The 5 Best Apps to Use in College

Over my past 3 years in college, I’ve come to find the best apps to use.  Some are specific to Penn State, and others are general apps that are good to use in college.  I hope that you find these apps just as useful and helpful as I have.

Available for Apple and Android for FREE:

Cata Bus

Cam Card

Cata App: 
This app will become your best friend on the rainy and snowy days, and the nights where you are studying in the library until late at night.  There are 4 free bus routes on campus: the Blue Loop, White Loop, Red Link, and Green Link.  On this app are these four routes plus all the routes for the State College area.  It provides all the stops on the route plus the location of the bus.  It is almost real-time, but sometimes the app and the bus are not completely in sync.  Most of the time it is accurate though.

Cam Card:
If you have a stack of business cards and don't know what to do with them, get this app.  You can take a picture of the business card, and the app pulls off all the important information and creates a contact for the person.  Now you will always have your business cards in one place.

Google Apps:

Ok, I might have cheated with this one, but I'm considering Google one app.  I love everything about Google, and use their entire suite of apps.  I prefer Gmail over the generic email app.  I use Google Calendar to schedule in my entire life, including classes, office hours, and work hours.  Not only do I have the Google Drive app, but also the individual Google docs and sheets.  Google makes my life easier and produces quality apps.   

                                     

Paid Apps:

*Note: I am not one to usually purchase apps but these two are the best purchases I've made and I highly recommend them*

iStudiez Pro

Notability

iStudiez Pro:

I am always the one at the beginning of each semester saying how I'm going to actually use that planner I bought.  This works for about a week and then I stop.  This app has many features in it.  You can put all of your classes in under one semester.  It allows you to enter in the class time plus exams.  For each class you can enter in all of your assignments, the due dates, and reminders.  There's also a section to input your teachers' information, including their office hours.  Another great feature is that you can sync it to all of your Apple devices.  There's a free version if you want to try it, but it doesn't have all the features.

Available only for Apple for $2.99

There are other similar versions available for Android.

Notability:    

In my opinion this is the best note-taking app available. I always take my iPad to class because it is easier to carry around than my laptop. You can write notes with a stylus or type using the keyboard. If my teachers provide PowerPoints or other downloadable notes I usually use this app. It's great to fill in the blanks or add your own notes on the side. I make a new section for each semester and subjects under the semester for each class. I back my notes on Dropbox but you can also upload them to Google Drive or send them in an email (which makes sharing notes with friends easy).

Available only for Apple for $2.99

                     You can get Evernote for free on both Apple and Android, which I hear people like, but I've never used it.

Emily Pringle is a senior majoring in Industrial Engineering, and is a Mentor for WEPO'15!