Thoughts on iPads for PA school

[km1081]

Hi all,

I am starting PA school and January and I am still unsure about buying an iPad. I never used one in undergrad, but I see the benefit of having one for PA school. How much of a learning curve is there to taking notes on an iPad? Is it worth the money?

If I were to get an iPad, any recommendations on what model, how much storage, and what notes apps to use?

 

Anything you can share would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

[brodygrody]

It’s going to come down to how you learn and study the plethora of material, which is unique to everybody and you’ll figure it out in time what is the best for you. A lot of my cohort uses IPads (as do I), because it would be extremely costly and unpractical to print 300 plus pages of material a day. The other people take notes on their computer directly onto the PDF. Nobody in my cohort uses pen and paper, at least for the initial time learning the lecture (going back over, they might rewrite).

Learning curve is pretty small. I’ve used both Notability and Goodnotes, but for PA school I use Goodnotes (mainly cause they have an option for a $30 one time purchase vs a yearly subscription). I think they’re both pretty straight forward, especially the note taking part. The biggest part that it takes to learn is the layout of app, but it only takes like a week. For me, it’s worth the money. You don’t need a super fancy one, just get one that’ll do the job.

 Good luck! Feel free to ask any other questions.

[SedRate]

I went to PA school over 10 years ago. I used a laptop in college and bought an iPad for PA school per others' recommendation. (I think most everyone had one and a few had laptops.) Glad I bought one. I used Goodnotes and bought a nice keyboard case so typing was easy. Minimal learning curve. Fit well on the little fold-down writing area we had in the stadium style seating. I think it has 64 gigs? I didn't have a ton of apps or big files. I still used a laptop for any typing assignments and CDs. Post-school, I also liked using it for watching videos. Lol.

Congrats on getting in and starting soon. Good luck!

[loopyloopish]

Graduated 2 yrs ago. iPad and the little pen you can write on it with were crucial to taking notes. I would take notes right on the power point slides after downloading them to notability. 

[HHPA25]

A good chunk of my class doesnt have one, and I prefer it personally. I can makes notes on my powerpoint whenever needed and draw on it with my computer, and then write out paper notes. I like things more tangible.