<p>To current students (or anyone who knows):</p>
<p>How much paper do you carry in your bag in a day? Do you receive any sheets/copies/etc. in classes?</p>
<p>Do you need to bring textbooks to class? Or carry textbooks out of your room, at all?</p>
<p>Is using laptops for notetaking in class encouraged or common? </p>
<p>(Thanks. Especially thanks if you are taking a lot of math and science and have good info on that situation.)</p>
<p>I've taken several math/science classes at Columbia this past year:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>It depends on how many classes you have back-to-back. At any given point, I only had a notebook and a couple of writing utensils in my bag because after class I would always go home and switch them around for my next subject. And yes, on occasion you do receive sheets from the professors/TA's (homework assignment, syllabus, other worksheets, etc.)</p></li>
<li><p>A small handfull of students bring textbooks to class, but they're not required IMO not as useful in class as people seem to think. The professors cover so much in a lecture, it would be hard to keep track of him while perusing your book at the same time. Just take thorough notes in class and when you get to your room you can cross-reference study with the text.</p></li>
<li><p>Maybe several students in a lecture of 150 or so will have a laptop for notetaking (and in math/science it's even less), so it's definitely not a common thing to do. And by no stretch of the imagination is bringing a laptop to class (or even taking notes at all) encouraged, but kids do it anyway. It's all personal preference. I did it the old-fashioned way (with pen and spiral notebook) and did just fine.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hmm</p>
<p>I guess I won't be buying a new laptop then.</p>
<p>Shucks =(</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Why not? It's still really convenient (very much so in comparison to a desktop).</p>
<p>True, but why would anyone need it if they don't need it for class? Lug around 3-6 lbs all the time for nothing? Since I'm not in college yet, I really have no idea what kinds of things can come up--as far as I can imagine, it might be good only for checking email, typing up things, IMs, browsing online.</p>
<p>Hmm...what about writing that long term paper on the beautiful steps of Low Library? ;)</p>
<p>Unless you prefer getting a 100 feet extension cable for your desktop, hehe.</p>
<p>yeah, laptops are for outdoor enjoyment and for convenience in the library for, say, the little study desks that don't have computers on them, and so you don't have to email essays to yourself or put essays on a disk when you leave your room to work someplace else, or maybe you want to work on a couch instead of at a desk or something</p>
<p>Heh good point</p>
<p>I guess a laptop would enable you to also be much more social--instead of being closeted up in your room doing work, you can sit out in the open in public or in the library in the company of friends and still keep connected</p>
<p>You're welcome to disagree with me, but sometimes there can be no greater distraction in a lecture hall than the kid with the laptop. Generally, it's a nonissue, but more often than not, the students fire up AIM and punch away at the keyboard throughout the class talking to whomever (and sometimes it's to someone in the same lecture). Hence, one of the shortfalls of wireless internet all over the campus.</p>
<p>Meh I decided to scrap getting a new pc and instead upgrade the heck out of the desktop I'm on now</p>