The 6 Best Apps for Working Adults Attending College

It can be difficult to manage your assignments, your responsibilities, and your time when attending school…especially if you are also working and taking care of a family.  That’s a lot to keep track of!

Being organized is a make or break factor for most college students, and it comes more naturally to some than to others.  For those who might need a little bit of assistance, we’ve scoured the daunting world of mobile apps to find the ones that can be the most helpful to working adult students.

Of course, students of CSU Global will want (and probably have already downloaded!) the Schoology app. It’s a great way to check grades on the go, participate in discussions, and do your coursework from your phone or tablet, so we consider that to be an important download for any student. But what should you download in addition? That’s where this article comes in!

The below apps may directly help you structure and budget the demands on your time, or they may streamline some other aspect of the academic experience. Either way, they should help you make more effective use of your time while attending school.

Here are our picks for the 6 best apps for working adults attending college.

1. Evernote

One of the most common apps used by students, Evernote allows you to share files, making it easy to join in study groups and prepare for exams. It’s available as a free download for either your computer or your smartphone, and it can help you keep track of every task in your life from class notes to grocery lists. You can create your own notebooks, categorize the files you have, and seamlessly sync your work between multiple devices to help you stay on top of your responsibilities, as well as your school assignments and class notes.

Pros: Free, easy set up, easy to use
Cons: The free version has a 60 MB download limit per month and doesn’t allow you to edit shared files.

2. Dictionary.com

It may seem like an obvious choice, but that’s for a good reason. Another of the most common apps for college students, the Dictionary.com app allows you to search and save over a million words and definitions, and 90,000 synonyms and antonyms. It also gives you example sentences to learn new vocabulary in context, among other helpful features like alphabetical indexing and phonetic and audible pronunciation. The Dictionary.com app is a great way to expand your vernacular, or to quickly look up definitions while you study for a challenging exam.

Pros: Free, easy set up, easy to use, offline functionality
Cons: Visually cluttered

3. StudyBlue

An online studying platform, StudyBlue provides students with ways to create and share digital flashcards, review sheets, and practice quizzes. It’s a great way to collaborate on projects, and also to help your fellow students study the course material. StudyBlue can be used as a global resource, or for personalized studying assistance, and it may be worth a spin if you haven’t tried it already.

Pros: Free, easy set up, tracks your progress
Cons: Difficult navigation, no option to edit flashcards

4. Google Drive

Google Drive is an organizational platform used for sharing files, photos, and videos, and it allows you to sync between your smartphone, tablet, or computer. It’s also a very popular app, which means you shouldn’t have difficulty sharing files with others. Since CSU Global’s email addresses use Gmail, you already have an account and you can upload Word Documents of your formatted papers or type up your drafts and study notes using a Google Doc. You can also use this app to back up important files, which is always a good idea. Google Drive has an offline option, but it is spotty at best. Dropbox is a good alternative if you really need to be able access your files when not connected to the internet, but you’ll only get 2GB for free compared to Google Drive’s 15.

Pros: Free, easy to use, continuous backup support, 15GB of space
Cons: Offline access takes major preparation

5. iTunes University

As online education becomes more commonplace, iTunes University is likely to become a very popular supplement to what students learn in their classes. This app provides digital binders for various courses that are complete with lectures, videos, and other resources that will help you excel in your academic venture. It’s a great complement to your actual courses at CSU Global, and it can help you to build upon what you learn in class. It may even serve as a great way to review the topics that your instructor has discussed. In addition to providing you with studying materials, iTunes University allows to add your own notes and highlight important items in your virtual study guides.

Pros: Free, easy to use, highly interactive
Cons: Difficult content-sharing features, no student-to-student interaction

6. Studious

Studious is a great organizational app to make your life easier to manage. It’s specifically designed to help students plan their class schedules and homework deadlines, while providing the option to automatically silence your phone during specified times…a great way to minimize distractions during the time you set aside for your assignments. With Studious, you can routinely and easily designate time for focused academic attention, and the app also allows you to save notes and photos. It’s a simple program, but it may help you in more ways than one.

Pros: Free and easy to use
Cons: Only compatible with Android, no syncing to other devices

All of these apps are available in free versions, so none of them will add to the expenses of your education. Instead they’ll do what you need them to do: they will enhance your productivity, aid you in your studying, and help you stay organized.