This guest post was contributed by Jake Sahli.
Whether you’ve already scouted a few schools or haven’t yet considered your options, the process of researching colleges and choosing a good one for you can be an overwhelming experience. We get it. That’s why we just took 5 gadgets every college student needs to get started. You should be able to make it through the whole list in about five minutes, which will leave you the rest of the day to search for and apply for college. You should take heart in knowing that there are spoonfuls of information out there to help you decide where you want to go to school, check bookstores, libraries, or the college accreditation page online.
Amazon Kindle
Get a Kindle. Amazon lists over 700,000 books, magazines, and newspapers in the Kindle store. All are available immediately for download at extraordinarily cheap prices, with over one million free to kindle owners. Plus, it’s a cheaper and lighter alternative to textbooks.
Starting at $70, the Kindle is an excellent investment, and it’s cheap. The more costly models come with free 3G wireless connection without any type of additional charge.
Mophie Juice Pack Air
For those of you who have iPhones, or any smartphone device for that matter, you understand the importance of a dual charger and case. Smartphones generally get about 10 hours of use due to the fact that we constantly check Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare — you get my point.
Having a product such as the Juice Pack Air by Mophie will give you hours and hours of use. According to the Mophie website, the case will give your phone “virtually double the battery life” — an additional six hours before needing to be charged. Priced at $79.95.
Waspit Mobile App
Waspit is a mobile app that has been created specifically for students. It’s ‘Banking 2.0’ and gives students the latest and greatest banking capabilities as well as easy mobile payments. Each time you use the app you earn Buzz Points, which can be used for free rewards like an Amazon $50 gift card or Travelocity certificate. Waspit is accepted in stores and online, anywhere that MasterCard is accepted. With its social media integration, you can easily and instantly send and receive money between friends via Facebook, Twitter or between mobile phones.
Livescribe Echo Pen
One thing that’s certain is college students take notes. All the time. And what’s better than both a traditional ink pen and a laptop when it comes to taking notes? The Livescribe Echo Pen. This little gem not only records everything a student writes with it, but it also records audio at the same time. Everything you wanted to capture but just didn’t have the speedy fingers to do so is now magically captured with the Livescribe. When it’s time to study or transcribe your notes from the day, easily plug your digital pen to your computer. Starting at $130.
Noise-Cancelling Headphones
If your roommate has friends over, no need to escape to the library for some peace and quiet. Bose’s QuietComfort 15 headphones blows the competition out of the water: with a soft-cushion fit around the ears, an additional cable with inline microphone and remote for iPhone and iPod control, as well as advanced noise-reduction capabilities, you’ll wonder how you lived without them. Priced at $299.