Towards Master’s Degree in USA

Dedicated to all Graduate Aspirants !!

Disclaimer: I do not assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information. It could be freely distributed, but kindly give reference to this link.

The purpose of this article is to provide some information for students who are interested in pursuing their higher studies in USA. This is based on my personal experience shared with that of my friends, along the journey towards my Master’s degree in USA. This article has been there for a year on my website and I thought of moving it to my blog so that I could update the document based on reader’s feedback. I would like to thank Harikrisshnan and Sreenaath in helping me prepare the initial draft and all my other friends who took time to send their valuable comments. Before going a step further, take a look at To Masters or not?

This article is divided into the following sections:

Pre-Application Procedure
Applying to the Universities
Pre-Visa Formalities
Finance
Student Visa
Post-Visa Process
Life in US

PRE-APPLICATION PROCEDURE

WHAT SHOULD I HAVE BEFORE I TAKE GRE AND TOEFL?

Make sure you have a VALID passport in hand. This is mandatory for all foreign nationals who write these two exams.
Give your name in the GRE and TOEFL application, the name as it appears on your passport. Deviation from that would create some troubles later on.
Paying online for the exams through credit card is a simple and quick process @ ETS. It is also possible to call up the ETS registration office at Delhi (Remember that the one in Delhi registers only for the exam. The other centers are just test centers.) Also it is very useful for online payment of applications. You have to enter the same name as shown in the credit card. Also enter carefully the security code (CVS) given at the back of the card and the expiration date. Sometimes CVS numbers aren’t checked at most University application sites. Just the expiration date validates your Card.
Get ready with the University list in advance to which you are going to apply. This is very difficult for any test taker. But if you can at least decide on some four universities in the Score ranges of 1100 – 1500 (probably more). You would map the four univs each into a single group fitting for each 100 range. You could report your test scores to 4 universities free of cost(that comes as part of the exam fee). There is nothing to lose actually. It is always good to have some idea as you could save some money later on, when you do ‘Additional Score Reports (ASRs)’ apart from the four mentioned above (in case you apply to more than four universities). The charges for ASR are as follows: GRE – $15 / School and a service charge of $6 / call (Number can be taken from ETS Pages) you make to the ETS number. ToEFL – $17 / School and a service charge of $12 / call. For GRE reports, you can report up to 8 schools in a single call, whereas for ToEFL you can make up only 6 universities per call. If you don’t have ISD at home, then take up the Rs. 100 denominated ITC (India Telephone cards) from BSNL outlets. This is lot cheaper.
Enquire with the universities to which you apply whether there are any waivers for these exams. But anyway, I would recommend you to take up the exam. Even if some schools waive the exam, they might ask you to report it later. Make sure that they don’t need the scores at all before your refrain from reporting.

GRE

GRE preparation needs at least 2-3 months to be comfortable with different sections of the exam(it differs from individual to individual). Before you start preparing for the exam, just get a feel of the sections in the GRE test viz., Verbal (V), Quantitative (Q) and the Analytical Writing Ability (AWA) – These sections were present in GRE when I wrote it. I came to know that the pattern is changing. So just check it out. According to me, there is no special coaching required and you could prepare yourselves (I didn’t go for anyone).

Quantitative section

· Brush your high school maths for the quantitative section.

· Pay particular attention to ‘Data interpretation questions’.

· Write all the formulae in a separate notebook.

· Try to eliminate answer choices so that you might end up in a probability of 1/2 or 1/3 which is always better than 1/4!!!.

· Never neglect quantitative section, it is this section where you could really improve your scores if you concentrate.

Verbal section

If you have more than 3 months time before your exams, I would suggest you to first start with ‘WORD POWER MADE EASY‘ by ‘NORMAN LEWIS’ and ‘ALL ABOUT WORDS‘. These two books provides a good base for improving your vocabulary. I followed the Barron’s Word List and I took some tests at http://www.number2.com/. I subscribed to http://dictionary.reference.com/, anu garg’s ‘A WORD A DAY’ . Whenever I found time, I played word power at Reader’s digest website. Read Newspapers daily, lot of novels and literature from different areas like psychology, arts, music etc.

