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Students speak up about their favorite back-to-school apps

Kelly Hodgkins
Contributor
Updated ·5 min read

It's the start of a new school year, which means you've probably got a stack of new books on your desk, a drawer full of new pencils and an iPad that desperately needs some new apps. TUAW is here to help you build a new app list, and we did so with the help of some friends.

We consulted with students, teachers and some of the top tech and educational bloggers to generate this list. In this article, we highlight the students, who trudge to class everyday and soak up the knowledge that'll help them take on the world. These are the apps that they use:

Jeffrey Moran

Born and raised in New York City in 1993, Jeffrey has always had a passion for technology. Now a student at New York City College of Technology, he strives to use his skills to the best of his ability in an effort to help people. He works as a freelance iOS developer and has his own application in the App Store, Developer Cheat Sheet for iOS.

  1. EasyBib - Allows for easy citations

  2. WolframAlpha - Tons of answers on various subjects

  3. Mint - A finance and budgeting tool

  4. Calculate My GPA - GPA calculator, essential for college students

  5. AroundMe - Find stores, restaurants, movie theaters, and more around you

  6. Dropbox - Cloud storage service

  7. Alien Blue - Reddit Client - The best Reddit client there is

  8. iHomework - Store your school work, grades, teachers, and more. Syncs over iCloud

  9. Merriam-Webster Dictionary - Dictionary app

  10. Evernote - Note taking application that syncs with a desktop client

Victor Pope

A kind, eccentric and nerdy life companion. But only on Tuesdays. Find him here on Twitter. He is Jaggedcow!

  1. Tweetbot and Facebook Messenger for communicating.

  2. Calca comes in handy for working out equations sometimes.

  3. Byword or iA Writer - I use these for editing drafts when I'm killing time or on the go Pages - less useful than above because it's slow and doesn't always keep formatting, but it can come in handy.

  4. OmniFocus for keeping track of my work, but my friend also recommends Wunderlist or Things.

  5. I use Transit for well, transit directions. It's free now and has a very wide selection of cities

  6. Paper for the iPad, which I use as a scratch-pad and occasionally for note-taking

  7. For people studying Economics, OmniGraphSketcher is amazing and your professors will love you. (Note: Omnigroup discontinued this app in July 2013, so you can't buy it anymore.)

  8. I also use Keynote and Numbers on the iPad, but not on the iPhone because it's too small.

Will Smidlein

Full-stack developer. Overpunctuator. Former @pocket intern. 16. He's @ws on Twitter if you want to follow him.

  1. Pocket : Slightly biased as I interned there this summer, but it's a great time-filler after tests or on the bus ride.

  2. Tweetbot : Twitter is a pretty big means of communications between students as well as teachers-to-students.

  3. Spotify : I listen to a lot of music, so Spotify is great.

  4. Mailbox and Google Drive : Our district uses Google Apps for scheduling, file sharing, etc.

  5. Fantastical : Allows me to enter assignments in natural text and have them added to my planner.

  6. Wolfram Alpha : Better than a graphing calculator.

  7. Sleep Cycle alarm : Makes getting up super early not suck so much.

George Tinari

George is a witty, but focused college student with a strong interest in tech. He's currently employed as a writer for Neowin, and in his spare time he occasionally writes up some additional content on hispersonal blog. In the rare circumstance that he's not sitting in front of his laptop, you'll probably find him listening to music, being sarcastic, or eating.

  1. iStudiez Pro

  2. Evernote

  3. Waze (to monitor traffic as a commuter)

  4. Rise alarm clock

  5. Dark Sky

  6. Dropbox

Karan Varindani

Computer Science Major at Boston University (CAS'17). @dkilla_k301 on Twitter.

  1. Day One to keep track of major occurrences and more intimate thoughts. Moving from Ghana to Boston this year, it can get a little surreal sometimes. Day One helps me keep track of it all.

  2. Tweetbot because I still think it's the best Twitter client out there, and the iCloud sync works perfectly for me. Also, I'm a Lists junkie and Tweetbot makes that super easy.

  3. AfterLight is my favorite photography app, which says a lot because I pretty much own them all. I can't tell what it is about this app, but it's one of the few ones where I feel the photos actually come out better. It's also got some pretty great post-editing sharing options.

  4. Pages to jot down notes and keep them all in sync.

  5. 1Password to generate and remember my passwords, but to be honest I really don't use it that powerfully and I'm a sucker for anything integrated and with iCloud Sync; Safari Keychain might just move me off 1Password this Fall.

  6. Touchfit:GSP because I recently lost a lot of weight and university schedules don't accommodate for stringent gym schedules so this helps me keep fit in my dorm room every night with minimal equipment.

  7. Reminders because, again - integrated and with iCloud sync. I maintain lists here for Music to buy, Movies to watch, TV Shows to start, and then Personal stuff and School stuff.

  8. TeeVee to keep track of when all my TV Shows - and there are a lot - are airing.

  9. Reeder to follow all my tech news. I'm a big fan of the Read & Trust network, The Loop, Brooks Review, Daring Fireball, MacStories, and, of course, TUAW.

  10. Calendar Integrated into iOS, iCloud sync.