Depends on what you go for. I got my BS and MS entirely with *nix. There are some niche programs for specific majors which did not have alternatives and/or ways to run on *nix, so don't be disappointed if you can't find a solution.
this post was submitted on 16 May 2025
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I did History and Computer science and had no issues whatsoever. Most of my history work was LibreOffice writer saving to PDF or .docx formats. Printing, scanning, and using library wifi was always fine.
Computer Science kind of expected Linux, everything we did there was cross-platform already.
Try it and see. It depends on your professors and what software they want to use for class. I was able to get through college just fine on Linux, but a couple classes were made easier with windows, so I ran a VM for those classes.
You can probably get by on library computers
There are two potential show-stoppers.
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Field-specific apps that only run on windows. If you really need Adobe Creative Cloud or SolidWorks or something like that you might be out of luck. This is mostly true for apps that require GPU acceleration, which is difficult to rig up in a VM. You wouldn't want to do that if it was a big part of your workload.
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Mandatory spyware and rootkit DRM to prevent cheating with remote tests. Hopefully if they do such a thing they provide loaner hardware too. I've seen a lot of bullshit in my time but my experience is outdated, so I don't know what's common nowadays.
Even with tests, don't most universities have library computers or a computer lab that'll suffice instead of using your personal Linux machine?
wine should handle most things not in a browser. in a browser you can switch the user agent or run edge/chrome if needed. ultimately its going to vary by school, class, and instructor if one requires something that won't run in wine. In my experience these almost do not exist because mac is very popular in academia. I mean if you take a photoshop or ms office course or such you may be expecting a bit much.
If you don't mind using the computer labs (are those even still a thing? when did I get so old that I wonder if commonplace things when I was in college still exist?) or a vm for assignments where the professors require the use of MS software. Which is likely just the intro computer class they use to make sure the kinesiology majors know how to use office.
Of course, there's also learning management software which is universally broken, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of it still required IE6.
There are workarounds to almost every issue you may have. You can run Windows in a VM for software that requires it, or dual boot. M$ Office can be ran in a browser now. There is no reason to buy a license, just DL windows10 direct from M$ and never register, all they do is lock you out of some display options and add a watermark to your desktop.
Last I checked, Pearson doesn't allow Linux for remote tests, nor will they let you use a VM.
I know there were ways to skirt their VM detection, but is that worth the risk for 10s of thousands of dollars in your education?
I made it through college as a Mac user in the mid 90's which had a lower market share than Linux does now. If I was a college now I'd probably get a reasonably powerful business notebook and run MacOS, and Windows in a VM so I wasn't left wanting.
Dualboot and check what software they use. If you can get away with only Linux then you're good. I personally always have a copy of windows available on a separate SSD in case I need it. Sometimes I take months on end without booting into it.
I also have basically only my personal experience to go off of (from studying computer science), but I never had to plug hardware into my laptop. Printers were available over the network and the one time we worked with hardware, they had dedicated lab PCs there, which had the necessary software pre-installed.
From what I've heard on the internet, that's quite a common theme. Lots of hardware equipment is ridiculously expensive, so you don't go buying new equipment when accompanying software doesn't work on newer operating systems anymore. Instead, you keep a PC around with that old OS and the software, specifically for operating that hardware.
I did, Manjaro Linux on a laptop that started on windows 8. I did have meny teacher get upset I was not using the programs they recommend. I did CIT with a minor in web dev and design. It was not always easy but I feel it was worth it when my Uni used proctorio to do testing remote. Protorio is basically a virus or almost a rootkit. I was able to do my testing in-person because I didn't own a windows or Mac computer.