BLTsandwich

Hi,

I'm an incoming freshie, and I was wondering if there are electrical outlets to plug laptops into in classrooms? My local university has them, and I was wondering if this was featured at Penn? Otherwise, how do guys get their laptops to stay alive through 2 consecutive 3-hour lectures? Perhaps pen and paper is the way to go?

chrisw

You can usually find outlets, but honestly I never brought a laptop to class. It is entirely too distracting in large lectures -- pen and paper does just fine. In certain small seminars, it was useful to have a laptop there in order to do research on the fly (made conversations more interesting), but it wasn't necessary by any stretch of the imagination.

drnoeyedea

Penn and paper is the way to go.

WoodrowWilsonJR

some profs don't allow laptops. they want everyone's attention(which is reasonable. i wouldn't want to lecture to a bunch of people playing around on facebook)

BLTsandwich

Thanks, are there any classes in which laptops makes things much better (i.e. faster note-taking) or is it that the majority of classes just don't really require one?

WoodrowWilsonJR

My writing seminar mandated that we bring a laptop to every class. On the flipside, I've had at least 4 professors who asked that we not use any electronic devices during class.