07-18-2004, 08:28 PM
Can they even do that?
Has someone actually challenged them over it?
What if they'd accepted you and you DON'T get a laptop? Are they going to kick you out?
I don't know how the college/university admission system works in the US, but I doubt that someone would get away with that here - conditional offers tend to revolve around exam results, not ownership of a laptop.
disadvantages: More expensive, less powerful, less ports, less expandability, runs off batteries which run out.
Requiring everyone to own a desktop PC, and then lending out a tablet PC to everyone which could run as a dumb terminal in lectures would be a far better solution if you're going to require anyone to have a computer at all. I have a friend who's seriously considering ditching his laptop in favour of pen+paper in lectures and a proper desktop machine to actually work on - the only real prohibitative factor is the cost of buying a second machine while still at university.
But then I suppose that if you're going to a US university & are already splashing out for the actual education, a cheap-ish laptop is but a drop in the ocean. (Or so I hear, from potentially badly informed sources - but they're the best sources I have to go on).
It still seems highly unfair though - if they insist on you having an expensive piece of equipment they should be providing it - I still think it's unfair that my high school required every pupil past year 9 to own a £5 scientific calculator, but I'm a skinflint.
-Bob
Has someone actually challenged them over it?
What if they'd accepted you and you DON'T get a laptop? Are they going to kick you out?
I don't know how the college/university admission system works in the US, but I doubt that someone would get away with that here - conditional offers tend to revolve around exam results, not ownership of a laptop.
Quote:Moreover, students quickly learn how advantageous it is to have everything on a laptop that they can take everywhere - home, dorm, class, library, etc...advantages: Portable
disadvantages: More expensive, less powerful, less ports, less expandability, runs off batteries which run out.
Requiring everyone to own a desktop PC, and then lending out a tablet PC to everyone which could run as a dumb terminal in lectures would be a far better solution if you're going to require anyone to have a computer at all. I have a friend who's seriously considering ditching his laptop in favour of pen+paper in lectures and a proper desktop machine to actually work on - the only real prohibitative factor is the cost of buying a second machine while still at university.
But then I suppose that if you're going to a US university & are already splashing out for the actual education, a cheap-ish laptop is but a drop in the ocean. (Or so I hear, from potentially badly informed sources - but they're the best sources I have to go on).
It still seems highly unfair though - if they insist on you having an expensive piece of equipment they should be providing it - I still think it's unfair that my high school required every pupil past year 9 to own a £5 scientific calculator, but I'm a skinflint.
-Bob