very silly question re stuff i need for uni

[ladysybil]

when i originally went to university, we had a file per subject, and lots of A4 paper pads. pens, pencils, rulers, calculators, and erasers.
ucas keeps sending me offers for macs. do i really need one? if i dont have one, will i be the only old foggy sittingdown with my paper and pen? or will most people be using laptops for taking notes?

DS1 graduated in 2002, and DD in 2004. They made paper notes during lectures. But that was 6 years ago!

I graduated in 2008 and spent the whole of my 6 years at uni making notes in my lovely notebooks then transferring them to my even lovlier, colour coordinated ring binders.

I heart stationery .

Sorry, back to serious matters. TBH when I was at uni pretty much everyone took notes with paper/pen. I think a laptop/MAC would be too much of a faff and I'd be worried about the battery going halfway through a lecture. Also, I didn't always have something to lean on during lectures so had to balance my notepad, handouts, etc on my lap - I'd have been all over the shop trying to balance a 'puter too.

Most of my students make notes using a pen and pad. Many also take a dictaphone.
Good luck with your course!

DD2 uses Paper and pen to take notes during lectures. She does her assignments on her lap top but never takes it to lectures.

I have just finished my degree
we just use pen and paper here. one girl did start off with her laptop but changed to pen and paper as laptop was too faffy.

Our lecturers didn't like us using dictaphones etc

I've just finished my first year - everyone used pen and paper (well 2 girls used laptops: one for a wrist injury and a japanese girl who had translation software).

I've got a folder for each module for paper notes and handous. Most assignments I did on laptop: mine had to be submitted electronically over the internet, but this varied by subject (most of my friends on other courses had to hand in a paper version).

You will need internet access at uni, as my DD1 (currently in yr 2 at uni) has found that a lot of the work is set via email, they can also download lecture notes etc.

However, you could do this with computers at uni library, if you don't have a laptop.
I think laptops are generally used in student rooms/libraries, rather than taken to lectures.

I am a lecturer and most students still take notes in classes and lectures with paper and pen; a few will bring a laptop - but several of those will have a specific reason (e.g. dyslexia or a physical injury). You definitely won't be the only one taking long-hand notes. I have noticed that you see more laptops among students of some subjects (e.g. law). And there are other kinds of classes - for instance a translation or reading class in a foreign language - where no-one uses a computer.

Almost all students submit word-processed work now though, so you will need access to a computer to write coursework - and also to stay in touch with lecturers, download bibliographies etc.

thank you :) perhaps a big order for folders with staples then, rather than the apple mac with 15% off and free ipod touch for ds then?

I used a laptop, but soon graduated to pen/paper in lectures. But for use in your room: laptop! You will get sick of the library, or find that you actively avoid it, or can only force yourself to work when you're panicking. Good to have a computer onhand then, as you'll be expected by most tutors to give in typed work.

Would have KILLED for a dictophone though, by finals, when you realise your notes are incoherent.

When I was at uni (finished in 07) most of the lecturers frowned upon the use of laptops during lectures unless there was a specific reason.

I imagine its very hard to listen to a lecture whilst sitting infront of a computer screen.

A lot of lecturers also put the notes on the student web before hand so most people would print them out and make additional notes as they went along.

I however have a love affair with stationery and relished the thought of buying new folders, pens, pads etc every year.

At the university that I work with you have to have special permission to take a dictaphone or other recorder into lectures.

Laptop is useful but as long as you have internet access it isn't absolutely necessary.

I took Computer Science modules as part of my degree and the tap-tap-taping of students on laptops in the lectures drove most people nuts! No substitution for printed or written notes.