Information Technology at the College of your Dreams

When choosing a college, one of the most important factors to consider is information technology at the school. Given the competitive post-graduate job market, computer skills are at a premium. Your college years should be a time to develop these skills and to practice using them. Advanced information technology systems also enable students to learn more and to stay in touch with those they love.

Computers How many students are there per computer? Where are the computers located? Some schools have a small lab in every dorm (which is great for when you are writing that paper at four in the morning). Others have a number of labs scattered around campus. Still others have a single huge building full of computers. Are the computers available for your use PCs or Macs? Is there staff around to help you if you have a question? If you are planning on bringing your own computer, these questions might seem like they are not a big deal. However, you will need to use the school computers. Maybe you'll need special software, or your computer might break. Often, wired colleges require group work with computers.

Networking What percentage of the computers on campus are connected to the Internet? Can you connect to the network from your dorm room? If so, do you have to pay a special fee? How fast is the campus network, and is it a direct connection or do you have to dial in by modem? Can you and your roommate both be online at the same time while using your telephones? As campus technology moves forward, you will also have to ask whether the school has a wireless network (which lets you take your laptop outside and still remain connected).

Applications Can you access all the software you need? The campus computers should have a word processor, a spreadsheet, a presentation maker, web-authoring software, graphics design software, and specialized applications like statistics software. All should be compatible with the dominant format to ease document transfer. Also find out if the school's site licenses will allow you to download software to use on your own computer.

Staying in Touch College students use the Internet to keep in touch with those they love. What is available to you for this purpose? Does the school provide an email address, and is it easy to remember? Do you use a program like Netscape for your email, is it done through telnet, or do you use webmail? How much disk space do you get to store those mushy emails from Mom in? Some students also use web-to-phone services to reduce their monthly phone bills.

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