My daughter is an incoming first year - undecided but likely a future social science major. Do any current students have recommendations for a computer? Is there a prevalence of a certain type of computer on campus that makes group projects easier? Thanks!
I have worked on a few group projects - including one professor’s twisted social experiment, which involved an entire lab section working together to produce a comprehensive report. The assignment stated, as a P.S, “You may find that some social dynamics during this project mirror challenges of cooperation in responding to climate change.” Which, to be clear, meant a tragedy of the commons where 5-6 students shouldered the work of 20.
I’m also a third-year majoring in two social sciences, so what’s below is based on my experience to date. It’s my personal view, so take it with a grain of salt.
By far the most helpful tool for group projects will be Google Docs, with its live-editing capabilities.
The second most helpful tool will be Canvas - when people flake and you need to e-mail them or post reminders.
Most social science majors will have a few run-ins with R, and maybe STATA or SPSS. The science core might involve some other programs (e.g. MATLAB). Depending on the major, students in the social sciences might work with some flavor of GIS software too.
None of the above should require a fancy laptop. Unless she expects to be doing a fair amount of video editing/graphic design/etc, modeling work, etc, a basic rig should with a decent amount of RAM should be all that’s necessary. I think the most demanding thing I’ve done with my laptop over the last two years is keeping a ridiculous number of Google Chrome tabs open.
That’s not to say a more powerful computer can’t be useful for other stuff - things like video gaming (if that’s her thing), working with massive data sets, or learning programming skills beyond what’s required.
Things I would prioritize:
- Ergonomic keyboard (you'll do a lot of typing in college)
- Decent screen size (nice when editing essays, reading journal articles online, etc.)
- As few small/fragile/moving parts as possible (e.g. a screen that can be rotated 360 degrees), because dumb stuff can happen to computers left in the lounge.
- Middle-of-the-range RAM
Other things (e.g. Mac or Windows) are up to personal taste - both operating systems are fairly common on campus.
It’s also worth looking at IT Services’ list of software for students - a lot of useful programs for college (e.g. Microsoft Word) are available for free or at a steep discount through the university. Link: https://uchicago.service-now.com/it?id=kb_article&kb=KB00012189
My kid who was planning and is definitely doing social sciences just has the 12 in. MacBook. I have the same. Cute little thing and works like a dream. I carry mine around in my slightly oversized purse. Designed extremely well with a very large screen and keyboard. That’s especially notable when you consider its small size and weight.
Graphic design/animation/video gaming/film editing: 15 in. MacBook Pro. Yes. It’s expensive. They’ll have it for years and years. But that machine is NOT necessary for the vast majority of majors so no need to look unless you are into super-high quality graphics or are planning to write your PhD dissertation while in college, and need something with high processing speed 
BTW, my daughter’s 15 in. Pro in 2015 (before the Mac redesign) was faster than than the Cray supercomputer my husband used for his modeling almost 30 years ago. We’ve come a long way, Baby.
“BTW, my daughter’s 15 in. Pro in 2015 (before the Mac redesign) was faster than than the Cray supercomputer my husband used for his modeling almost 30 years ago. We’ve come a long way, Baby.”
And even better, she has her own and doesn’t have to fight for a turn at getting some processing time. Why, oh why did it always seem that the only availability was something like 3-6 AM?
@millee30 - and it costs a fraction of what the Cray was - even in 1980’s dollars! Can’t imagine the fraction now but I’ve seen it very close to nothing. Actually, the Iphone might be faster than the old Crays LOL.
My kids use their Pro’s at 3 - 6 am but it’s by choice
For a computer, it’s pretty universal. For the exception of using MS Office for writing papers, etc. everything is almost exclusively online. Make sure it has at least 8 gigabytes of memory if you do a Windows computer. Macbooks are already fast enough to work right out of the box.
My biggest advice. Whichever computer you buy, get a protection insurance package and spend $10 a month for Google Drive. Make sure the Google Drive app is installed and use that instead of the computer hard drive. If the computer falls into a swimming pool, gets stolen, or gets trampled by the school mascot, she doesn’t lose any of her homework. All she has to do is download the Google Drive app on the new computer and sign-in. BAM! her homework is still there. In fact, she could sign into google drive from a friend’s computer or a school computer and still access her files.
^ Another option (or an additional consideration) is to add a rider to the renter’s policy if your insurance company offers that. I think we did a three year theft protection plan through Lo-Jack and a rider for everyone’s computer. Might be overkill but for a few dollars a year we’ve bought piece of mind.
Any new machine that fritzes out on you will do so at the end of the semester or quarter - just take that as a given. It should also be covered under warranty but typically can’t be fixed until winter or spring break (that’s a given as well). Yet another reason to go with Google docs and Google Drive because you can just log in at the computer center to continue working on your stuff instead of stressing because you can’t access your hard drive.
When I went up to the U of C I took with me a used portable manual typewriter purchased for $25. The maintenance on that trusty machine consisted of freeing the keys by hand when they jammed (frequently) and replacing the ribbon when the typed letters began to fade after a year or so of one’s furious pounding.
Of course once a key was struck there was no going back. The mind was forced to focus (under the Hemingwayan conception of the process) or else encouraged to unspool itself serendipitously (under the Kerouacian version). Most of us writing papers at the U of C approached neither of those ideals but merely banged out our first drafts, corrected them by pencilled interlineations, and then proceeded more carefully to a final job - unless that second draft turned into another station on the way to perfection.
I suspect that one thing remains unchanged from my era to the present one - the exhilaration the student experiences upon hitting the final key and stepping back from the machine with the finished product in hand. At that moment visions of A pluses dance in the head. They seldom materialized for me - the product typically came back with the prof’s red pencilling all over those precious pages. I suspect that that too has not changed.
“the product typically came back with the prof’s red pencilling all over those precious pages. I suspect that that too has not changed.”
Nor should it. I think the TA’s or prof can electronically mark up your e-draft and then post an image on your canvas account. They might still use red font, however.
Glad to hear it. Those red pencillings varied in my experience in detail and quality. However, several of them contained really good advice that stuck in the mind and had an impact in the life after school. That wouldn’t have happened if the brash author had been permitted to fall in love uncritically with his thoughts and words. Though, of course, a bit of encouragement, if merited, is always in order!
Dating myself here but back in 1983 I had a job first quarter of my first year working at the “Micro-computer Distribution Center”, which was the campus computer sales center back in the day. We sold 512K Macs bundled with dot matrix printers for $2,500 (and Compaqs for even more).
There were four undergrads working there and one kid dropped out of school to help his brother start a “computer business” out of their parents home in the Chicago suburbs. We all thought he was crazy but years later, he sold that company, US Robotics, for a huge profit to 3Com.