I want to get a Mac laptop for school & personal use. What do you recommend?

Depends on what the school and personal use needs are. Some schools require a ChromeBook, some require top-of-the-line processing power. Some personal use requires action packed real time games and extensive video editing while some personal users require occasional email.

Even your major can affect your choice of brand. My son completed four years of a five-year Engineering school with a 2012 MacBook Pro but had to use software in the fifth year that cannot run on any Mac. He had to buy a Windows notebook.

You have some research to do and we cannot do it for you.