Words could be retained well in memory if you read it in clusters.

“Pilfer” implies stealing repeatedly in small amounts, as in “pilfered from his employer.” “Filch,” meanwhile, adds a suggestion of snatching quickly and in a sneaky manner, such as “filched another cookie from the tray.” “Purloin,” another synonym, stresses removing or carrying off something for one’s own use or purposes, as for example, “purloined secret government documents.” “Steal” may apply to any taking of something in secret and differs from the other terms by being applied to material things, such as money, as well as to things that are impossible to touch, as in “stole a look at the gifts.” – courtesy anugarg, a word a day

Take any word list from Barron’s. Sift through it and categorize it into different word groups. Try to correlate between common words and related words. In this way you could remember more words. GRE is not about retaining a word-database in you mind. A good vocabulary helps you to quickly solve the verbal section. Take as many tests as possible from ‘GRE BIG BOOK’. I bought a KAPLAN BOOK with an accompanying cd and found those tests extremely useful.

Analytical Writing

Practice essays on both ‘Issue’ and ‘Argumentative’ topics from the GRE website. A book published by Arco gives some useful tips on writing a good essay. There is nothing like right or wrong in any essay. There are two sections in AWA. One ‘Analysis of an Issue’ (AI)and other ‘Analysis of an Argument’ (AA). In AI, you are actually given a topic and you are expected to take a stance either for or against the statement provided. You cannot take a neutral stance. Justify the side you’ve taken with appropriate reasons and illustrations. Use eye-catching words and deviation-notifiers like ‘Although’, ‘but’ , ‘Nonetheless’ etc, as your essay is going to be valuated by the e-Rater first and then a human-reader. E-rater generally looks for these words. Organize the essay in such a way that it doesn’t look clumsy or feel boring. First, do some brainstorming to jot down the points that comes to your mind on the topic. Second, write the starting paragraph and the conclusion. Third, write the body of the essay that is organized in well-defined paragraphs. Just three paragraphs that carries a reason and an illustration for your point would be good. Take a thesis topic for the essay and portray that in your introductory paragraph and conclude the essay using the derivations that you have obtained so far. Use terms like “In essence”, “In summary” or “To sum up” etc in the conclusion. AA is just like AI, but you have to find faults with the author’s statement and justify your statements. In the final paragraph, you are expected to make some points on how the author could support his statement better. Always be careful with grammar and spelling in your essay

TOEFL

Toefl is an easier exam compared to GRE. Just brush up your high school grammar. Practice some listening questions from the practice CD given by ETS. You too could take online test at http://www.toefl.org/ I think that is more than enough. The essay rules for ToEFL are generally same as your GRE. Take care of your listening skills. I heard that TSE is also included in ToEFL. Seems that the candidates are given ample time to prepare their responses. So have some prior practice before you go to the Exam 🙂

Pay particular attention to the minimum toefl scores required by your university and don’t neglect this exam. A good test score reduces most of your worries.

APPLYING TO UNIVERSITIES

I had a broadband connection at home. It was very useful. You have to browse through lot of university web pages to decide on the final list of universities that you wish to apply.

Networking with your friends, relatives and seniors will help you a lot during this phase. Contact students in the universities that you wish to apply and enquire about your area of specialization. I would like to make one point clear when you write mails to students in Universities – Be precise in your queries and it would be good if you could jot it down in points. Some people mail me, this is my CGPA, these are my ToEFL and GRE scores, tell me my chances of admission in your university. Believe me, even a person with a score of 1400 got a reject whereas a person with 1240 score got through. Your academics alone does not matter, graduate school is about research, so how you could contribute to the research areas of the universities with your academic and industrial background, projects, publications etc is what really matters !!

