Graduate school presents challenges outside of the classroom—like surviving on a budget or learning to schedule time efficiently. Thankfully, there are some very useful techniques and apps to make the life of the busy, heavily scheduled graduate student a little easier.
Mint
The free Mint.com app makes it easy to manage all of your money – savings, checking, credit cards and loans—in one place. Create a budget and let the Mint.com app help you stay on track. You can even see just how much of your budget you spend on essentials, like coffee. Not an iPhone user? Try PageOnce Finance.
iHomework
Keep track of your assignments, readings, courses, meetings, professors and schedule with the iHomework app ($1). You can even set alarms for assignment due dates and be notified of quickly approaching deadlines.
WiFi Finder
Never be disconnected with the free WiFi Finder app. Whether you’re off-campus or out of town, the WiFi Finder app can help you find free Internet hotspots.
Notability
If you’re one of those people who prefer to take notes without pen and paper try the Notability app for the iPad ($1). The app makes note taking, PDF annotation, typing and recording easy. Customize your note taking with a variety of “pen” colors and paper styles, or add links or photos. Coolest feature: the audio recording capability allows you to tap a word you’ve scribbled and hear what was said during the lecture at that exact moment.
Starbucks
As a grad student, you’ll be no stranger to coffee-fueled all-nighters. Say hello to the free Starbucks phone app that lets you use your phone to pay for your caffeine habit and earn you free cups of coffee.
Zotero
Zotero is a free, easy to use tool to help you collect, organize, cite and share your research sources. You don’t even know how amazing this tool is until you’ve pulled an all-nighter and have all of your literature sources in one, already organized place.
Evernote
Evernote is a digital workspace that lives across your computer, phone and tablet allow you to write, collect information, find what you need and present your ideas to the world (or your research team).
