<p>I’m HS senior and I am about to buy a laptop. I know that I can buy a fast-running laptop for <$500 and get by in college just fine. However, I know that if I spend maybe double that I can get a laptop that can play games (yeah, I know gaming on laptops isn’t the best, but I might as well kill 2 birds with 1 stone). </p>
<p>I obviously don’t want to spend hundreds more if I don’t even have any time to play those games. So I was wondering, how much time is there to actually waste in college? (assuming that I maintain a GOOD social life, GOOD grades (3.5+), and have a balance. I am planning on taking whatever amount of credits that is “average”, which is around 15 per semester, I think? So please help me out, any insight is welcomed.</p>
<p>What is your prospective major? A humanities major is would likely have a lot more free time than a person majoring in math, science, or engineering. And it really just depends on the person and their time management skills.</p>
<p>I’m sure you’d find free time to game occasionally. You may not have the time to hardcore game every night, but there will always be downtime during the week when you just feel like staying in the dorm. And even if you are really social and don’t have free time, you can still game during fall/winter/summer breaks.</p>
<p>As a political science major, I have almost no time for gaming. I have a couple hundred pages of reading to do per day, small papers due a several times a week, and major papers due every couple weeks. I brought my PC games and my wii but I only play a couple times a semester.</p>
<p>I am a humanities major and except for breaks and some rare instances on weekends, I don’t have time for gaming. On breaks though, I play a lot. </p>
<p>I got a laptop for ~$800 in 09 that plays all my games wonderfully. I would just pay for the laptop that you can play games on because, in the long run, it’s really not THAT much more. Plus, you will be thankful when you’re bored on breaks :).</p>
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<p>Honestly- for a humanities-type major, that’s not uncommon. For one class this semester, which meets ONCE a week for 50 minutes, I am required to read about 400 pages or so each week. For another, I read 20-30 pages of archaeology reports and then another 20-40 pages of textbook reading every day. Then articles on top of that. I am taking 5 classes similar to this. It really, really adds up.</p>
<p>I believe Emaheevul goes to Michigan. But he/she’s probably one of those people that reads ALL the pages of any textbook or book assignment. I don’t really think that’s necessary but if it works for you more power to you.</p>
<p>When you have to write response papers twice a week and participate in discussion actively, it is pretty hard to get away with not doing the reading if you don’t want to make a fool of yourself. In some classes I don’t do all the reading, it just depends on what’s necessary to learn the material and be able to keep up. When you’re taking upper level classes, quite a bit of it is necessary-- much more than in earlier classes. I know some people like to think that social science majors are all so dumb we walk ourselves into walls, but contrary to popular opinion some of us work very hard. </p>
<p>I love how the stereotype of non-hard science majors being so easy seems to hinge on us not actually doing our assigned work. I didn’t pay thousands of dollars this semester to play call of duty.</p>
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<p>Yeah, that sounds a lot like my schedule. Some classes are much lighter than others, but I am in five of them and it adds up. I have three very heavy classes with a couple hundred pages of very dense reading each week, and two more reasonable ones, but it really adds up. And when you DON’T do the reading, then you have several papers due all at once and there isn’t time to back pedal. Humanities and social science courses, in my view, are very much about endurance and you won’t make it if you don’t pace yourself by not blowing things off too much as you go. I skip a lot of reading but there is still a lot to do.</p>
<p>A couple of hundred pages per day seems insane for any major, let alone for a polysci major. But, that isn’t typical for most majors.</p>
<p>I’m not going to lie, a waste a ton of time. I have a desk job in which I could do homework, but I mostly just spend my time surfing the web and talking to you guys (I’m at work as I am typing this). I’m a pre-nursing student, and I’m sure once I get into Nursing school, play time and surfing the web is over.</p>
<p>I’m still in high school, and I read about 20 pages every night and that takes its toll… How the hell can you read hundreds of pages? Is there enough time for that? Is it like a textbook or paperback? Wow, College sounds like it sucks…</p>
<p>@pjLloyd100, you get used to it fairly quickly, learn to skim, or etc. Just remember to adapt fast when you get to college, although to be fair, your reading ups as you get to higher level college courses, so it shouldn’t be much of an issue in most entry level classes, unless you’ve chosen to AP out of everything! However, be aware that this mostly applies to liberal arts majors, as I rarely see technical majors reading anything with any sense of depth. Sciences (hard or soft) can go either way, but rarely do you have to read EVERYTHING, if you have a decent professor as your teacher who tests mainly to his/her own lectures.</p>
<p>I don’t have too much time to waste in college, but I hate wasting time anyways! I usually find things to do in that space of time, or I just surf the web for information/fun things/etc. If you REALLY want to game, I’ll argue that you can make time for it, but be careful that you don’t make too much time for it just because you have your gaming systems with you in your dorm/apartment.</p>
<p>It depends on your major, the school that you go to, how hellbent you are on getting a 4.0… There are friends of mine that binge on Super Smash Bros and friends of mine that are one steps away from actually having to schedule their bowel movements.</p>
However, be aware that this mostly applies to liberal arts majors, as I rarely see technical majors reading anything with any sense of depth. 
Sciences (hard or soft) can go either way, but rarely do you have to read EVERYTHING, if you have a decent professor as your teacher who tests mainly to his/her own lectures.</p>