First of all, start with http://www.usnews.com/ to get the university rankings. It may not truly reflect the university rankings. Some universities, for instance, are good in Computer Science compared to others. Rankings are just an indication of their rating in percentile. So all universities in the same – tier are nearly the same. US News subscription would definitely help (it would cost you around some $15/ for a year round subscription from this FALL to next JULY). Please make a note of the ‘Acceptance rate’ at the universities that you apply. TAMU had an acceptance rate of 43% (If I’m right). Make sure that they are as high as possible. You could get the admit/reject table from http://www.edulix.com/. Choose your selection based on your ‘Area of interest’ and then aid opportunities rather than the ranking alone. It is also important to take notes of the living expenses there and the annual fees (without any waiver and funding). Before narrowing down your decision contact as many of your friends studying abroad, your seniors and professors. The information given in the university website alone is not enough in making a decision.

Start filling your online application. You can come back later and make some changes till you submit the application. Please remember the user name and password. Make a separate note of commonly asked details like your ‘Date of birth’, ‘University where you studied’, ‘Dates of ToEFL, GRE exams’, ‘Test Scores’, ‘Date of Graduation’, ‘Period of study at school and college’, ‘e-Mail IDs of people who recommend you’ etc so that you could copy and paste. Some browsers have ‘auto fill’ option that you could make use of. If you have any doubts, filling the online application form don’t hesitate to shoot a mail to the university and you will get an instant reply.

Transcripts

Mark sheet photocopies must be attested properly by registrar/controller of exams etc., as specified by the applying university. Attested copies are only considered official and are accepted by the universities. All attested mark sheets must be sent in sealed and signed covers. Mostly you have to send more than one transcripts (to the department and graduate admissions office usually). Note down the university addresses properly. Almost a month delay in my admission decision because I sent only one transcript to the department and not to the graduate school.

Students who apply for their MS immediately after UG will have only ‘provisional certificate’ instead of their ‘degree certificate’. You can send the copy of it along with the transcripts. Nonetheless, make sure that you submit the copy of the ‘degree certificate’ once you join the university. This is mandatory.

Recommendation Letters

Contact your profs well in advance and request them for the recommendation letters. Some profs are flexible enough to write the reco’s as requested by you. If that is the case, write a reco keeping in mind the targeted audience. Read and revise the draft; get it approved by the prof before taking printouts on their letter head. Try to get a reco that is neutral i.e

‘I strongly recommend him for the post graduate programme at your university’ instead of the particular university. Take extra copies than the number of universities you are going to apply, in case you apply to more universities.

Also get a recommendation letter for scholarship. I applied for JN Tata and other scholarships. So get a reco for that too like-“….I strongly recommend him for the scholarship…”

Some profs might give only closed recos, if you doubt the credibility of the reco keep it as an additional one.

As one of my prof said, a reco from different people should build an all around picture about a student. One recommender should describe, for example, your project work under him, working long hours in the lab, taking seminars. The second one should describe about your research experience, published papers etc. The third one should describe about your academic excellence, extra-curricular and other special achievements. Take a look at Writing a Reference Letter

It is preferable to use online recommendation forms if your prof obliges to do so. Please check with them whether they have ‘digital signatures’. Also ensure that they don’t delete it as junk mail 🙂

Universities have their own recommendation form. Please fill all the department and course codes and other details to be filled by the applicant before giving it to the recommender.

Put the recommendation letters in envelope covers, get it sealed and signed by the Prof and note down the short name of the university in pencil on the outside so that you don’t send to the wrong university.

Statement of Purpose

It is the most important document where you communicate directly to the graduate admission committee that you are a suitable candidate for admission to the university. The starting and closing paragraphs of this document is important. Put your achievements and work experience in bold – “Best Project Award in National Level contest”, “Intern at Intel” etc….

