September’s finally begun, which means preparations for the new academic year are in full swing. If you feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin, here’s a list of affairs to get in order before your first day back at Middlesex University Dubai!
Send in applications for leadership positions: At Middlesex, applications for core committee positions within clubs and societies are reviewed right when the academic year begins; so the summer before you get back on campus is a great time to assess your extracurricular options and send in applications before you get busy with your academic workload. Contact the Student Activities department for information on open positions!
Apply for a student Nol card: Popular transportation options amongst students (detailed in a past blog post) include the Dubai Metro, Dubai Tram and RTA Bus, all of which can be made more affordable by switching your regular Nol card out for a student Nol card; this gets you a 50% discount on your trips, so apply for one before the academic year begins, to ensure an affordable commute from Day 1.
Organize your schedule: Downloading organizational applications like Notion, TimeTree and OWaves (detailed in a past video) allows you to stay on top of upcoming events, deadlines and to-do lists; getting these applications in order before the year begins ensures that you hit the ground running and thrive during a hectic first week.
Collect your student ID: Having spent a majority of their first year online/off-campus, a large number of students didn’t need to collect their Middlesex Student IDs from the student office; if you haven’t yet, don’t forget to pick yours up, because in addition to being required for identification purposes on campus, your ID can be used to secure student discounts at clothing stores, gyms and bookshops across Dubai.
Invest in a charger with multiple ports for your phone and laptop: At Middlesex, students are required to digitally register their details at the entrance and exit of every block they enter throughout the day (a COVID policy used to track the number of students in a building at a particular point in time). So, ensuring that your phone stays charged all day can save you the hassle of registering manually. Furthermore, with the university’s no-paper-handouts COVID policy, students are required to access documents digitally; this means a charged laptop is vital during seminars. With most wall sockets occupied by other students’ charging devices, it can be a good idea to carry along a charger with multiple ports, allowing you to charge all your devices without requiring multiple sockets.
Carry along an insulated water bottle: Regardless of the season, Dubai can get extremely humid and you could do with a bottle of cold water to stay hydrated, especially when walking between blocks. Instead of stopping at the cafeteria every half an hour for chilled water, invest in an insulated bottle so your drink stays cold all day despite the heat.
While pre-uni to-do lists can differ greatly between people, these were a couple general points that apply to most students at Middlesex- I hope they inspire you to prepare for a great year ahead!
