2. Apple Reminders. Lists per school, subtasks per document, alerts built in. iPhone owners, start here.
3. Google Keep. Fast checklists and labels. The lowest-friction option on Android.
4. Microsoft To Do. Clean task lists with due dates, free, syncs everywhere.
5. Todoist. Projects per university, recurring tasks for portal checks.
6. Trello. A board per application season, cards per task. For visual thinkers.
7. Notion. A real database: programs, deadlines, document status, portal links. Most setup, most visibility.
8. Evernote. Notes per school with scanned documents attached. Old reliable.
9. Google Drive. Folders per school with consistent file naming. Your document ground truth.
10. A free application deadline tracker app. The purpose-built option: dates, documents, and reminders in one place instead of four.
See the pattern? Nobody needs all ten. You need three layers: dates with alerts, tasks with checkboxes, documents with status. Pick one tool per layer. A graduate school application checklist dies when it lives in five places, so consolidate.
The weekly review ties it together. Ten minutes every Sunday: checklist app open, portals open, confirm everything shows received. An application deadline tracker with a free tier handles the dates layer for nothing, and a mobile app to track application documents handles the file layer. An application checklist app for iOS or Android covers the task layer on the phone you already carry.
Feed the system real data from day one. Deadlines and document lists per program live in the database at applicationreview.fyi. When it is all green, get your application audited before you submit.