Be specific, not sentimental and look yourself from the eye of an admission committee member. You could look for sample essays on the net or from your seniors but remember every one is unique and don’t plagiarize. Jot down the list of academic, co-curricular and extra-curricular achievements on a notepad that you have done during Undergraduate study. Graduate study is more focused towards a particular area of study, so tell them how you got interested in that area. Research the University web page about the Professor who works in that area and how you could contribute to that work. If you have had previous research experience please do mention that. You could also mention certifications that you have done and your industry experience. You could also mention, why your marks dwindled during the particular semester, may be due to bad health or things like that. But avoid explaining too much. ‘Brevity is the soul of wit’

All in one Package

Make a checklist of items to be sent to the university

Transcripts
Recommendation Letters
Certificate of Financial Responsibility(You could also send it later – Preferably now as you can avoid postage expenses later)
Resume
Copies of Published Papers
Statement of Purpose
Financial Form along with Affidavit of Support from Sponsor
Others – Materials which you think would get a seat in the Univ

I sent all my materials through DHL. It has good online tracking available for checking your shipment status. I ran out of time so I sent through DHL. Nonetheless, Indian speed post is also good and cheaper. I have sent via the India Speed Post and it reached them on time. DHL also is a good network, but that it is very costly. So make a proper choice, as most of the time it is a compromise of two things – Money and Time.

Always indicate your University ID, DOB and Name on all documents.

If you have many friends applying for the same university you can put all in one package and send it, which would be cheaper. Otherwise send all documents in a single big cover to your friend or uncle in US and ask them to disburse through local US mail. In this way you could cut down your cost.

Also, you might have to do additional score reporting. In that case, you could seek the help of your seniors or friends in US. You should provide them with necessary TOEFL, GRE score details, University details and the phone number to which the score reporting has to be done. You should authorize them to use your credit card for additional score reporting fee. It is much faster than filling the additional score reporting form and doing the payment.

Fingers Crossed

Once you have sent all your materials, relax and wait for your results. The universities will inform you in case of any missing documents. Most universities will provide you a ‘ user name’ to login, where you could check your application status. They will display the list of materials received from you. In case of any correction like misspelled name, inform them. Keep monitoring the updates and inform about any changes at the earliest to avoid confusion later.

PRE-VISA

Try to get an I – 20 from any university(mandatory for F1 visa) and book the visa date appropriately. You might get a good admit from another university after sometime and you have so much time to change the school and school contact details. (You can do this up to three working days before you take up the interview). Keeping this in mind, book the visa date allowing enough bandwidth.

You will get an I20 only if your “Certificate of Financial Responsibility” is complete. If you get Full aid no need for that and the graduate school will send you the I20. I got tuition waiver from UFL, so I managed to arrange funds for the remaining amount through a Visa consultant (as my father was about to retire, it was really difficult to show enough funds at that time). You could take a loan from the bank to show funds, however bank needs I-20 to process your loan. If you have enough savings it wouldn’t be an issue. Some universities accept you to send those documents through Fax or a scanned copy that would expedite the process.

Check whether the details in the I-20 are correct. This is very important. If not, ask your University Officials to correct it and send them at the earliest. Sign the I-20 form, your acceptance letters without fail before the VISA interview.

SEVIS I-901 Fee

You could pay sevis fee online , I would advise you to pay four days to one week before the visa interview after you get all the I – 20 from all the universities that you have applied and wish to attend. Otherwise you need to transfer the sevis fee to the new school before the Port of Entry at US. It is better to pay the sevis fee online, but make sure you take printout of the receipt immediately. Nonetheless, you have to wait for the official receipt to reach you [through Airmail ($ 0) – this will reach you some 3 weeks after you pay your fees or express mail (some charge – I think it is $30 extra) that you selected during the payment process]. Atleast you must have the printed receipt or the mailed official receipt before the VISA Interview. Having a printed copy is very much essential when you go for the interview. So make sure that you have a printer connected when you start paying the fee. Because you cant save the page for future use. If you have paid some 3-4 days in advance then your VO can see the payment details at the federal page. Most of your queries are answered on the FAQ site.

FINANCE

If you have received some sort of funds from the University, at least partly, then you have no reason to worry. Once you start the application process, start searching for Indian Scholarships for study abroad. Most scholarships, as I know are provided by Mumbai based trusts. Subscribe free to http://www.scholarshipsinindia.com which will send periodic reminders when such scholarships are announced. You can also use the Google Alerts feature to remind you whenever such scholarship information is available on the web.

I missed Rotary foundation scholarship – application period is between November -August of the previous year (year before your courses start). Contact your nearest Rotary Club for more information.

