Here's what my 1st yr. friend said when I emailed her about how she likes her Mac at Lecom:
"i have mcabook air and its the greateest computer ever! i definitely recommend macs... no problems at lecom either"
Again it's one of those things that Lecom doesn't recommend but at the same time plenty of ppl have them and have 0 problems. It's all up to you honestly. And about E-books, I have a friend in my PBL group who uses all Kindle books, as long as you don't have a Pbl facilitator who's strongly against it, it works, but you don't see much of it here.
LECOM OMSI here, as long as I'm taking an extended break from finals study, I figured I'd answer a few common things like this...
PC vs. Apple: All up to you. The school is around 50/50 Apple-to-PC and neither make a huge difference. There is no Apple product ban here, not sure where this gets started. We have an IT department willing to help you if there are connection issues. I would HIGHLY recommend getting a laptop over a tablet though, or a tablet that has a keyboard. You'll be doing a good bit of typing during PBL sessions, and even anatomy has parts where you'll be typing things a lecturer says.
Books or eBooks: BUY THE HARD COPY OF THE BOOKS. I'll say it again: BUY THE HARD COPY OF THE BOOKS. It didn't happen to me, but a very good OMSI friend of mine got screwed first semester when he got a PBL facilitator that was against computer use. Although that is few and far between, he was forced to buy copies of stuff he already had on Kindle. If you don't have references or books to look them up, it will hurt your PBL grade. Don't leave this up to chance.
Living areas: Unfortunately, the prices are going up slightly due to a surging housing market here in Lakewood Ranch/Bradenton. Currently, I have a 2/2 that is around 1,080 a month. Yacht Club, Colonial Grand, Carlton Arms (much older, but cheap) are all solid choices. Do your homework if you're looking at Lost Creek, the one closest to LECOM. It's got a lot of nice amenities, but I've heard a whole lot of bad things about everything else. Also, lock in leasing as soon as possible. After coming here for a few days, I set up a 2/2 at a great rate at the place of my choice, and I was able to find a roommate after. Don't wait on that. If you're not the apartment type, you can try the LECOM student sites as there's plenty of 3rd/4th years that will have open housing.
For those of you still on the waitlist - good luck and don't give up hope. Someone in my group first semester got in 2 days into the orientation week. She lived in the area and had been in constant contact with LECOM, but it can happen. And if it doesn't, keep working. Took me 3 application cycles to finally make it (2 MD years, 1 DO). Any other questions? I might be on later
