In college, you choose your own schedule. That freedom can be overwhelming after all of the structure you had in K-12, and it’s on you to stay organized.

With today’s technology, you have a powerful ally. Here are six apps for your phone and tablet to keep you organized during your first year of college:

1. iStudiez Pro

Currently only available on iOs, iStudiez Pro is a do-it all organizer. The colorful school friendly icons and integrated tracker for grades and assignments puts it above the competition. Everything can be synced to the calendar you’re already using with the usual cloud sync and notifications, making iStudiez Pro a keep-track-of-it-all college organizer. The Today tab gives you a look not only at any assignments, quizzes, or projects you have due within iStudiez Pro, but a look at your Calendar app appointments and entries as well.

2. Studious

The best android app to organize your college life is Studious. A day on the calendar is determined by your class schedule, and each subject gets its own mini-calendar for everything you need to keep track of. Studious automatically silences your device during class time and reminds you of upcoming homework and tests. You can save text notes and photos like in dropbox or evernote, and they are sorted to the associated subject.

3. Notability

With traditional pens and paper on the way out, you need note taking that can annotate PDFs, type, and record audio; add links and photos; sketch your ideas, annotate, complete worksheets, record lectures, take notes, and you can have it anywhere you need it through the cloud.

Whether you write with the stylus or by hand and then import files, you can mark up all your notes with Notability’s beautiful user-friendly interface. Link to audio recordings, so you can hear your professor’s words with your notes in real time. Notability is basically a living notepad, your second brain. Available for iOS.

4. Trello

Think of it as a highly visual organizer, like a digital whiteboard with post-it notes that are easy to create and use with groups. You can create columns and fill them with digital cards that can contain multiple forms of media, and the activity of all group members is tracked. College can be a team game, and Trello makes collaboration easy. Manage your tasks for group projects with fewer meetings. Available on iOS + Android

5. Any.Do

Here is your to do list with the notifications to keep you going. You already have calendars loaded with appointments and assignments. Any.Do reminds you of what’s coming up with notifications. You can add the location on a map, and set it to tell you who else is involved. For a college student, it can remind you of upcoming assignments or activities. Available on iOS + Android.

6. Snap2PDF

Professors, administrators, and others will still hand you papers with key information. Now that you’ve become so reliant on your organizational apps, you need to get the information off that paper and into your mobile device. With snap2Pdf you take a picture and your paper document is now a PDF. Once you have what you need captured, you can easily copy and paste with all of the other apps recommended here.

With these apps, you’ll be fully organized during your first semester of college and you’ll have such exquisite note taking that you won’t just be on schedule, you’ll thrive!

Sources:

Ang, S. (2013, August 8). 25 Apps You'll Need to Survive College. Retrieved August 16, 2014.

Bird, K. (2012, October 25). 50 Smartphone Apps for College Students. Retrieved August 16, 2014.

Strike, A. (2014, February 20). 25 Apps College Students Shouldn’t Live Without. Retrieved August 16, 2014.