The rest of the students’ advice, miscellaneous categories

On Monday, I noted that most of the students’ advice fell neatly into several categories, but there are some odds and ends that are still worth passing along.  For example, on financial readiness:

Save money because funds get depleted faster than you can imagine as a student.

Save a bit more more money for unexpected expenses.

I invested some of my money, so I could “earn” some returns….I bought a new lighter computer, as I would have to carry it all around campus.  I financed it by selling my old laptop.

On a few practical matters:

I looked at moving options. Because there were many of us coming from D.C., we were able to split the moving fees.

In general, any time-consuming task that can be done in advance, I recommend it doing it and getting it out of the way. You’ll need all the time you can get at Fletcher.

On pre-Fletcher reading:

I wish I had spent more time reading fiction.

I recommend reading many books that do not seem to relate our field of study.  You might not have much time to read books out of the IR field after the fall semester starts.

Enjoy reading a good novel since you won’t be reading much besides journal articles, assigned books and texts for the next nine months!  Although all those readings will be very interesting, I wish I had more time to read fun books :).

On not preparing (and an appropriate final suggestion):

Don’t do anything.  Just relax and have a good summer.  You’ll be fine.