You can apply for quite a few scholarships like

J.N Tata Endowment Scholarship

J. N. Tata Endowment, Administrative Office, Mulla House, 51, M. G. Road, Fort,
Mumbai 400 001, India.
Phone: +91 (22) 5665 7681 / 5665 7198
Email: mfguard@tata.com / srasal@tata.com

You would require at least two referrals, from a Mumbai based person. You need letters of recommendation from your Professor. A Statement of Purpose other than the one sent to the university and Copies of Mark Sheets. Look for announcement in the month of January

Narotam Seksharia Scholarship

http://www.nsscholarship.net/aboutus.asp

Administrator, Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation, 46 Maker Chambers III, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021.

Tel: 91 22 22824589 / 22824705 E-mail : admin@nsscholarship.net

Paul Foundation Scholarship

http://www.thepaulfoundation.org/scholarships.htm

The Paul Foundation, Apeejay House, 15 Park Street, Kolkata – 700 016, West Bengal, India.

Telephone : 033 22295455/56/57/58

Fax : 033 22299596

E-mail : thepaulfoundation@apeejaygroup.com

K.C Mahindra Scholarship

I received the application form but I could not apply as deadlines passed.

Apply to as many scholarships as possible. Even you have bharat petroleum scholarships. Whether you get it or not, make sure that you leave no stone unturned. 🙂

I applied only to five schools and I got admit from these schools

Texas A & M University (Off-course, I’m now an Aggie)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
University of Florida (Achievement award and tuition waiver)
University of Maryland Baltimore County

If you get admit with ‘Financial Aid’ just give a pat on your back. Otherwise, be on the lookout for funding yourselves. Accept the University offer and try to contact professors for any Teaching/Research Assistantships. It is not good to ask directly for funding to any Professor. Just say that you are interested (Only if you are really interested – Don’t trouble the professors too much. Don’t barge and spam their Inboxes). Most Profs won’t reply because they would like to see you in person and judge your caliber before granting assistantships. If they don’t reply, as I said don’t send redundant mails. They are really busy people.

Education Loan

If you feel that you can use your personal and family funds later or if you are not financially strong, then the best way is to approach any Nationalized bank or Private Bank for Educational Loans. Any bank is fine. But the thing is that, please make sure you and your parents (particularly) understand the clauses of the Loan completely before starting the process. Check out if there are any hidden costs.

Most banks give you loans upto 10 Lakhs without any collateral. So decide on what you have to do based on your own monetary position and the properties.

As I mentioned earlier, you could take a Bank loan only with the University I – 20 that you are going to attend. You need to put some margin amount whenever a bank releases certain amount. For example, say it is about 15%, then if a bank releases say 1000 dollars you need to put 150 dollars on your part to cover the expenses.

If you are producing some land or Agricultural farm as a collateral you need to get some of the following:

Encumbrance certificate (13 years Atleast) from the registrar office where the land has been registered
Legal opinion on the property from the Bank approved panel of lawyers
Parent document of the property
Tax paid receipt for the property
If it is a house or housing site you need to get a bank approved engineer’s evaluation certificate
If it is an agricultural farm you need to get a VAO certificate
You got to produce only the photocopies of the mortgaging property to get a sanction letter. Once you avail the loan you need to produce the originals. During that time you need to buy non-official stamp papers

Each and every step in the above process involves money. So start saving to finance yourself.

I’m not a financial expert. So please make sure you get the exact details correct before you sign up for the loan

VISA INTERVIEW

Buy a harmonium folder (the one with multiple compartments) and keep the visa documents as per the visa checklist DOC
It could be organized as follows:

