When I was a freshman, I considered myself pretty well prepared coming into college. The summer before, I reviewed my list of classes and bought all the supplies I thought I needed: pencils, pens, notebooks, binders. Everything went well until the day my first Chem 109 lab was due and I realized I forgot one thing…..
That’s right, a stapler. You see, what many students don’t realize is that many professors are VERY picky about how they want assignments turned in. Many of my previous professors have required that all work be stapled ahead of time, and don’t provide staplers in their lab/lecture hall. Some even go as far as to not accept work if it hasn’t been stapled before class. If you forget to staple beforehand, you’re out of luck. How would you feel if, at the end of the semester, the only reason you got an AB instead of an A was because you forgot a small piece of metal in the corner of your homework?
That’s why them most useful item I brought with me to college (or bought after I realized my mistake with my lab report) is the common stapler. Just by keeping a small stapler in your backpack, you avoid the stress of trying to remember to staple each and every assignment; plus, when half your class forgets to staple their lab report the morning it’s due, you can save the day and say “I got you”.