Alec
Is it necessary to become efficicent using Microsoft Office to make your college career easier?
I know that there are different majors in college and I was curious about how often Office will be used throughout college. I used word sometimes during high school but it was different because we were in a classroom. Should I familiarize myself with all the programs such as, Word, Power Points, Excel and Publisher? #college #technology #tech #microsoft #office
8 answers
sivasankari chandrasekaran
sivasankari’s Answer
With my 14+ years of experience, all office environments only used and uses Microsoft Office software. Yes, the hands-on on MS Office will definitely help you get the job done much faster and simpler.
Wael Al-Rihawi
Wael’s Answer
Yes! You are going to need to present your work regularly and that what you are going to use.
Run Muth
Run’s Answer
Yes, I believe it is necessary to learn at least the basics, especially in Excel, Word, and Power Point. For example, at the minimum, you can use Excel to help you organize data or track grades in your classes. Learn Word so when you have reports and essays you need to write that require you to cite references, etc., you'll be ready for that. Learn Power Point to make your presentations interesting and captivating when you have to present your work.
Run recommends the following next steps:
Prashad Lodhia
Prashad’s Answer
This is speaking from my personal experience in the organisations where I worked:
Microsoft Office is THE most often used software and not knowing how to effectively use the core office programmes (Outlook, Powerpoint, Excel, Word) is in my opinion the digital equivalent of being illiterate. It will make doing your primary task (the reason your were hired) more difficult.
Now technology moves fast and organisations have been picking up other tools which are used instead of MS Office. But there is no clear winner yet so spending time using MS Office would be very beneficial if not essential.
Andy Simpkins
Andy’s Answer
IT is not essential but I would expect that most of your college and University work will need to presented in a professional format, there are other office style products that remain compatible. I would suggest it is time well spent and will save you lots of hear ache when it comes to submission. It will also help should you intern and once graduated employers will expect you to have knowledge of such products.
Ahmed FATHI
Ahmed’s Answer
I would advice so, maybe not Expert level, but it would be nice to know your way around Office.
That if your field doesn't require it explicitly. But if you study Finance or any field requiring massive calculation, charts....you must get a good level at Excel.
PowerPoint is a must for presentations: presenting your work, results....
Also, depending of your field, you might need to get better at Word: Law school, Literature....
Bottom line, the level you need on Office will depend in what major you are in.
Kolbe Alsobrooks
Kolbe’s Answer
Here are some tips on using Office.
Excel: Make sure you learn the keyboard shortcuts. You'll be able to move around an excel sheet so much faster than using a mouse. Google excel keyboard shortcuts for a helpful list. Personal favorites are ctrl-(and any arrow key) to go to the furthest most point of your data or ctrl-shift-8 to highlight an entire table.
Also, be sure to learn about sum, vlookup, and if/or/and statements if you're going into a STEM field. I use these formulas everyday. If you're feeling particularly adventurous, try learning VBA scripting. You can automate a lot of processes using VBA.
PowerPoint: If I had a nickel for every bad Power Point presentation I sat through in college..... Seriously! Live by this PowerPoint rule: Keep.Slides.Simple. That's it. No crazy animations, no psychedelic colors, and no paragraphs of text. Microsoft has hundreds of templates on their website you can download for free. Use one of those and I guarantee your presentation will look better than 90% of your peers.
Word: Similar story to PowerPoint. If you need to write a report there are plenty of templates available. If you want to get particularly creative, google what font/styles Tesla, Apple, or Nike uses for their quarterly reports or any other reports and use that font and try to emulate the style. Keep in mind if you download a font from the internet, its likely your graders won't have it. So, export your report to PDF before sending it to be graded and you should be fine.
Hope you find the tips useful! If you're interested in an additional program, download Power BI (its free). That program has alot of great features for finance or engineering applications.
Roy Prabuddha
Roy’s Answer
Should you choose to dive into learning the Microsoft suite, there are some great short YouTube videos. These resources are packed with valuable tips that can greatly enhance your skills.
Hope this helps!