There are a lot of tasks involved in getting ready for college, whether you’re just starting to research schools or are ready to pack up and move into your new dorm or apartment. And with the prevalence of smartphones and tablets, there are now apps that can help you with everything — including preparing for college.
You probably already rely on your phone to organize most aspects of your life, so it won’t be that difficult to also use it for this transition phase.
Here are some of the best apps to help you through the different stages of the college prep process, from finding the right college to acing your standardized tests to starting school.
The Homework App does just as it promises from the title: it helps you to organize your homework. You can create a timetable that integrates all your tasks and sub-tasks for all subjects to help you prioritize your study time. Use this while you’re still in high school to help you make the grades you need to get into your school of choice. It can then travel with you to college to help you keep on top of everything.
2. College Interactive
College Interactive (CI) is an app that allows you to search for colleges. You can create a profile with important details about yourself, including your GPA, test scores, extracurricular activities, etc. Then, you can search for schools using various criteria and find out more information about each college, including taking a virtual tour of some schools. The app also allows you to receive messages from universities and register for events.
3. Find Colleges
Another app that can help with your college search is Find Colleges, developed by ThinkEducationUSA.com. It allows you to search using different criteria, such as location, size, majors, tuition fees and more. It provides additional information about each college as well, including video profiles and links to the college websites. As an added bonus, you can directly contact the school to request additional information from within the app.
4. You Visit Colleges
If you’re truly interested in a school, there’s no substitute for visiting it in person. But to help you narrow down your list of potential schools, a virtual tour can be helpful. This app offers virtual tours of over 1,000 different schools, with stats and interviews to add to the experience. Taking it a step up, if you own a virtual reality headset, you can also go on a very cool virtual reality tour.
Watch this virtual tour of Bentley University.
5. Naviance Student
You may be familiar with the website Naviance, a popular college planning tool for high school students. With the Naviance Student mobile app, you can access the mobile version of the tool to research schools, connect with counselors and create to-do lists. Although it’s free, your high school needs to be a Naviance platform subscriber in order for you to get the full benefits of the app.
6. EduPath College Passport SAT Edition
There are many different SAT prep apps on the market, but what helped EduPath’s app make this list is its adaptive platform, as well as the addition of college search and application organizer. As you work, the app recognizes the areas that need attention and concentrates on those spots until you improve. You also don’t need to spend one large chunk of time on it; you can use it throughout the day whenever you have a few moments to spare. Your parents can also monitor your progress.
7. ACT TestBank
ACT TestBank, created by Allen Resources, Inc., helps you study for the ACT. It tracks your progress so that you can see how you have improved, as well as what areas still need work. Although it’s free to download, it does have in-app purchases for many of the practice problems.
8. Scholarships.com
Finding funding for your education is an essential component of your college preparation, and you can now do it using your smartphone or tablet. Scholarships.com, one of the leading websites for locating funding opportunities, also has an app to find scholarships based on your qualifications, including test scores and GPA.
9. Quad2Quad
Before you choose your college, it’s important to visit to ensure it meets all of your expectations. Many students visit several colleges during their planning stages, and Quad2Quad can help you create the perfect college trip. It may not have an exhaustive list of schools, but it does include 91 of the top schools around the country. You can find information about parking, driving directions, other schools nearby, tour times and more, so that you can get the most out of your college trips without having to visit each school’s website.
10. Max U
There are many facets of a college application, including your test scores, letters of recommendation, essay, transcripts and more. It can be difficult to keep up with all of them, especially if you apply to more than one school. That is where Max U, a tool by Ascensus, Inc., comes into play. It allows you to create a checklist for your college apps to keep you on track. As an added bonus, you can rank your shortlist of colleges by different factors, including distance, cost and likelihood of acceptance.
11. Dropbox
Or, if you just need a simple place to store your files, Dropbox is a great solution. You can access them from any device, so you can edit your application essay whenever the mood strikes you.
12. Any.do
Any.do is an app that helps as you are preparing for college — and beyond. It’s a task organizer and to-do list app, but with features that keep you organized and on track. What’s more, you can sync it between your smartphone, tablet, and computer so that you can always access your list anywhere. You can use this to keep track of your homework, applications, moving lists, shopping lists, and more. Similar options include Evernote, Springpad and Simplenote.
13. StayFocused
There are a bazillion different distractions that can keep you from getting your homework or applications done (um..Snapchat). An app like this one will help you set time limits for being on social media or block certain sites so you stay on track. May not sound like fun, but it might be necessary.
14. Pocket
There are lots of great articles and tools available to help you through the college process. Keep them all straight with Pocket, an app that lets you easily store content for later and even read it offline.
Why not start with the article you’re reading right now?
There are many more apps available for both iOS and Android that you can use to help with college preparation and to enhance your brainpower. Many colleges also have their own mobile apps that provide important information to help with your application and decision-making processes.
If you want to fill your phone with even more great apps, check out these apps that were made to enhance brainpower.
