As September draws ever closer, and you begrudgingly check your inbox for a schedule of your first semester of classes, you may be wondering how you’re going to transition from the relaxed pace of a summer vacation to the hustle and bustle of college. Balancing homework, classes, a part time job, club activities, and some semblance of a social life may seem daunting to the college freshmen. Fortunately the year is 2015 and if you’re attending college this year, chances are you own a smartphone. We’re focusing on 5 must-have apps, or categories of apps, out there to help you manage your college life, no matter how hectic it gets.
Study Apps
Make use of that smartphone and study on the go. Whether you’re waiting in line for breakfast or commuting to school by bus or train, you can capitalize on this time to get ahead in your classes. Apps like BenchPrep provide an interactive course library that contains study material on everything from the MCAT to the GMAT. If you’re interested in making your own flashcards however, why not download StudyBlue Flashcards which, in addition to traditional text, allows you to use sound, pictures and videos to commit new subjects to memory.
Note Taking Apps
Evernote is the current reigning king of cloud based note-taking apps. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed with managing the links, videos, flashcards, and other study materials you’ll accumulate over the course of the school year, this is the app for you. Evernote allows you to take notes as you would in a notebook, save snippets of text from articles, links, photos and video from your browser, and sync and access them across all your mobile devices. The free version is a must for any college student, since you get 60 MB of rollover storage each month.
Financial Management Apps
It’s never too early to start managing your finances, and with student loans, food, tuition, books, and entertainment costs you’ll rack up in college, the sooner you start monitoring your credit, the better. Mint provides an excellent means of tracking your expenses across multiple bank accounts while organizing this information into time based infographics to help you reach your financial goals. Apps like Venmo alternatively allow you to make payments to your friends over your phone. Who hasn’t struggled to collect money from a friend or pay someone back after a night of dinner and karaoke? With Venmo you can coordinate payments to each other directly from your bank accounts ensuring you stay on top of your personal finances.
Productivity Apps
To-do list apps are a dime a dozen, with more and more crowding the app marketplace each year. Some apps however stand leagues above the rest and can help you manage your time and accomplish your college goals. If you’re going for simplicity Any.Do gives you exactly what you want, a to-do list with an elegant user interface and a helpful notification feature that reminds you to plan your day every morning. On the other end of the spectrum, Trello is a free project management app, that allows you to create virtual whiteboards and post objectives and goals for you to follow. Since you can add other people to your boards, you can use it to manage group projects and make sure everyone stays on the tasks that they are assigned.
Document Management Apps
While you still might want to use your laptop for writing papers or building presentations, there are many cases where you might want to quickly edit or review a document while you’re on the go. Office Mobile, the mobile version of Office 365 has recently overhauled its interface in anticipation of Windows 10 release later this July. Command the full power of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint from your smartphone or tablet pc. Alternatively if you work off the cloud for free using Google Drive, you can also download Google Drive to your phone to allow you to quickly review your documents.
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