Laptops in Vet School?

[TJenks89]

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In lectures, do the majority of students take notes by hand or on their laptops? I am an avid manual note-taker, but I wasn't sure if it would be easier to just have everything on my laptop. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[libster06]

In lectures, do the majority of students take notes by hand or on their laptops? I am an avid manual note-taker, but I wasn't sure if it would be easier to just have everything on my laptop. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

If you take notes by hand I would suggest doing that... no need to change your trusted format now. We pay for class notes from the teachers and so they hand out paper copies at the beginning of a class. There are usually powerpoints on line that people who prefer computer notes can use, but its much easier (and seems to stick better) for me to take notes on paper... I don't get as much down when I am writing on the laptop.

 

[nelonvet]

I certainly type WAY faster than I write...and unfortunately, unlike the poster above...our teachers can be real pains in the a** and on purpose not give out notes...which ticks me off considering how much moeny we're paygin to be educated.

Virtually everyone in our class was told to get a tablet PC. I'm glad I never did..never had any use for it...never felt hindered by not having it...and my laptop was much cheaper (heard from aroud half the class their tablet PCs had all sorts of trouble and were very expensive).

 

[libster06]

There was a thread that got off topic with this subject not too long ago and some people get notes, some don't.. anyways... I guess it depends on whether you get notes handed out or not. If your university gives out notes (we pay $200/semester for class notes) then I would think that would be just fine to scribble on. If we were not given notes, I really don't know what I would recommend, but I guess if you're just going off of a blank page to write little notes on, I would suggest a PC. People in my class have gotten ipads, and the few that have them say they work well (but again, this is using the powerpoints we are given that were made available online... so in essence for them it's very similar to writing on paper because there is not typing involved) for writing on during class, and they use them later in the clinics.

You might call the student affairs office at your university to see what they recommend?

 

[JumpHigherLivie]

I think, as other people have stated, it depends on your school and your style. We get about 1000 free pages to print every semester and our notes (theoretically) get uploaded to a website or some professors have "course packs" with the notes that we can purchase.

I personally do not learn as well from typing but retain things much better while writting. So I continue to print out the slides (I do 4 ppt slides/page) and take notes on them. i have a number of friends that have "gone paperless" and download the lectures onto their laptops or netbooks and take notes on the ppt or pdf file.

 

[RadRadTerp]

I am a mixed-type note-taker. When notes are offered in printed versions, I purchase them at the beginning of the semester. When notes are not offered in printed versions, I download the powerpoint or pdf files and upload them to OneNote (MS Office 2010) and take notes over them digitally. I mix it up because I like taking handwritten notes, but I also feel bad about wasting paper, so I end up somewhere in the middle. Plus, writing notes by hand for 4-8 hours a day, 5 days a week, gives me wrist cramps, whereas when I type I don't usually get as sore. Some students in my class will even download the 116-slide powerpoints and print them out; to me that's a lot of paper, and it's going to eat up your ink at home very quickly (unless you get free printing at school, which I don't).

 

[StartingoverVet]

Answer to your question:

Most people in my class take notes on the computer.

There is a group that just listens to lectures and then takes notes at home off of audio.

Still, a sizeable amound (maybe 15-25%) i would guess takes handwritten notes.

Personally, I was a handwritten guy, got a tablet pc, took notes on OneNote last few semesters undergrad/prereq, and first semester in vet school.

Now I am back to handwritten notes. It is just way more effective for me having tried both methods.

 

[that redhead]

In a similar vein, do you feel that having a laptop is necessary in vet school? Obvioulsy having a computer with internet access is necessary, but is there something other than notes that a laptop would be valuable for? I made it through undergrad taking hand-written notes, I have a desktop now and I intend to hand-write notes as well as record/review lectures when vet school starts- do I need to invest in a laptop?

 

[StartingoverVet]

In a similar vein, do you feel that having a laptop is necessary in vet school? Obvioulsy having a computer with internet access is necessary, but is there something other than notes that a laptop would be valuable for? I made it through undergrad taking hand-written notes, I have a desktop now and I intend to hand-write notes as well as record/review lectures when vet school starts- do I need to invest in a laptop?

1) For some classes at Penn (like Histology and Neuroscience) there is a lot of computer use in labs. It is possible to do without, but that seems impractical. I print out some materials and still use my laptop..

2) Most people study away from home and you would need your laptop to do so for a variety of reasons. Personally I mostly study at home.

3) A fair proportion of the class needs a laptop to survive the occassionally brutally boring lecture. facebook, shopping. sporcle, booking vacations, games, etc. Also when you have no clue what is happening in the lecture you can commisserate on FB. Even when I don't bring my laptop I must admit I sneak glances at my phone during those times! Ok, this isn't a great reason, but it is a very very popular use.

 

[deleted387118]

Wow. I can't believe how much every school varies. At K-state we are distributed laptops. We have one student who uses his own Mac rather than our Fijitsu computers but not a single person takes solely hand notes. A few print out subjects they want to study from paper for, but even then they use the powerpoint notes provided.

