38 THE QUEENS COURIER • COLLEGE OPEN HOUSE • OCTOBER 19, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
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5 student-friendly apps that beat any college care package
Soon aft er back-to-school season ends,
a new one begins for parents of college
age kids: “send-me-something” season
lasts for the whole school year. Th is
year, instead of sending your college
kid yet another care package fi lled with
cookies and other stuff they may not use
(or will have to share with roommates),
why not give them these college-friendly
apps?
Here are fi ve apps that should be on
every college student’s must-have list:
• Venmo. Keeping track of cash or a
credit card can be a hassle for busy college
kids. Th is payments app allows
users to pay individuals or businesses
using their Venmo account, link a
bank account, make payments in other
mobile apps, and transfer money into
and out of bank accounts. Just be sure
kids take proper security precautions
with their mobile device to protect their
payment app. Visit www.venmo.com to
learn more.
• Course Hero. While many learning
apps provide great general information,
Course Hero delivers course-specifi c
learning tools. Students can search the
app’s more than 18.5 million educational
resources by their college and course
names to fi nd material that’s specifi c to
their courses. Students can also interact
with a worldwide educational network
of 20 million students and educators,
ask tutors for personalized homework
help, share study resources and fi nd the
best information for hard-to-complete
projects. Learn more at www.coursehero.
com, or download the free app in
Google Play Store.
• Flipboard. Between multiple social
media accounts, cable news and newspapers,
there’s a lot of information
out there. You want your kids to be
informed, but you also don’t want them
spending half their day scrolling on
their devices. Flipboard combines all
the feeds from a user’s social media
networks and curates news stories in
an up-to-date, personalized magazine
to help students get rid of the clutter
and read the news that matters to
them. Find more information at fl ipboard.
com.
• Alarmy. College kids can fi nd it hard
to drag themselves out of bed in time
for that 8 a.m. class, especially if they
were up late studying the night before.
Sometimes an ordinary alarm just
won’t cut it - it’s too easy to keep hitting
“snooze” or just turn it off and go
back to sleep. Alarmy forces students
to get out of bed by requiring them to
take a specifi c action - such as using
their mobile device to take a picture of
an item in their living room, or solving
a math problem - to turn off the alarm.
Th e app is available at https://alar.my.
• MyFitnessPal. “Th e freshman 15” is not
a myth. College kids can fi nd themselves
gaining much more than a few
pounds over the course of their college
careers. Busy schedules, sleep deprivation,
convenience foods and lack of
exercise can undermine students’ good
health. Th is app helps students track
key health factors such as nutrition,
diet and exercise. It’s available at www.
myfi tnesspal.com for either Android or
IOS devices.
Fortunately, there’s an app for virtually
every aspect of college life. And while no
one has yet made an app that can replace
a parent’s love, gift ing your college student
with a digital care package is a great
way to show your support throughout the
school year.
Courtesy BPT