Apps for a Fresh Start

The best apps to ensure you stay on track with those new year's goals

Tackle your New Year's resolutions with these helpful apps.

It's a new year, and those of us who made resolutions are mere days into the process. Popular New Year's goals include a desire to lose weight, get organized, spend less money, or cut down on stress. But the key is not to forget about your resolutions come February when the buzz of the new year wears off.

Why not improve your chances for a better you with the help of technology? These mobile apps may do the trick.

Get fit

Lose It
Taking off unwanted pounds is not always easy, but this weight-loss app makes it easier. Enter meals for a calorie count, and upload workout details to chart your progress.

MapMyFitness
Looking for new trails? Want to track exactly how long it takes you to jog around your neighborhood? Use MapMyFitness to get your stats as you make moves and share or discover amazing new paths in your city.

RockMyRun
Do you like music when you run? Maximize your jam session with this app, which adjusts the tempo of your music to get you moving a little faster. Also choose from playlists of high-energy music in any genre.

The Walk
This thrilling app casts you as the protagonist on a mission to walk the length of the U.K. to save the world. Listen as you walk, build upon your progress, and get fit while the story plays out.

Get organized

Wunderlist
For those operating on several devices throughout the day, keeping organized can be a challenge. With Wunderlist, get reminders, plan, and collaborate, and upload it all into the cloud.

Penultimate
Use Penultimate if you like lists in your own handwriting. Write, doodle, and share things like maps, ideas for decorating rooms, and more. Access your visuals when you need them.

TaskRabbit
What's to do if you simply don't have the time to complete everything on your list? Hire someone to do it for you! It's never been easier than posting a chore to TaskRabbit (say, raking your lawn) and letting its team connect you with someone to help you cross it off your list.

Gallery Doctor
Keep your gallery streamlined with this app designed to cut duplicate pictures or those with low lighting. Gallery Doctor presents subpar photos for your approval or dismissal, and edits accordingly.

Keeply
Don't like people playing on your phone? Catch them in the act with Keeply, which snaps a picture of the person attempting to get into your phone. Store passwords and lock down sensitive media files with this app.

BillMinder
Take some time to get organized by getting all your bills in one place. Set up reminders and use the autopay function so you never miss a payment.

Expand your horizons

Pause
Based on principals of tai chi, this app offers simple tasks scientifically designed to help you relax.

RedLaser
Save money so you can focus on doing the things you love. But in order to save, you have to compare prices. Use RedLaser to scan bar codes and compare prices instantly, so you can be sure you're getting the best deal.

Duolingo
Want to travel in 2016? Learn another language in your down time with this easy-to-use educational app. With mini-lessons and stats to remind you of where you are, this app can turn waiting in long lines into a passport to another world.

apps fitness health trends

educational excellence

3 Dallas schools named top colleges for 2027 by The Princeton Review

University of Texas at Dallas graduation regalia

The University of Texas at Dallas/Facebook

The University of Texas at Dallas is one of the top 50 best value public colleges for 2027.

Back-to-school season is has returned in full force, and that means it's time for college rankings. Three Dallas universities — Southern Methodist University, The University of Texas at Dallas, and the University of Dallas — are being hailed top of the class for 2027.

The three Dallas-area schools earned new acclaim in The Princeton Review's new ranking of the "Best 392 Colleges" for 2027. Across town, Texas Christian University in Fort Worth also earned high praise.

The Princeton Review's 35th annual "Best Colleges" rankings are determined by a survey of 172,000 current college students that gave "candid feedback" about their schools and their experiences. The flagship guide does not rank the schools overall, but it does rank them across 50 different categories, including best-run colleges, best quality of life, happiest students, best athletic facilities, among others.

Schools don't pay to be included in the guide, but The Princeton Review clarified that schools could pay for a "featured" designation. No Dallas-Fort Worth school paid to be featured in this year's guide.

In addition to being included in the overall list, Southern Methodist University was highlighted in the regional Best Southwest list that contained 41 universities across Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

"This mid-size private university provides 'a wealth of academic resources...[and] a flood of opportunities for those who want them,' allowing SMU to lead the way for the Dallas-Fort Worth area in developing innovative industries and initiatives in semiconductors, biotechnology, clean energy, precision medicine, and AI," the university's profile says.

This is how the other Dallas schools shined in The Princeton Review's guide:

University of Dallas, Irving

Best Value Colleges
Best Southwest
The Best 392 Colleges
No. 2 – Most Religious Students
No. 5 – LGBTQ-Unfriendly (based on "how strongly students disagree that their fellow students treat all persons equally, regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity/expression")
No. 6 – Most Politically Conservative Students
No. 15 – Professors Get High Marks
No. 17 – Happiest Students
No. 24 – Pot's Not Hot (a ranking of colleges with the "least marijuana usage based on ratings from real students about the popularity of marijuana on campus.")

University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson

Best Value Colleges
Best Southwest
Green Colleges (colleges that "share superb sustainability practices, a strong foundation in sustainability education, and a healthy quality of life for students on campus.")
The Best 392 Colleges
No. 3 – Top 20 Best Public Schools for Internships
No. 3 – Top Undergraduate Schools for Entrepreneurship Studies in the Southwest
No. 21 – Top 50 Undergraduate Schools for Entrepreneurship Studies
No. 40 – Top 50 Best Value Public Colleges

universities dallas university of dallas university of texas at dallas southern methodist university the princeton review rankings