 

[betweenusgurls]

1)
3) A fair proportion of the class needs a laptop to survive the occassionally brutally boring lecture. facebook, shopping. sporcle, booking vacations, games, etc. Also when you have no clue what is happening in the lecture you can commisserate on FB. Even when I don't bring my laptop I must admit I sneak glances at my phone during those times! Ok, this isn't a great reason, but it is a very very popular use.

Heheheheh - gotta keep the sanity somehow! I call it being "sporadically efficient"

 

[philomycus]

I just got a Macbook Air. I LOVE it. It's esp useful here for Histolabs and Pathology so we can answer problem sets, or see images of examples online while we are doing cases in class. This is my first Mac, and it's true what they say... wish I had gotten it sooner.

 

[libster06]

This is my first Mac, and it's true what they say... wish I had gotten it sooner.

Hehe... I used to be anti-Mac bc people were always so for themn and I just couldn't see how a computer could be the best thing in the world... then I got my first one 2 Christmases ago and I became one of those yuppie Mac advocates. But its true- once you go Mac, you never go back 😉

 

[kanariya]

libster06 this is kinda for you, since I am applying no where but LSU. If the presentation format in powerpoint then are the purchased notes just copies of the presentation? Is this on top of textbook costs, or are there few textbooks to purchase? When I went to Med Tech school we were given our notes and books were supplemental; I don't think that will be the case in vet school, I'm just curious.

 

[SleepyBear]

Been looking at the Livescribe 8GB Echo pen (records audio w/touch memory to written notes; transfers to computer, etc.). Has anyone used these for written notes with success? Are they preferable over laptop notes? Thanks for any input!

 

[libster06]

libster06 this is kinda for you, since I am applying no where but LSU. If the presentation format in powerpoint then are the purchased notes just copies of the presentation? Is this on top of textbook costs, or are there few textbooks to purchase? When I went to Med Tech school we were given our notes and books were supplemental; I don't think that will be the case in vet school, I'm just curious.

It depends. The notes are whatever the teachers want to give. They are copies of the presentations, but sometimes the presentations are not made available online. Also, some teachers do not give out notes, but rather expect you to come to class with them printed out on your own or use a computer during class to go through them. I had one teacher who gave out notes, but they were really more like outlines and then his presentations (which were online) were much more complete and explanatory (the "notes" really were quite useless at that point because we all printed off the online stuff anyways). For our immunology class we received only notes and he lectured from a projector (circled what was important on our notes as we went along)...

I think you are required to buy the notes, whether you use them or not. I don't think it's optional, just because it's really just money going towards something and there isn't like an actual little shelf at the beginning of the year with everyone's class notes on it for every class. And given the varying types of notes that teachers use, it's just easier for them if everyone buys them. Not to mention it wouldn't be fair if someone in the class didn't buy the notes and then just got them all for free online while everyone else had to pay. They're $200, which isn't that much if you're not having to print your lectures off every day of the week (and you have to pay for printing at school, so unless you do it at home you'd have to pay anyways) or lug your computer to school to read the powerpoints.

The notes are on top of textbook costs, but I have found that the only real textbooks I have used are the anatomy ones. I'm not a book person, so I don't invest lots of money in books. But it can be pricey... I would recommend waiting until school starts to buy books. If you are lost in a class and think the book will help, then you can buy it. But it's hard to foresee which classes will be helpful to supplement the book prior to starting the class. They tell you you can call the bookstore and ask the students working there which ones they recommend, which you can, but everyone's different (as I said I hate all books ;P) and so some one might have really benefitted from a book that may do absolutely nothing for you or be in a class that you don't really need the book in.

 

[crittergal]

Been looking at the Livescribe 8GB Echo pen (records audio w/touch memory to written notes; transfers to computer, etc.). Has anyone used these for written notes with success? Are they preferable over laptop notes? Thanks for any input!

I have one and use it religiously for physiology. Laptop is my preferred note taking method except in phys. The prof is all over the place, diagrams, uncompleted sentences, a total mess. I find it is a must-have for that particular class. I can go home and try to make sense out of whatever I scribbled, matching the audio with little 'stars' I use to indicate "relisten here" on areas of confusion.

It's also nice to be able to upload lecture notes & audio for students who miss class. Most of our classes are available online but our phys prof won't allow his class to be recorded.

I'm also a techie, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

 

[libster06]

Most of our classes are available online but our phys prof won't allow his class to be recorded. .

That is so ridiculous!

 

[SleepyBear]

Thanks, crittergal, for the feedback on the Livescribe! Coding your notes with stars is a nice tip, especially if prof is hard to follow. Allows you more time to draw out the diagram/graphs while he's talking, then later fill in the notes better on the second "listen" through.

 

[kanariya]

libster06 thanks so much!

 

[libster06]

libster06 thanks so much!

No problem. You can PM me if you have any other questions on anything about LSU SVM... also there is tigervmforums.com which is designed by the admissions office specifically for LSU students and hopefuls. But I'm always checking on here so if you want to know something you can ask and I will try to help 🙂

 

[RadRadTerp]

Next year, I'm upgrading my laptop and hoping to move into the big leagues with a Thinkpad. I'm already geeking out over it.