Interesting. Seems like there are more than a few schools that have already announced they are not going to their waitlist at all. . .
@Aguadecoco My kidsâ high school uses iPads as their 1:1 technology and the app Notability. Both my kids take notes on their iPads using an Apple Pencil and the Notability app. Itâs a really good pairing, allowing kids to both handwrite their notes (which is allegedly better for memory) and keep notes electronically.
She is going to bring it to school next year (hoping it lasts, as itâs now 4 years old) to take notes on since itâs so much lighter than a laptop.
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Just an FYI, some professors do not allow technology in the classroom for note taking.
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Good to know. D got the larger iPad Pro and 2nd gen pencil for grad gift. She put the Good Notes 5 app on it. It was recommend by engineering students to do split screen with PDF textbook on one side and taking notes on the other.
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Iâll be the thread weirdo again. Ha. We canât afford a Mac or an iPad and my D and I currently share a chrome book as the only computer tech in the house (besides our phones). She is considering not taking anything and just writing papers in the library. Otherwise best we will do is get another $100 chrome book like the one we currently share. As a dance major I canât imagine her tech needs will be very great. Sheâll use a good ole paper and pen for any notes needed. My D19 switched from a MacBook Pro in high school to a MacBook Air for college. Hers was covered by her scholarship. Sheâs very happy with her air. She was probably just unlucky but her pro was always having issues.
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My sonâs last MacBook lasted from 7th through 12th grade and we just bought another - I do recommend a hard case!
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Is she a contemporary dancer? If not , wow, Iâm thinking of those pointe shoes at about $100 a pop (A chrome book!) that seem to last no time at all âŠ
My daughterâs future college (Wooster) gives out scholarships to bagpipe players, itâs such an essential part of the school culture. 
I think sheâs going to get very accustomed to hearing them!
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Didnât read the other responses but if in a shared room he definitely should look for another musician or at least make sure the person enjoys his style of music.
As a parent of a percussionist, who is also always making some type of music, you would hate for the roommate to get upset that he is playing and complain to the RA constantly.
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Ahhh good question. Kind of depends on your kid. We are a family thatâs firmly entrenched in the apple ecosystem so that answered it for us. Surface is nice. What will they be doing with it, how much power/storage so they need. My D likes to make videos with final cut pro so we got the MacBook Pro. But if itâs more for documents you wouldnât need the pro.
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She is a ballet dancer and those pointe shoes (and dance in general) are the reason everything else is scrimping and saving. We let our kids set the tone for what is the most important thing to them, and we give it our all to enable that thing⊠but that means there is not money for other stuff that isnât necessary. Weâve never found tech to be necessary. Weâve shared that chrome book for five years now⊠her phone is five years old⊠Etc. Gotta work with what youâve got. Iâm thinking there will be many less pointe shoes at college, coming from a professional company, as LMU isnât pointe focused.
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I would say that these days you definitely need something, lots of study groups, maybe she wonât be able to get to the library all the time, etc.
Are there any local scholarships she can apply to that would give $500â$1000 so she can buy a laptop? Here our PTA gives out a few $500 ones and local orgs give a lot of $1000 ones. My son applied to several of those, so hoping he gets at least one.
She affiliated into Computer Science with a Dyson Business Minor after Freshman year. Sheâs now adding a Double major in Orie.
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We arenât buying anything new yet either. She has an ok laptop and can spend a quarter or two figuring out what will work best and we will go from there.
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Iâll defer to her comfort level and what she feels she needs to succeed- we can definitely get her a cheap new chrome book and thatâs definitely all you need to write a paper. Honestly, I completed my entire first masters degree writing on docs on my phone and using a public library. It can be done. Covid makes it all weirder, admittedly, so maybe I press upon her that the chrome book is a good idea. I canât imagine sheâs eligible for any local scholarships. We have zero ties to this community and she was not a top of the world student⊠and she was homeschooled⊠and she graduated a year ago. I think if she wants to wait sheâll get a small refund from FA the first semester and can buy something then, if that was what she preferred, but I think sheâll use that for off-campus pointe classes. Ha.
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Good luck to her, hopefully she wonât need one.
You should check to see what the department he is in recommends at his school. My one daughterâs program wants them to have a pc. She was a mac user and wasnât thrilled. My Engineer they didnât care what they used.
That said a lot of people tell you to use the schools themselves because you can get âgreat dealsâ on their computers and at a discount. Turns out, not so great. We wound up buying a PC for my daughter at Costco with the Costco Citicard that you automatically get a longer warranty. It was about $300 and as my ex husband advised we can buy 4+ computers for the price that the school wanted for theirs. Sheâs completing her sophomore year and hasnât had an issue yet.
Another thing that my kids have found really helpful is to have their own inexpensive printer. Even though they could print for free on campus or in their dorms, they found it to be more beneficial to have their own. The only issue is that a lot of people borrowed it. In one case the roommate did help buy ink/paper at least so that worked out.
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I was just going to edit my post to say this. At UT-Austin, this seems to be a McCombs policy. No devices whatsoever are allowed in classes.
Our high school subsidizes the cost of chromebooks and we get charged some nominal fee each of the 4 years as they require all kids to have these and then the kids get to keep them when they graduate. My kids all stopped using them after sophomore year. I have 3 of them sitting somewhere. I would be more than happy to donate to you (I would have to find the charger(s)) if this is something you think you can use. They have just been sitting in our closet.
Please pm me if interested. My twins are sophomores so theirs are 6 years old, and my son is a senior so his is 4 years old so not sure how fast they are, etc. but they didnât have any problems with them and I would love for them to be passed on if someone can use them.
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I think a chromebook would be fine. You can always upgrade of you have to.
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