Trying speedtest.net (or fast.com for less verbose test) on both your phone and laptop can help to identify the source of the problem. If you're living in a residence hall, I highly recommend using the wired ethernet that's provided.
This is the one I got a while back, do you think they'll work?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQUTQS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You’ll have to get an USB to Ethernet adapter and and Ethernet cord. Some of them aren’t compatible with the Switch so make sure you get one that’s based on the ASIX AX88179 chipset. This one worked for me and it’s a lot cheaper than the official Nintendo/Hori ones.
EE CPE double major here. The heaviest programs you'll run will be like MatLab, ModelSim, and pretty much your own written programs in c++ and Qt (if you do CPE). Though most of the heavy computation wont come until like your junior year, so it might be safe to assume you'll have a gaming desktop by then. As far as gaming goes it depends on what you're looking for of course. I use this tool to compare things like laptops and monitors. For matlab and such, anything that you need to game with will be available anyway. My personal recommendation would be something like this. You might want to take notes on the screen during class and such, and typing really doesn't do it for equations.
Gotcha, so in my opinion that is more of a tablet than a laptop which is why you're gonna have issues with it. In that case I would recommend something like this. It has more than enough capability to get schoolwork done and run everything you need, and comes from the factory with a 256GB solid state drive which is great. The solid state also is a M.2 type, so you should be able to go and buy another hard-drive and add tons of more space if you wanted.