On Campus

Five more apps for students

Improve your finances, romantic life, grades, research…

Photo by miss karen on Flickr

Scott Dobson-Mitchell has sifted through dozens of apps for students. Earlier this month, he reviewed five of his favourites. Here are five more.

Mint.com

Tired of your parents nagging you about wasting money? Now there’s a website that can do that for them! Mint offers tools for budgeting, tracking investments (like you have any) and managing your money. When it’s time to pay a bill, it sends a reminder via e-mail or text message. The website also categorizes all the money you make and spend and then gives you ‘personalized recommendations.’ Can you still afford pizza night after buying textbooks? Mint can tell you. Free for Android and iPhone.

Grades 2

So you flunked your midterm and barely passed that first assignment. Is it still possible to pass the course? Grades 2 can give you the answer before you invest any more time in studying. After inputting your current marks and specifying a desired grade, it calculates what you need to get in order to achieve your academic goal, whether that’s just passing or scoring an A+. It can also warn you about upcoming assignments and calculate your overall GPA. Free on Apple devices.

Sente

Ever wanted to turn your cellphone or iPad into a portable research library? No, me neither. But for those people who are trying to keep track of dozens of journal articles, books or other references for their research papers, Sente is the perfect app. It lets you create libraries of reference material that you can synchronize between multiple devices, letting you organize and easily transport it all. Books and PDFs can be added to the database, allowing you to easily access, annotate and highlight the documents. The app automatically detects new references when you’re browsing the web, and after a quick download all you need to do is press ‘Add to Library.’ The only downside is the price tag, which is $20 for the iPad version and $90 for the Mac version.

Wolfram Physics Course Assistant

Do terms like projectile motion, rocket propulsion and linear acceleration confuse you? A tutor would probably help. A cheaper option is this $3 app. Along with unit conversions and reference sheets, Wolfram Physics Course Assistant also provides interactive calculations: you input variables from a physics problem and the app shows you the relevant equations and schematics. There are similar apps available for algebra, calculus, astronomy, chemistry and more.

SmartDating

Too busy writing essays and working a part-time job to find a date? Try out this free app, which turns your iPhone into a portable matchmaker. After creating a profile, you can find other “SmartDaters’ near your campus. You can upload photos and information about yourself, and then use the “SmartSearch’ feature to set up a date with someone as scholarly as you.

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