Linux

So far I've been able to run everything I need to off of it, and libreoffice works very well with office docs in my experience.

I had a teacher who was really passionate about Ubuntu and was distributing Ubuntu 5/6 live CDs. I ended up installing it on my laptop. It was a pretty miserable experience. Everything was ugly as hell, configuring the sound card was a pain, Wi-Fi drivers had constant problems, upgrades to the new x.04/x.10 version borked the system 100℅ of the time. Pretty miserable but got the job done.

Nowadays the experience is much, much smoother. Just ensure you don't need exclusive software.

I didn't but it was the early nineties and honestly I did not even realize the command line was unix on machines vs dos. I just thought I was messing up the terms or it was just a variant system. I did not realize all dos was the same.

I've used Ubuntu on a laptop during my undergrad 2008-13. I used LyX to write anything I'd submit, including some psych work. I've used LibreOffice (OpenOffice) for some stuff too. I had to use MS Office or some other Windows-only software on occasion. I used a Windows VM for that. I've kept this formula till present day. Linux (Ubuntu LTS/Debian) on the hardware, Windows VM on Linux for special occasions.

Heck, I ran Linux on my college computers back in the 90s. It was just a thing you did. Ah, memories...

Anyhoo, it largely depends on the school but for most intents and purposes Windows, Mac and Linux are interoperable. By that I mean they can generally open, manipulate and share all of the common document formats natively, with some minor caveats.

Many schools also have access to Microsoft O365, which makes the MS Office online suite available as well. All you really need to use that is a web browser.

I work in an office environment these days where Windows, Mac and Linux are all well supported and are in broad use. I use Linux (Debian) exclusively, my one coworker is all-windows and a third is all-mac. Our boss uses Windows on the desktop, but also uses a Macbook. We are able to collaborate and exchange data without many problems.

I would say the two main challenges you're liable to face will be when Word files include forms or other uncommon formatting structures. LibreOffice is generally able to deal with them, but may mangle some fonts & formatting. Its not common but it does happen.

The other main challenge could be required courseware-- specialized software used in a curriculum for teaching-- and proctor software for when you're taking exams online. Those might require Windows or Mac

If it ever comes up, Windows will run in a Virtual Machine (VM) just fine. VirtualBox by Oracle is generally free for individual use, and is relatively easy to start up. Your laptop will probably come with Windows pre-installed, so you could just nuke it, install Linux, install VirtualBox, and then install Windows as a VM using the license that came with your laptop. You'd need to ask an academic advisor at the school if that's acceptable for whatever proctor software they use.

I recommend against dual-booting a Windows environment if you can avoid it. Linux & Windows are uneasy roommates, and will occasionally wipe out the other's boot loader. It's not terribly difficult to recover, but there is a risk that could (will) happen at the WORST possible moment. However, it might be unavoidable if they use proctor software that requires windows on bare metal. Again, you'd have to ask the school.

Good luck!

Comp sci undergrad from a mid tier university graduated in 2012, didn't need Windows at all. I mostly used an Ubuntu desktop, pocket sized mini laptop with bsd, and a red hat vdi the school provided during a research assistantship.

The school had labs in the library and comp sci building if you needed windows for something but it never came up. Group projects shared files on school provided web based tools or dropbox and used the same for class forums, sharing docs and assignments, etc. Some web stuff was broken for Firefox and had to use chrome, but never hit anything requiring IE (pre Edge).

Even if you're not in a technical field you may want to explore some of the common tools they use like git for version control (like save/restore points in a video game), LaTeX/TeX for better typesetting than office, and off-site backups.

I actually switched to Ubuntu full-time way back in 2006 when I went back to school (anthro major), specifically to help me focus when using my computer and not get distracted by playing video games. Of course, nowadays with wine and proton on steam, that might not be as effective. But it worked well for me, never experienced any issues with word docs opening in libre office (or rather open office back then) or vice versa. There was once or twice where I had to use a computer in the lab in the library to run some niche program or another for an assignment, but not a big deal.

