Do you recommend purchasing a laptop for pharmacy school?

[lazydazy]

I currently own a home pc, but am tossing around the idea of purchasing a laptop since I'll be returning to school fulltime again this fall. Do you find that it would be beneficial for a pharmacy student to purchase a laptop? Does a bookstore or school give your discounts for purchasing a certain brand of laptop? I know some schools have connections w/various computer companies. I mean, will we write a lot of reports and conduct a lot of research as I did as an undergrad?

Thanks for your input regarding my pricey decision!

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[mystiqx]

I currently own a home pc, but am tossing around the idea of purchasing a laptop since I'll be returning to school fulltime again this fall. Do you find that it would be beneficial for a pharmacy student to purchase a laptop? Does a bookstore or school give your discounts for purchasing a certain brand of laptop? I know some schools have connections w/various computer companies. I mean, will we write a lot of reports and conduct a lot of research as I did as an undergrad?

Thanks for your input regarding my pricey decision!

Lazydazy: From all of the schools i have researched, they all say you should have laptops, some schools if not all actually give you one if you don't have one and factor it into your tuition bill, if you check out some of the pharm school websites they actually have criteria for laptops as well, what sort of memory, operating system etc that they expect you to have. I also remember someone starting a thread on laptops, you might have to search a bit for it. I'm not a pharm student yet, but i am sure the pharm students on the forum would tell you to get one.

Good Luck
~M

 

[Glycerin]

I currently own a home pc, but am tossing around the idea of purchasing a laptop since I'll be returning to school fulltime again this fall. Do you find that it would be beneficial for a pharmacy student to purchase a laptop? Does a bookstore or school give your discounts for purchasing a certain brand of laptop? I know some schools have connections w/various computer companies. I mean, will we write a lot of reports and conduct a lot of research as I did as an undergrad?

Thanks for your input regarding my pricey decision!

It will be very convenient. Check with your school first, though. I currently have a laptop myself, but Shenandoah requires that we lease one from them every semester. While that is costly, it ensures that everyone has the same programs and systems, and technical support is included.

 

[skp]

yes - definitely worth it!

i think i'm going to get one from here for pharm. school-
www.apple.com
i like the ibook models

 

[mystiqx]

yes - definitely worth it!

i think i'm going to get one from here for pharm. school-
www.apple.com
i like the ibook models

I'm a slave to Dell (litterally), Dell are a good consideration too LazyDazy and they always have sales and specials going on

 

[cangara]

Don't buy a laptop if the school that your planning in going wants you to buy it from them. I think UOP wants a "tablet" laptop, and the students said that they will ask me still to buy their laptop eventhough I have one. I think that is what the student said. Just check the school if they have any specific features that the computer should have before you buy one.

I currently own a home pc, but am tossing around the idea of purchasing a laptop since I'll be returning to school fulltime again this fall. Do you find that it would be beneficial for a pharmacy student to purchase a laptop? Does a bookstore or school give your discounts for purchasing a certain brand of laptop? I know some schools have connections w/various computer companies. I mean, will we write a lot of reports and conduct a lot of research as I did as an undergrad?

Thanks for your input regarding my pricey decision!

 

[tanyas]

USC doesn't require us to own one....I have mine anyways, but I never take it with me to school.

 

[tetra327]

Check with your school first to see what they require, but I can tell you that Mercer doesn't require one, they only say that you need access to a computer. And I know that Howard makes you buy one your first year for $2000 so be sure to check before you go out and buy one.

 

[skp]

$2000

 

[dgroulx]

UF requires a laptop, but I wish I had never bought mine. I never use it. All assignments can be done at home on my home computer. There is also tons of computers on campus to use for free. They also give out free laptops to those who don't have one. I found it to be a total waste of money.

One day last semester, we were told to bring our laptops to campus. We didn't have to turn them on. They just wanted to count how many people actually bought laptops.

 

[Betty'sBeast]

UF requires a laptop, but I wish I had never bought mine. I never use it. All assignments can be done at home on my home computer. There is also tons of computers on campus to use for free. They also give out free laptops to those who don't have one.

How do you go about getting a free laptop from UF. Is that at all the dist. ed. sites?

 

[Trancelucent1]

How do you go about getting a free laptop from UF. Is that at all the dist. ed. sites?

It's only offerred to St. Pete distance site students...trust me I tried to figure out how to get a free one but it wasn't offerred for Orlando UF students. That being said, I use mine all the time. I don't use mine much at school but use it a lot at home. I have a desktop but that's from 2000 so it was nice to have a new computer. We also have a bunch of group projects so it's nice to just grab your laptop and go to your friends how to work on the project. I think it just all depends on ther person/circumstances. I couldn't figure out why UF requires a laptop either. Last week we were told to bring them to school but never used them. Argh!

 

[ForgetMeNot]

Midwestern-Glendale doesn't require a laptop, but I have one anyway. I had to get something when my desktop pretty much died shortly after school started.

And I too recommend you find out if the school requires it. I remember the school in Texas I was accepted to requiring a laptop so you could connect to their intranet while on campus and get copies of notes...or something to that effect.

 

[lazydazy]

thank you all for your responses! i'll definitely check w/MWU CCP to see if it's a requirement that students purchase laptops. However, since someone commented on MWU GCP didn't require it than I'm sure CCP won't either. Their policies should be identical, right?

If I don't have to spend the $ than that would be great. I could definitely use that money for something else...trying to survive financially while I'm a poor student...

 

[Trancelucent1]

Hey Lazydazy sorry to hijack but I saw your USF pic. Did you go there? That was my alma mater Just curious!

 

[lazydazy]

Go BULLS! Yes, I went there and graduated with my bachelor's in chemistry in 2002. I absolutely loved going there! I'm a die hard BULLS fan too! I live in Chicago now, but I recently went back to visit friends and family. I can't believe how much the campus has changed since I graduated. It's great!

What did you study? We may have had some of the same prof.

Hey Lazydazy sorry to hijack but I saw your USF pic. Did you go there? That was my alma mater Just curious!

 

[Glycerin]

Go BULLS! Yes, I went there and graduated with my bachelor's in chemistry in 2002. I absolutely loved going there! I'm a die hard BULLS fan too! I live in Chicago now, but I recently went back to visit friends and family. I can't believe how much the campus has changed since I graduated. It's great!

What did you study? We may have had some of the same prof.

I currently go to USF, as a Biomedical Sciences major.

 

[dgroulx]

I didn't go to USF, but they use the software package I wrote for season ticketing. It doesn't pay much, but I get awesome seats for concerts, in the athletic hold section.

 

[Trancelucent1]

I started in Fall 2000 and graduated in December 2003. I was biomedical sciences major (what was then called Interdisciplinary of Natural Sciences for Health professions ...I'm so happy they changed the name). I'm sure that we had the same professors some where. I had Turos for Organic, El-Rady for Genetics and Micro, Pollenz for Cell Bio, O'Mally for Gen Chem. Not sure if we really had a lot of overlap in classes but I'm sure you had possibly the same for Organic and Gen Chem. I really enjoyed the school but was definately ready to leave Tampa. I love Orlando SOOOOOOOOO much more!

 

[ultracet]

make sure you check with the school before buying a laptop.. Ask if they have wireless access... this is very important to me