Three Websites Every College Student Should Be Using
Easy ways to maximize your college experience!
College is the best four years of many people’s lives, and it’s an opportunity to grow personally and professionally. You’ll likely gain independence, become better disciplined, make a handful of friends, and set yourself up for a great career.
However, college doesn’t come without challenges and hurdles. All universities offer resources to help students navigate these problems. Some universities are better than others, but no university can perfectly cater to the difficulties of all its students.
That’s where people like me come in — college students, recent college graduates, and education influencers who share resources and tips that help you overcome common issues and have the best college experience possible.
Below are three great websites I utilized as an undergraduate that saved me time and money while eliminating stress.
I want to note that I’m not associated with any of the organizations — I’m an actual user of their products and have not been paid or encouraged to advertise on their behalf.
Student Universe
One of my favorite parts about college was traveling with friends. I attended music festivals, took fun spring break trips, and studied abroad.
However, finding affordable flights as a broke college student was not always easy. Then I learned about StudentUniverse.
I’ve used them to book countless trips, mostly trips abroad, but they are also great for domestic flights. My favorite feature is their flexible flight tab (see below) which shows a grid view of various flight combinations to give you the cheapest option.
Whether you’re flying home for winter break, flying to visit your significant other’s family for the first time, flying to a spring break destination, or flying to a professional conference, StudentUniverse is a must!
For more on how to travel cheap as a college student check out my articles on getting your university to pay for you to travel and five travel hacks to explore the world dirt cheap!
Grammarly Premium
Now I’d like to preface by stating this is a paid service. If you purchase an annual subscription, it comes to $12/month, which, given the utility, is more than worth it.
Unless you’re a highly technical major like computer science or engineering, you will likely be required to do a significant amount of writing during your undergraduate experience.
You must stand out in your writing and come across professionally. Grammarly Premium helps you do that.
Grammarly Prremium is more than just a spell-checking tool. It checks for correctness, clarity, engagement, and delivery. It also has a neat feature that allows you to set your writing goals (see below).
It’s an excellent tool for writing emails, reaching out to professionals on LinkedIn, editing cover letters, proofing essays, drafting business plans, and refining memos.
I even used it to edit this article. It is one of the tools I relied on most during my college experience, and I couldn’t recommend it enough.
RateMyProfessors
College is not cheap. And regardless of who’s footing the bill, you want to be sure that you’re learning in the classroom. Anyone who has gone through college can tell you that a bad professor can ruin a class. I had to learn this lesson the hard way.
Similar to how bad coaches can sap the joy from young and motivated athletes, poor professors can have the same effect on bright-eyed students.
Fret not — there is a solution out there, and it’s called RateMyProfessors. It’s a platform where other students submit professor ratings and reviews, sort of like Yelp for professors.
I recommend looking up each professor you intend to take a course under before registration. You can learn about classroom policies, teaching styles, class rigor, use of the required textbook, and much more!
Another handy tip is looking up if your school has a specific plugin. For example, my university, Arizona State, had its own Google Chrome extension that automatically showed the RateMyProfessor ratings when I registered for classes.
To see if your university has a similar plugin, simply try searching “School Name Rate My Professor Chrome Extension.”
I hope that you found this article helpful. If you’re interested in more college advice feel free to check out some of my other pieces below. Make sure to share with any current or incoming college students in your life!
