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This sounds kind of lame, but I was wondering if anyone could give any recommendations on school supplies/products to buy for the first year - I understand self-explanatory supplies like a laptop, pens, highlighters, planner, etc, but what about for classes? One binder for each class? One notebook with divided sections? Do I need folders for hand-outs and guides? Just general stuff like that for planning/organizing materials. Thanks for the help!

It depends on how you plan on taking notes and being organized for class.

I took notes by hand because some professors didn't allow laptops, but no professor required them, so I just got used to writing. I had a separate notebook for each class (100-150 pgs), which was enough for most classes. The notebooks had a cardboard pocket insert that I would use for handouts. The only problem with this approach is that if you type out case briefs/book notes, its a separate "pile" of notes than your class notes.

You can also use a binder for each class and use filler/loose paper to take notes. The good thing about this approach is that you can type book notes/briefs and insert them into the 3-ring binder where they correspond with your class notes.

You can also use your laptop to take notes, in which case, you probably just need a single multi-subject notebook to keep track of handouts, draw diagrams, etc. The good part is that its really easy to keep organized, but personally, I feel like I don't learn as much when I type notes versus writing them.

I never needed many supplies other than pens and highlighters because I did all of my note-taking and outlining on my computer. 1L year I also used a couple of binders and tabs to make crazy research binders for my legal writing class. A couple of notebooks are always good to keep on hand, but may not be necessary. Other than that I can't think of much.

I stock up on highlighters any time they are giving them away for free at school. Same w/ post-its, water bottles, etc. Don't buy a bunch of desk crap just yet. You'll figure out what you need as you go along. Trust me, walgreens won't run out of pens. Buy some pens/legal pads/post its/etc. But don't go crazy and spend money on insane amounts of stuff. You seriously get a lot of free crap at school if you look around at what orgs/barbri/westlaw/others are handing out.

Yeah - don't buy tabs, highlighters, or post-its. Westlaw/Lexis/Bloomberg give them away all the time (pens too, but I'm picky about pens).