Wife-unit is starting college again to finish a degree.... And chemistry is on the menu unfortunately.

Been almost 10years since either one of us were in school....So, any tips or links to good calculators for it are appreciated.

I guess any decent one for the algebra's, calculus, and trig will do it huh?

The TI-84+ seems to the one of choice in most classes these days.

Get the non-color display one and you can load apps that very helpful.  

The Science App that comes on most current ones does things like sigfig, conversions, etc.

There are tons of Apps on the TI page for it too.

I am a old guy who is back in school and just finished a chem class, after 30 years away from the subject.  The calculator helped me get a B.

TI 89s, you can pre-load them with programs that'll help you pick the right formula for different problems.

+1

I also have a Ti-89 app on my droid so no longer need both bricks.

There is no way a prof will let you use a phone in class as a calculator.

I'm currently in college fighting my way toward getting a Bachelors in Mech. Engineering.
for chem. i used this casio calculator
http://www.casio-usa.com/products/Calculators_%26_Dictionaries/Fraction_%26_Scientific/FX-115ESPLUS/
The benefit of it was that it allows easy input of fraction and it shows the fraction in either (ex.) 1/2 or 0.5 which made my life easier.
Later for calculus I got a Ti-89Titanium which is cool since i can do anything you throw at it. But for simple things, its just takes too much work to input something simple

so this is how I use them. The casio is for lite work (no real calculus/derivatives/integrations) and the Ti89titanium is only for the heavy stuff like calculus stuff...
hope this helps

Have a Nice day

PS- The casio is solar powered, so as long as you have light, you have power. The Ti-89titanum uses 4 x AAA which will run out when you need the calculator the most!! (have spare batteries)

I'm using a TI-83+, but probably any scientific calculator should suffice. The graphing calculators are handy because you can look back at the numbers you just crunched. If its only general chem 1 & 2 as long as it has natural log and e^x functions it will have everything else she needs to get the job done.  I have been out of school 14 years and am now working on my Bachelors in Biology in preparation for Dental School. Just read the book and go to class, Chemistry is nothing to fret over.

Many of the college level chem courses will not let you use graphing calculators because of all the programs and cheats that you can add.

If she can check ahead to see if they even allow them, it may save her some grief.
I've been away from that level of school for too long, but... some profs didn't allow anything with storage to prevent cheating.
Others, didn't care what you brought. These days, a small device can hold massive amounts of references and notes and if it has WiFi or cellular it has access to even more...

I kinda liked it better when nothing but a simple calculator was allowed since it didn't turn the class into an arms race to see who can afford the fanciest devices. Let's face it, my predecessors used slide rules and they ran rings around us...

We wish her Luck just the same!

If she's allowed to use graphing calculators, screw all the previous recommendations.  

TI Nspire CX CAS

That is all that must be said good sir.  

It is easy enough to get started with it, and once you learn some of the basics, it makes life much much easier.

Most teachers will let you use a ti84/84+
they may randomly check memory and clear memory though.  

Calculators that perform symbolic algebra are not allowed.

this is a no exception rule.

My 83 died earlier and so now Im on an 84.

My major is MechE, but my chem friends all run the same system lol