Lucky Number Seven: Seven Must-Have Apps for College Students

By Kait Spong

Modern college students get a bad rap. You’re championed as the procrastinators of modern society, and older generations love to remind you of that fact— especially when it comes to how much time you spend online. They always want to know what you “kids” are doing on your smartphones or tablets all day.

But what they don’t understand is that Gen-Z, which now accounts for the majority of the college student demographic, is using tech to better themselves, increase productivity, and make big moves. It’s not all selfie filters and frivolous dating apps out there in the mobile-app market. In fact, there are some essential apps that can help you get the most out of your college experience. Here’s our list of must-have apps that committed college students should have downloaded to their Home screens.

Evernote

Evernote may be a little overwhelming to the first-time user, but it is often deemed the “king of note taking apps,” and it’s easy to see why— it’s a comprehensive organizing app that is available on multiple platforms.

Evernote offers a simple mantra: “Forgetting sucks.” With that truth in mind, the app lets you to view everything (and we mean, everything) from a centralized hub, allowing you to declutter your life. Upload your handwritten notes, or type up reminders, ideas, and other what-have-you’s, then enhance them further with links, tables, attachments, and audio recordings. You can even create to-do lists in Evernote, so you can ditch other organizational apps and save space on your phone for other important apps…like Snapchat. Hey, you got to throw some fun in your workflow, right?

Cost: Free/Basic, $34.99 Per Year/Plus, $69.99 Per Year/Premium (with Potential Student Discount of 50 Percent)

Google Drive

Having completed both B.A. and M.A. programs, I know personally that Google Drive is a lifesaver in any graduate or post-graduate program. All students are aware that professors love group projects for one reason or another, and Google Drive—like Evernote—serves as an amazing centralized hub for all your class notes, spreadsheets, presentations, and so on. You can upload your projects straight from the Microsoft Suite, or use a variety of apps that Google has provided for you in Drive such as Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

You can even make files available offline so you can view them on your phone or tablet when you’re stuck on a plane ride back home or are in a building with a bad or unsteady connection—ahem, off-campus coffee shops, I’m looking at you.

Cost: Free/15 GB, $1.99 Per Month/100 GB, $9.99 Per Month/1 Terabyte

LinkedIn

As a college student, pre-occupied with exams, papers, and all the other stressors of the university experience, it may seem as if starting and maintaining a LinkedIn profile should be the least of your worries, but this notion couldn’t be further from the truth!

LinkedIn is the perfect tool to begin your professional career before you even step foot outside of the classroom. You can build your professional network, check out possible career paths, and generally prepare to enter the workforce. Joining LinkedIn can help you land an internship or gain referrals that will come in handy once you begin your career.

Cost: Free/Basic, Job Seeker/$29.99 Per Month

Mint

Just like building a professional network, it is never too early to begin financially planning for your future. Mint is a multi-faceted app in that it allows you to track your spending from a smartphone, tablet, or both while offering tools that allow you to set bill payment reminders, view how spending decisions might impact your budget, and manage saving goals and investments for your financial future.

You can crush the stereotypes of financially irresponsible younger generations and streamline all your financial assets on this simple app. With Mint, you can link your financial accounts, loans, investments, and so forth with its centralized hub, which allows you to grasp trends in your earning and spending. Our opinion? It’s easy to setup and even easier to use!

Cost: Free

Spotify

Spotify wants its app to be the “soundtrack to your studies,” and we think it very well should be. With 30 million songs in its library, Spotify is one of the most comprehensive music streaming services for the low monthly cost. You can make customizable playlists to share and collaborate with friends, and if you’re too busy to put one together for yourself, Spotify creates playlists based on your listening habits. Every week, you’ll enjoy “Discover Weekly,” a wide-ranging playlist based around the genres you listened to the week prior. They even feature Daily Mixes, which represent your top-six most listened to genres.

Need some motivation during your next study session? Spotify features different Genres and Moods—one of which is “Focus” where you can find numerous playlists of all genres that are perfect for cracking down on your next assignment.

Cost: Spotify Free/Free, Spotify Premium with Student Discount/$4.99 Per Month

Venmo

Sure, you’ve heard the term, “poor college student.” And yes, it’s a completely valid notion. With the exponential costs of college—textbooks, supplies, tuitions, fees—there may not be much of a spending allowance factored into your weekly budget. This can make joint activities such as eating out a little stressful— or awkward to say the least.

That’s where Venmo steps in. Unlike PayPal, Venmo allows you to send money directly from your bank account AND debit cards for free. Their motto puts it perfectly: “Paying your friends back for pizza shouldn’t cost more than your slice.” If you want to use a credit card a 3 percent fee applies, but otherwise you can enjoy the luxury of telling that waiter or waitress, “Yes, it will all be on one check.”

Cost: Free

UberEats

Food on-the-go, delivered right to your dorm room or off-campus apartment. What more is there to say?

UberEats is a sister app of Uber, a very helpful rideshare app that you’ve may have heard something about by now. But UberEats functions as a separate entity and allows users to schedule food orders, customize their delivery location, and track said order to its completion.

Better yet, UberEats just announced in late August that they plan to expand their services to 31 more college campuses. The company is now in partnership with nearly 60,000 restaurants so even the pickiest of eaters will find something to please their palate.

According to the app, college students tend to favor wings, pizza, and tacos—but is there really any surprise that university students tend to stick to the main nutritional food groups?

Cost: Free

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