My university (university of Brussels, www.vub.ac.be ) promotes Linux (and not mac/osx). Every program we write has to work on the CS server, which runs slackware. We (the CS student organisation/club) provide wireless network that works under linux (and not under vista >:) ), do linux InstallFests where people can bring their computer or just come into our room with a laptop and we'll happily help em. We try to promote opensource as well, for example when people had to reinstall and left their microsoft office disk at home (and somehow think we have an illegal version). In the courses no software that doesnt run under linux is being used by the CS department, but for courses like statistics with SPSS we're pretty much pooped. Luckily we had to make a task about Machine Learning instead of messing with SPSS, but that doesn't count for people not studying CS.

But, for calculus, you may be forced to use Mathcad, which you will need to install in Virtualbox. There also may be some other trivial programs that require Windows. But, you will almost always have lab computers available for these. You may have to use Texmaker for math classes: aptitude install texmaker in Kubuntu. At my school, nobody prints from their laptops, so running linux on your laptop isn't much of an issue as long as you save your office documents in MS Word format.

I tried linux in my gas tank and dog shit on my computer, with mixed results

Education is something that you get for your life, not something that you get for your job. If you are getting an education for your job, then blind obedience is the most pragmatic way to approach a class so long as you make the grade and it enables you to perform a particular task. Sometimes going to school can be a requirement of parole. Often times just being in a school and being in the environment is better than sitting around at home playing video games. I even have friends that go to school because their parents require it if they are going to continue to pay their rent.

On the other hand, if you are getting an education for your life, not only can it help you in a career, but it helps you in every part of life you want to apply your education. That is a bit more of a challenge because there is more to consider. When you are looking for an education for your life, a school that matches your principles and values become important. Class size, diversity of staff, which federal programs they accept money from, non-discrimination policy, How good the Chinese food is, and the range of technology they embrace. Schools are ranked all the time by other peoples standards, and they are generally good guidelines. However, imho, one should check the data that is used to determine their ranking, but why not take it a step further and feel whether or not this is the type of environment you want to immerse yourself in that you hope will guide you for the rest of your life.

From what I have seen, a person that takes responsibility for their own education for themselves and on their own terms will be more successful in life and in their career, and likely to get better grades on top of that, than anyone that has gone to Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, MIT cause their parents told them they had to.

And if you are a wack-nut Linux fanboy RMS worshiping FOSS junkie, or just someone that has grown up Linux and take pleasure in being a part of the community on some small level, I believe one is going to be much happier and successful in an environment as important as college where your culture is going to be embraced.

This is really about any belief or ideal. If you can' stand up for what you believe in, just little selfish things that YOU want (keeping in mind this is you going to college, not anyone else when it comes down to your choices), how are you ever supposed to stand up for what you know once you are there, let alone later in life?

Of course if all this just sounds silly, then it probably doesn't matter which school you end up going to. (obligatory straw-man)

Do they have lab machines at universities anymore? Are all students required to buy computers? I hope laptops aren't required at least, which double the cost at least. What do students on scholarships who still can't afford computers do, drop out?

Exam4 is great. It's a clean, no-frills Windows application that doesn't rely on any funny DLLs or external files. It's perfect for running in WINE. The problem is Exam4 checks to make sure it's not running in a VM or emulator (or not-an-emulator). This is to make sure you can't get around the feature of locking you out of the rest of your computer so you can't cheat (like surfing the internet or looking at your notes). Now, there may be a way to spoof real hardware and make it think it's running natively to get around this. But if you do that, you run the very real risk of the administration deciding that you are cheating and tossing out your test or even expelling you from school (and not unreasonably---it would give you access to notes, internet, etc). It's just not worth it to have to risk your entire academic career on an OS preference. For the exam, you either dual boot (which is what I did), or you borrow a computer with Windows on it. But I would never try anything cute with the exam software. There's just too much at stake.