My experience was that the school provided free Windows keys for a personal computer if you needed one (they didn’t provide the computer itself) but the majority of computers I interacted with on campus (mostly in the computer lab) were Linux (some Debian variant iirc). I think the printing computers in the library were windows. I took an art class at one point and they had Macs (it was for using the Apple’s Final Cut Pro).

We never used LibreOffice though. Everyone just uses Google Drive.

@clark Uni sold their soul to Microsoft, not one Linux machine in sight.
However, I've been using it since last year just fine, as it was intro to programming class.
Though, I will have one electronics class down the line which uses a proprietary, Windows-only, not-gonna-give-you-a-license software, and it really sucks.
Hoping that next time it gets better...

I had a great time. I studied electrical engineering and my department had moved from using Matlab to Python which made my life a lot easier. There was one class where we had to use a Matlab library but I was able to use Octave with the library. There weren't any other programs we had to install there weren't compatible with Linux. A lot of classes just required a web browser, no additional software, so no issues there.

I was super lucky apparently because my degree's curriculum required C# and ASP.NET, on top of our CTO having a big bug up his ass and hitting the switch that disallowed Linux computers to connect to the wifi. Even connecting Macbooks was a huge headache I guess. Dude didn't fucking care and would just jerk himself off about how hardened the school's network was.

My laptop was really shitty too but I ended up running Windows 7 in a VM just to get by. But had to do a lot of bullshit between OSes and in the end, it would have just been way better if I had just bit the bullet and used Windows for the time I was there.

I'm probably an outlier and today it's probably better but if your school gets kickbacks from M$ and you are going for programming just expect it I guess.

LIbreOffice's .docx formatting sucks when going between it and M$ Word too but someone else already mentioned that.

I've used Linux all through college and haven't had any problems. I never had to use Windows only software for my degree, but I can't really say what you might need. LibreOffice can mess up the formatting of more complex documents, but will normally be fine. If you're working in a group project and need to use shared docs you can always use Word or Google Docs online.

I ran Arch on a convertible laptop around 2006-2010. Most notes I did using OpenOffice Writer, with hotkeys to quickly add formulas. Drawings were done with the pen. Homework (where speed didn't matter as much but where I wanted high quality) were done in ConTeXt.

Programming was done in FreePascal using Lazarus IDE or Java using Netbeans IDE, depending on the course and my personal preference.

I think I had no complaints from anyone. Quite the contrary, one professor even gifted me a book as a thanks for the high quality typesetting in my homeworks, since most students didn't give a shit and had no fucking clue how to really use their beloved MS Word.

For the office part: Libreoffice formats differently than MS office so there may be problems, but you could also use Onlyoffice (Foss) or WPS office (free but proprietary) which have supposedly 100% compatibility. You could also use MS office web which is free

I did computer science in uni and it was never an issue. The only time I remember needing specific windows software was a RISC processor simulator we used in my low level programming class, and for that there was a hefty license on the software anyway, so basically everyone used the lab computers.

I made it through college without using windows on any of my personal machines, but I did need to access a library or computer lab to take 1 test that needed a specialized web browser for some reason. Other than that, I was actually pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to slip by with a good PDF viewer, libreoffice, and Inkscape.

My degree was in computer engineering, most groups I worked in outside of the engineering department just preferred collaboration through office online or google docs.

MS Office works oob on Crossover and could work on Wine with a bit of tinkering. Research if your college uses examination software. If they do you are either forced to either using Windows / Mac or gambling your academic carrier via running the software on Wine.

I got no pussy

I've used GNU/OpenBSD all the way through community college (US) with minor issues. Biggest issue is having to use platforms like zoom for some online courses, which requires an RTC capable browser (aka firefox or chromium, neither of which I am a big fan of) for the webclient, which the company clearly does not want you using as they won't actually give a prompt to use the webclient until you click their link to fail opening their native spyware client (so who knows when the webclient will just disappear altogether). Another issue was professors using proprietary microsoft formats which require installing libreoffice, which isn't tooling I particularly enjoy using, but at least the option is there. I haven't had to use a malware "lockdown" browser or anything like that thankfully (though if I had to, I'd just use computers on-campus to do the work). Most classes allow submissions in PDF, and if the syllabus only allows docx submissions, the professor will allow me to submit PDF after contacting them.