College students head to campus with Mac and iPad

This month, students around the world are heading off to college, ready for the next chapter of their academic careers and beyond. As many delve into the intricacies of fields as varied as organic chemistry, the visual arts, and medicine, they’re trusting Apple’s ecosystem of products to power through their days. From creating apps, to taking bio notes, designing presentations, and editing video projects, college students turn to Mac and iPad for their longevity, portability, and reliability.

And with the rollout of Apple Intelligence — the personal intelligence system that puts powerful generative models at the core of Mac, iPad, and iPhone while setting a new standard for privacy — this fall, they’ll have even more tools to tackle the increasing demands of their fields.¹

“My MacBook Air goes with me everywhere I go and excels at all the work I demand from it, whether running AutoCAD to design a new machine, taking notes for organic chemistry, or building my next app in Xcode — MacBook Air unlocks completely new possibilities for me,” explains Brayden Gogis, a rising junior at Taylor University in Indiana and a three-time Swift Student Challenge winner who is studying mechanical engineering and biochemistry.

Research shows that students’ course of study plays a major role in choosing their primary device. In fact, 65 percent said this was an important factor, according to data from Futuresource Consulting. Below, three students majoring in STEM fields share why they have made Mac and iPad their trusted campus companions.

After attending the University of Notre Dame in Indiana for her undergraduate studies, Yoora Jung is now in her second year of medical school at Touro University California in the San Francisco Bay Area.

A longtime user of Apple products, she relies on iPad Air for her studies, and her MacBook Pro for creating content for social media, where she’s earned a sizable following with her inside look at what it’s really like being a medical school student.

“I use iPad Air and Apple Pencil to take handwritten notes using Notability, and to organize lecture materials for effective study sessions,” Jung says.

Jung is also looking forward to the rollout of Apple Intelligence features, such as Writing Tools, which can help students rewrite, proofread, and summarize text when tidying up class notes or crafting important emails.

“Apple Intelligence will be a game changer,” Jung says. “Being able to automatically generate summaries of lecture recordings and transcripts will make studying more productive, and help me quickly adjust my notes and emails for tone, in addition to grammar or spelling errors.”

To handle the intensive demands of his medical school curriculum at Central India’s Government Medical College, Nagpur, Anuj Pachhel opted for MacBook Pro. “One aspect I loved was the battery life on the device,” says Pachhel, who will continue his postgraduate studies this fall. “I had e-books for studies loaded on my Mac and used it extensively, and I was in awe of the speed.”

Throughout his undergraduate years, Pachhel documented his academic adventures with iPhone and Mac, earning more than a million followers as he discussed what it was like studying for exams, attending college during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and what he did with his scarce free time along the way.

“The Mac is so powerful at handling challenging tasks,” Pachhel explains. “I particularly love DaVinci Resolve Studio, as it uses many artificial intelligence features that tap the fast Neural Engine of my MacBook Pro, improving my editing speed.”

Across the Apple ecosystem, Continuity features like Handoff and Universal Clipboard help keep students like Brayden Gogis on task as they power through their busiest days on campus.

“The more I use my Mac, the more I get out of it,” Gogis explains. “I can go on my iPhone and see all of my notes for class that I type on my MacBook Air if I want to quickly study, and all of my texts, calendar events, and reminders sync between them. It keeps me organized and on track when I’m being pulled in a million different directions.”

During the school year, his most-used apps include Bear, a note-taking app; the Reminders and Calendar apps for staying on task; and Keynote for creating top-notch presentations. “Keynote has so many features for making a really impressive presentation in the simplest way possible,” Gogis says. “The animations make it a lot easier to communicate organic chemistry mechanisms that look intimidating as a static image.”

As Gogis and his fellow students head back to campus this fall with Mac and iPad, they’re prepared for the semester ahead, and for wherever their academic and future career journeys take them.

Whether students choose Mac or iPad, affordability is key. Apple is celebrating the student experience with a limited-time college student offer in Apple Store locations and online at the Apple Education Store. The offer includes a gift card up to $150 in the U.S. for purchase of Mac or iPad, including the new MacBook Air — the world’s most popular laptop — and the all-new iPad Air.

To add to their savings, college and graduate students, their parents, and all teachers are eligible to receive discounted education pricing year-round and 20 percent off AppleCare+ during this limited-time offer. They can trade in an old device to earn credit toward a new one and take advantage of 0 percent interest financing over 24 months.

To help students narrow in on the perfect laptop, Apple has also launched a new Today at Apple session available for students to take at their local Apple Store, and the “Help me choose” service online. Students can also shop with a specialist, who will guide them based on personal college goals, customize features and apps to fit their needs, and explore options to fit their unique budget, in stores and online. For more information, visit an Apple Store or the Apple Education Store online.