who recently completed grad school, I am giving you the top grad school essentials I would have been lost without.

You are going to learn all about the grad school essentials from grad school supplies, bags for grad school, and more.

After making note of these grad school essentials you will be ready to buckle down and learn!

This post is all about the best grad school essentials every student should have.

Best Grad School Essentials

1. Laptop

For grad school, you will need a laptop so you can do work on the go, take notes in class, and have access to email when you need it. I recommend that you select a lightweight laptop so that you do not have to worry about it being too heavy as you walk around campus. You will likely need to take your laptop with you wherever you go. I have a MacBook Pro and love it! Others I went to school with loved the Windows surface.

Some opt for a tablet to carry around instead. While this is an option, sometimes for class you might need to pull up multiple tabs along with data analysis software, so the tablet may or may not be able to handle those types of tasks. I recommend speaking to students in your program that are ahead of you to see how they chose their primary computer for school. They can provide a lot of insight based on the courses and research activities you will be involved in. With grad school laptops, it is important to choose whichever is the most portable, economic, and has the tech specs that will enable you to do your work to the best of your ability.

2. Planner

You will also need a grad school planner to keep track of classes, meetings, and assignments. Some people like paper planners, some like electronic, and others use both! It is trial and error to figure out which one works for you. I use iCal and this Moleskine Weekly Planner together. My iCal tells me where I am supposed to be when, and my Moleskine tells me what I am supposed to be working on when I get there! I use time blocking to organize my iCal and then I list my to-dos by category, and then by day, in my planner. For more on grad school planners, go check on my friend GradLife Chic’s blog! Also check out the planner company that she co-founded, The Grind Org.

RELATED POST: Time Management

3. To-Go Bottle for Water

You need to have a good reusable water bottle on your list of grad school supplies. Grad school classes can be very long so you will want to have your own water on hand to stay hydrated. You also may want to have a to-go mug for coffee or tea. My favorites brands are S’well and Zojirushi. I recommend filling whichever insulated bottle you choose with ice that way you can ensure that you have cold water all day as you refill!

4. Pens and Highlighters

Although you may want to mostly take notes on your computer, it is still good to have pens and highlighters on hand for note-taking and annotating. Grad school involves a lot of reading and sometimes your eyes might be tired of staring at the screen and you may want a physical copy of your reading material. I love these erasable pens to annotate! I use any type of highlighters, but here are some erasable highlighter options if you prefer them. I even use these pens and highlighters to write in my planner since sometimes appointments change and it’s nice to be able to erase!

5. Cloud Storage System

Whether it be iCloud, Dropbox, Box, or another system, you will want to have reliable cloud storage to store electronic versions of assigned reading and papers you are working on. Given that many are engaging in online learning now, you will want to make sure you have a place to store your materials that will not take up too much space on your actual computer. There are also cloud storage systems that are specifically designed for storing electronic versions of academic papers–my favorite is Readcube.

7. Lunch and Snacks

From classes to workshops and seminars, to study sessions, grad school days can be long and aside from bringing a lunch, you will want snacks to help fuel you through the day. Some of my favorite snacks are fruit (i.e. apples, oranges), chickpeas, and popcorn! I also always had caffeinated and decaffeinated tea bags with me. Sometimes you need a caffeine boost…and sometimes you are just cold and need to hold something warm! haha With proper storage you can bring along smoothies, yogurt, string cheese, and more! Speaking of food storage…

8. To-Go Food Storage

In grad school, I had a couple of storage items that I used to make sure I could bring whatever food I needed for the day, and everything would stay hot/cold. The first item was this Thermos. It is perfect for storing soups and other warm dishes to have at lunchtime. I also used glass tupperware to store food that I meal prepped. To carry everything around in I loved the PackIt lunch bags. The lunch bags are freezable so you do not have to bring ice packs that make your lunch bag heavier! This company has so many different colors and styles of lunch bags to choose from!

Food storage is key because depending on what type of grad program you are in, you may have to go to practicum sites where you may or may not have access to a refrigerator or microwave. So you will want to have the proper food storage so you are not limited in what lunch or snacks you can bring with you.

8. Bag

You need a durable everyday bag to carry all of your grad school essentials in! My absolute favorite is this Longchamp Large Le Pliage Tote – I have been carrying it since college and it is still going strong! As I moved through graduate school I moved to a rolling tote bag. It’s a lot, I know! haha But I found myself having so many books to carry and snacks I wanted to bring that I didn’t want to risk hurting my back/shoulders with a tote or backpack. If you prefer backpacks, here is a cute backpack option I found – it looks very versatile!

When shopping for a bag for grad school, I recommend that you be mindful of what types of pockets the bag has for storage–it could make a big difference when carrying around your everyday grad school essentials!

9. Headphones

You will need a quality pair of headphones so you can listen to the perfect background music or noise for late-night study sessions! I love my Airpods–I love that they are wireless and I can move anywhere with them on without having to worry about the cord getting snagged on anything. I know a lot of my grad school friends loved over the ear headphones for noise cancellation.

10. Chargers (i.e. computer, phone, etc.)

I always kept all of the chargers I needed to get through the day in my school tote at all times. That way I rarely had to worry about forgetting a charger when in a long class or seminar. I kept all of my chargers in a smaller bag inside of my bag so I did not have to dig for them – I knew exactly where they were!

11. Personal Care Items (Lotion, Chapstick, gum…whatever you need!)

Always keep the personal care items you need daily in your school tote. Some of my favorites were lotion chapstick, gum, nail clippers, floss,….the list goes on and on! Having everything I needed with me to make me comfortable made it so that I could withstand late-night study sessions with friends at the library or a local coffeeshop. This is where an everyday bag with lots of pockets would come in handy!

This post was all about the absolutely necessary grad school essentials every student needs.

You will find that as you move through your grad school career, you will certainly tweak this list to best serve your needs! I kept my grad school bag packed at all times. If I took something out of the bag at home I would return it to my bag as soon as I was done using it. That way I never had to worry about forgetting an essential item when going to class!

What grad school essentials are a must-have for you!? Comment below!