Getting to college can be both exciting and dreadful. You may anticipate meeting new people and interacting in a different atmosphere, or you may dread complicated classes and getting that much closer to adulthood. If you’re already enrolled, you are probably looking forward to the freedom you have come to enjoy as well as spending time with friends who may not live near you.
Whichever the case, attending college is a necessary part of a successful future and since many people have been through it without a scratch, there’s nothing stopping you from flourishing in college.
It is important to be fully prepared though because we’ve all heard that failing to plan is as good as planning to fail and besides, things do go better with advance planning. It will also take you a shorter time to plan ahead than to fix issues arising from situations that you could have avoided altogether. Following are a few tips to help you out in this part of your life; let’s get into the things to get ready for college.
Used Cars
Transportation is important and you can move it from the list of luxuries because you will be glad to have a means of getting around especially if you live some distance from the college grounds. If you get an internship or a job at some point, you will also need to get there conveniently and safely. While it may be a need, it can be cheap and so going for used cars will be the best deal.
Shop around online and go window-shopping at used car dealerships before you are due to return to college. Enlist a parent or other adult’s help with this as they may know better what will serve you well.
Shopping early will save you the hassle of finding a car in a short time and also ensure you don’t make a decision under pressure that you may regret making in due time.
Clear Teeth Straighteners
If you need to wear clear teeth straighteners for one reason or other, this is the best time to get this out of the way because once in college, you may not have time for this. Head to your orthodontist to get suggestions of teeth straighteners that will help you straighten your teeth.
This is one of the more important things to get ready for college because every second you’re not wearing straighteners is a second you could be getting your teeth aligned.
Some popular clear teeth straighteners include Byte, Newsmile, Invisalign, Alignerco, and Strayt. Depending on your budget, pick one that will serve you well and function as intended. This is an important part that your orthodontist will help you out with and you are better off dealing with one than getting mail-order aligners.
Admissions and Enrollment Management Software
Admissions and enrollment management software helps with everything to do with admissions and enrollment such as handling payments and applications. Some great ones to think about are Salesforce for Education, SchoolAdmin, MyClassCampus, Slate by Tenchnolutions, SurveyMonkey Apply, and Submittable.
If you’re a student leader, this software can save you a lot of hassle and enable your school to overcome significant challenges especially at times of admission and enrollment.
Teeth Whitening Services
Another one of the things to get ready for in college, teeth whitening services can help you get a lot out of your social life. Take advantage of the time before you get to college to visit the family orthodontist who will give you a way ahead and suggest the best procedure for you.
If you have fillings, dark stains, and crowns on your teeth, it is especially important to get help from your dental service provider as they will know what will work best out of an array of strips, pens, and trays. Also, make sure you can identify the source of your discoloration so as to avoid it. If you don’t know what is causing the stains, your dentist can help you figure it out.
You need to be consistent with the method you use to ensure great results, another reason to do it before college gets in session. Also, combine care for your teeth with the whitening program because bright white teeth don’t always reflect a healthy set of teeth.
International Baccalaureate Programs
This rigorous two-year program will make sure you have an internationally recognized diploma on completion as well as extra academic skills. You will be able to transition smoothly from high school to college if you take it in the final two years of your high school education. Enrolling in international baccalaureate programs also gives you an edge when applying to different colleges and sets you up to succeed in a rapidly globalizing world.
It will take a bit of preparation and hard work, which will all be worth it in the end. You, therefore, need to make a mental preparation more than anything else and ask your family for support so you can excel. Out of all the things to get ready for college, this one may be the most crucial as it affects not only your college life but the years beyond it. You stand to become a thinker, good communicator, principled, knowledgeable, risk-taker, reflective, and balanced person, which are all qualities that are necessary to make a change in the world.
Hair Specialist
If you are going to college far from where you live, getting services that seem ordinary and mundane might become a challenge. One of these services is help from a hair specialist. Even if you do your own hair, which is commendable and stands to save you a lot, you may need help once in a while.
