How to pick a college planner that fits your lifestyle
A quality college planner makes all the difference in keeping up with the hustle and bustle of college life. No other time in life comes with more anticipation or potential than our college days, but all too often these formative years can become bogged down with stress. The difficulties of student life largely come down to being able to balance a schedule.
The benefits of finding the right college planner
Finding the best planner as a college student can make or break keeping up with the fast pace of university life. It’s important to find one that will offer clear visuals and spaces for tracking goals and motivational messages, especially at a competitive price point.
What to look for in a college planner
A good college planner should include plenty of space and offer extra pages. It also shouldn’t cost a fortune, especially considering that most college students run on tight budgets. Ideally, a college planner should be spacious enough to have room for notes but still be compact enough to travel with you between classes. Options with appealing visual designs are always a nice touch, too — they’ll also be easier to remember to bring along since you’ll be showing off your personal style!
Best college planners
Best of the best college planner
Artfan Academic Weekly Monthly Planner: available at Amazon
Featuring thick paper, a back pocket, 88 note pages and a dense Saffiano leather cover, this stylish planner provides it all. On top of its sturdy exterior, it also comes with two bookmarks, a pen holder, calendar stickers, banding for a tight close, weekly and monthly overviews and even a list of all major holidays. For those who like to keep their lives fully organized, you cannot go wrong with this planner.
Most motivational college planners
Panda Planner Pro: available at Amazon
When it comes to the basics, this day-to-day planner has you covered. It is bound with soft leather and features a minimalist cover with an embossed panda on the front. Like the Artfan Planner, it is also undated and allows flexibility for your organizational preferences. With a focus on spaces for gratitude journaling, this planner also helps you track your personal goals.
Papercode Simple Elephant Planner: available at Amazon
While this calendar may not be specifically academic, its heavy emphasis on goal-setting and productivity make it the perfect choice for a college student. It comes in a faux leather binding in a plain color and features no-bleed paper, three-ribbon bookmarks, an inside pocket and a loop for your pen or pencil.
Kodexlode Annual Academic Planner: available at Amazon
This option features a back pocket, twin-wire binding and elastic closure for easy on-the-go use. At the beginning of each week, it offers a space for prioritizing upcoming goals and aspirations.
Most organized college planner
Blue Sky Flagship Collection Planner: available at Amazon
Featuring an hour-by-hour schedule, this planner offers the ultimate resources for time management. While there’s little space for customization, the Flagship Collection covers any and all of your organizational needs. It offers dedicated pages for to-do lists, goals and notes as well as inspirational quotes.
Most compact college planner
Me & My Big Ideas Mini Planner: available at Amazon
This planner takes personalization to the next level with its focus on adding or removing pages freely. It offers motivational messages to get you through the week and plenty of space for you to be creative. With a cute, poppy front, this Mini option is about 5-by-7-inches to fit easily into a bag.
Most stylish college planners
Tullofa Academic Weekly and Monthly Planner: available at Amazon
With a navy floral print and a slight texture to its cover, this academic planner offers an array of features including a 53-week calendar, weekly lined spaces for planning, daily to-do lists and dated daily space for writing down plans or goals. It features a hardcover with a back pocket and can fit in a bag or backpack but runs on the heavier side.
Deluxe 2021 Planner from Global Printed Products: available at Amazon
With silver spiraled lining, heavy-duty paper and colorful division tabs, this bright and funky planner won’t easily be forgotten by your nightstand. It does fall on the more expensive side, but overall it’s one of the more chic and ergonomic options on this list.
Clever Fox Planner: available at Amazon
This undated planner focuses on productivity and gratitude journaling. It comes in a literal rainbow assortment of colors (and stickers) so there’s one for every style.
Best classic college planner
Erin Condren Focused Planner: available at Amazon
This classic soft leather planner is undated, meaning that you can start and stop whenever you like, making it less intimidating than a dated planner. On the other hand, it may not provide enough structure for those with a heavy social calendar. As a nice touch, it also comes with a ribbon to mark the day you’re currently tracking.
Micayla Mead is a writer for BestReviews. BestReviews is a product review company with a singular mission: to help simplify your purchasing decisions and save you time and money.
BestReviews spends thousands of hours researching, analyzing and testing products to recommend the best picks for most consumers. BestReviews and its newspaper partners may earn a commission if you purchase a product through one of our links.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
