First of all, it's not about the stuff.

School is not about the things you buy or the clothes you wear. It's all about learning as much as you can before graduation.

That said, there's some super-cool stuff out there for back-to-school.

But how do you know what's in and what's not when you're so busy studying?

Allow us and the trusty sources we met in the trenches of back-to-school shopping, to guide you through our top five just-gotta-have-its for school this year, starting with:

No. 1: The perfect, age-appropriate backpack.

It'll be glued to your shoulders all year, so you'd better make it...