ipad for maths degree?

[CrochetMadRosie]

DD is hoping to study maths at uni next year. She’s started borrowing my ipad mini to work on as she likes the fact that she can erase things easily and that it can store all her notes/ workings etc.
She has a Chromebook as a laptop which she uses at sixth form, and was talking about getting her own ipad for uni.
Up until now she’s used a whiteboard and pen.
Just wondered what others use
for maths at uni. I don’t want to get her an ipad, then find out she needs something else in a year’s time!
Thanks.

The Uni course should specify what they need- laptop (apple or MS), ipad, etc and its specs. My DD’s engineering course required a high end, powerful MS laptop.

DD had a MacBook when she did her maths degree.

My sons both used an ipad for maths degrees, but also had a laptop suitable for coding.

Thank you all.
I’ll get her to check if the uni courses she’s applied for specify. Not sure why I didn’t think of that!

Dd has an iPad and apple pen for her Maths degree course. It suits her study style. Many of her tutors say just use a notepad and pen which is what she did at Alevel when most of her class had iPads. We splashed out and it seems to help her

Thank you. She says the ipad is really useful so it’s good to know that others have used them at uni for maths .

Surface pros are excellent for this sort of thing too - and also function as a proper laptop if required.

As well as her iPad for lectures, DD has her sixth form Surface pro for watching lectures back if she misses them - she has a job and occasionally there’s a shift clash. She’s pretty diligent so it works for her too. She occasionally watches back lectures she’s attended to clarify anything she struggled with “live”

Depends if she needs something for programming as well. Lots of our students have both a tablet for note taking and a laptop (she would need to check if a Chromebook would be sufficient)

Have you thought about a Remarkable tablet to use as a notepad.

@BlueberryMess I think that’s my worry, that the Chromebook won’t be sufficient, we’ll have bought her an ipad AND she’ll need a new laptop!

She’s had a quick look on a few of the uni websites that are on her application, and will look at the rest of them later.

@Ilovemyshed I’d love a Remarkable for my work! I work for a charity so that’s not going to happen…
I did look at them for her, but she likes the ipad and the other things that that offers her.

Thanks all. Some useful thoughts for us.

Ds did engineering and had both, laptop for engineering software and some coursework and an iPad Pro as alternative to pen and paper/folders/notepads in lectures and tutorials, and other pieces coursework etc.

The laptop was a necessity for his course, but the iPad was very useful too.

Look at a 2 in 1 laptop, or a regular laptop with a drawing tablet on the side. Get a drawing tablet (and pen if need be) to see how it works - much cheaper than an ipad

My son’s uni gave everyone an iPad, keyboard, and credit. He uses that and his laptop

Thank you all. Lots for her to think about!
@Boreded Which uni is your son at?! Wow!

Teesside (he decided he wanted to save money and stay local, then he will do his masters elsewhere I suspect). I believe they also do it at Cambridge and Oxford as it is a scheme with Apple where they have universities in the UK and abroad that are official partners.

I realise Teesside isn’t going to top any charts for education, and that with his A, A, Distinction he could have chosen a much higher standard uni, but the facilities at there, and student satisfaction surveys, combined with being able to live at home so saving £30k across his time there…he decided that this was the smart choice for him. They must have something going for them if they were selected by Apple for a partnership when the only others in the UK were the obvious two.

From what we’ve seen so far it would definitely be a good place for people who can stay at home while attending.

My son doing maths degree now and he is using a Samsung tablet with a pen for his maths. Got it off Backmarket.

That’s fantastic @Boreded. I’m glad he’s happy there. We’re on the South Coast and she doesn’t want to go further north than Warwick.

She’s looked at the unis that she’s applying to, and her chromebook won’t be enough which is annoying as she had to have one for her sixth form…

We’ll have a look at other options from the ipad, hope for some great Black Friday deals and see what the uni she ends up at say she needs.

Chromebooks are not great if there is a likelihood that specific software will be needed. I'm studying a STEM subject at uni and my lecturers are very vocal in advising against them. Getting advice about what she will need is a good call, a lot of people started my course with devices which had woefully inadequate RAM, for example.

I think it depends. I wouldn’t be without my iPad now for notes at work, but if I went back to my Maths degree I’d want pen and paper without a shadow of a doubt.

If she’s saying that she likes the iPad for maths A Level though, then that’s a good sign she’d like it for her degree.

I couldn't imagine doing maths on a computer/iPad. I did A level maths 45 years ago and loved pen and paper... including squared paper!

@CrochetMadRosie my son did a maths-related degree and needed a proper laptop with a minium spec because he needed to be able to install certain software. His course manual included the requirements. But I think he could have borrowed a university one if necessary.

I bought him a MS Surface, because it met the spec but was also small.and light enough to be very portable.

@Musicaltheatremum I did a maths degree 30 years ago and loved my squared paper…

She’s had some money from grandparents that she may use for the ipad or equivalent for use for A-levels and then maybe once we know what she needs for uni, when we know where she’s going, we can look at a new laptop…

Thanks everyone. It’s great to hear from others what to look out for.

My son is doing a maths degree, he likes his iPad and Apple pencil but he also has a laptop and a desktop computer

Actually, Teesside is the only Apple Distinguished School in the UK (among universities): https://education-static.apple.com/geo/uk/apple-distinguished-schools/Apple_Distinguished_Schools_Directory.pdf