A few ways to find a good hair specialist include:
- Looking through Instagram. If a hair specialist or salon offers great services, they are bound to make it public. Finding salon pages on your feed can help you decide if you like the services they offer, which will make it possible for you to window-shop for a hair specialist from the comfort of your couch.
- Once you locate a specialist you think would work for you, ask questions like how far they have continued their education in the hair industry, and if they have enrolled in additional events and courses. All of these point to someone who is keen on learning more and this translates to better skills and services.
- Make an appointment for a light, cheap treatment with the hair specialist you like. This will give you a feel of both their personality and experience.
When you tick this off in your list of things to get ready for college, you are a bit closer to a great time in college. The knowledge that you have someone to bank on for your hair needs will give your social life a great boost.
Fine jewelry
This list of things to get ready for college would not be complete if we did not include fine jewelry. Your time in college may be the time you socialize the most, and so you need to make the most of it. A selection of fine jewelry you can wear to special events is bound to give your wardrobe a memorable lift.
While you don’t need to break the bank- or your parent’s bank for that matter, you can pick a few accent pieces that you keep safe and use to brighten an otherwise regular outfit. Note that you will also make use of jewelry during your graduation, and if you will have accumulated a nice little stash by then, you will have no trouble finding something.
Special gemstones, precious metals, and rare colors or designer pieces all make for a great collection. You can also gift a friend or two some pieces because we all know jewelry makes the best gifts!
24 Hour Emergency Plumbing
If you will be living away from home, you need to make note of a few emergency services and nothing beats plumbing. A plumbing emergency has the potential to destroy your property, give you sleepless nights, and turn your life upside down in just one strike.
While leaking taps and clogged tubs may be easy to fix yourself, sometimes things can get out of hand and it is for this that you need the help of a professional.
Some qualities to look out for when seeking out good emergency service plumbing include:
- The proper licensing and certification from a trustworthy body.
- Experience with a variety of plumbing issues including root intrusions, cracked pipes, and flood damage to name a few.
- Competency to enable them to diagnose situations quickly and provide effective, lasting solutions.
- Reliability to ensure they arrive at the time they said they would and keep to a strict schedule that saves both of you time.
- Is always fully equipped and fixes an issue in one visit because they have all the necessary equipment with them.
- Good communication skills with the ability to hear you out as you voice your concerns and respond without using too many technical terms that will leave you confused.
- Last and most important, they are able to deliver 24 hour emergency plumbing services to enable you to deal with emergencies that don’t exactly follow regular working hours.
Content Marketing
Although college students have the reputation of being constantly broke, this doesn’t have to be the case with you. If you are open to taking up a side hustle and have a natural knack for marketing, this is a viable opportunity for you to make some extra money.
With new businesses springing up left, right, and center, and old ones rebranding to stay ahead of the game, there is no shortage of places where you can offer your content marketing skills. Be confident but be honest about your position as a student, and approach different companies with a plan of what you can do for them.
If you are taking marketing as a course in college, this is an advantage because you can actually practice what you learn. As long as you are good at time management and set aside enough time for your studies, you can build a thriving career right from the time you are in college, and use those years spent practicing to further bolster your career.
Auto Roadside Assistance Services
We started this list with getting a car, and so it only makes sense to end it with car services. This final item in things to get ready for college is important because you never know when your car will break down on a trip to or from somewhere you’re not familiar with. The frustration of being unable to get help from auto roadside assistant services from the place you grew up is bound to give you a headache.
You may need help with any of a number of things including jump-starting a dead battery, fuel, and motor fluid refills, repairing flat tires, problems with your locks, towing, and other things. Having a roadside assistance service that you can call to help with your car at any time within the college’s locale will give you peace of mind. You can take a drive knowing that whatever happens, you are safe and have a backup so when settling down to your new college environment, make sure to find roadside assistance services that can work with you.
This is an exhaustive list of things to get ready for college and we hope it will serve you well. You can drastically decrease the stress that comes with this fast-paced period by making the preparations suggested above. This will not only enable you to focus on your studies fully with no additional stress on the side but will also give you practice for the future.