1st Comp – Passport, extra photos for DS forms, Appointment Confirmation letter, SEVIS Fee receipt (original or Print out)
2nd Comp – All your DS forms
3rd Comp – The Documents that you have received from your school like the I-20, Admission letters from the School and the Department and any Financial offer letters
4th Comp – If you were working – Offer letter, Appointment Letters, Salary Slips and Form – 16 (if you have one) and of course a Employee Reference letter, if you can get one
5th Comp – 10th and 12th Std marksheets
6th Comp – Semester and consolidated marksheets. Show your consolidated marksheets only when asked for, otherwise Individual marksheets are always preferred
7th Comp – All your Course completion, Transfer and Degree certificates
8th Comp- GRE and ToEFL Score Sheets that you received after writing your exam
9th Comp – Chartered Accountant statement and Civil Assessor statement
10th Comp – Parents income certificate – Form 16 (SARAL Also), Form – 2D and Salary slips for last 3 months and the last one other financial supporting documents like the asset documents and stuff

Keep extra copies of passport photos and empty DS forms. Make sue that you entered all correct information in the DS forms when you schedule a VISA appointment. It is always better to do it online, rather than going to the VFS Office. Because you can edit it at home even three working days before your appointment. If not, then you’ll have to update everything going there everytime. And if you have any queries please visit the VFS or mail them. They almost respond within a day. The photo background should be white or off-white and please make sure that you take a snap wearing some dark colored dress.
Go an hour before the appointment to avoid getting stuck in a traffic jam and to comfort yourself before the interview. There would be a lengthy queue outside.
Security Check – Leave your mobile phones and all electronic items outside. Do not carry anything as specified in the guidelines sheet provided when booking the visa interview
Produce the following at the counter

HDFC Receipt – YELLOW Bar-coded and PINK receipt. This piece of paper is very important. If you don’t have this there is no point in you going to the Consulate.
DS Form 156 should be printed back to back, signed and dated
DS Form 157
DS Form 158 should be printed back to back, signed and dated
Attending University Admission letter and I – 20

The person at the counter will scan the photos on your DS form. Enter your details into the system. Removes one of the YELLOW barcode on the HDFC receipt and pastes it on the PASSPORT. Gives all the submitted documents in a Maroon Folder back to you or sometimes they are sent inside directly. You have to collect them again inside.

Proceed to ‘Index Finger’ scanning. Both your left and right index fingers are scanned.

Get ready for the Visa Interview

Get ready with all your documents the previous day of the interview and have a sound sleep
Have good breakfast and plenty of water on the day of the interview.
Don’t get worried or carried away by whatever happens to the people in front of you in the same queue. They might have had their own problems. So, don’t worry about others. If you have everything, it’s your day and you are going to make it. Be confident!!
Now it’s your turn. Take a deep breath, greet the VO with a pleasing smile. I found most of the Consular Officials friendly and easy-moving trying to calm you a bit. But don’t waste time standing in front of a Visa Officer (VO). They get annoyed by irregularity. That is why I was so specific about the Harmonium folder in the beginning.
Don’t produce any documents voluntarily unless asked for.
Be audible and if you could not hear anything just get his pardon and ask him to repeat. But I would advise you not to do more than once.
Avoid using sensitive technology terms related with Artificial intelligence, Nano-technology, Defense etc. They tend to put you into 221(g) and you might not end up in getting the VISA at all. So if at all you are working or taking up a sensitive area, try to tell them that you are gonna work in IISc, IIT, BITS and stuff. Please, please please don’t ever tell them that you are going to work for DRDO, Air-force.
Answers given to the questions must be crisp, to the point. More than the content of the answer it is the instantaneous response that matters. The next question might be a lead to your previous answer, so don’t give any extra information.

If your visa is rejected the passport will be handed over to you at the counter by the VO. If not, go and have a party with your dear ones. Keep tracking your passport and collect the same at the rush hour service center (if you really need your passport and VISA very urgently). Otherwise it will be couriered to the address given by you, when you fixed your VISA appointment. It hardly takes a day or two extra depending on the distance.

VISA Checklist

Essential Documents (Without which don’t enter the embassy)

Interview Appointment Letter (Web Appointment Copy)
Passport
DS156 form with photo pasted
DS157
DS158
HDFC Challan for Rs 4600/- and Rs 281/-
SEVIS Fee Receipt I-901
School and department admission letters and I-20

Reference Documents

I-20 Copies signed
University Admission Letters
Degree/Provisional/Course Completion Certificates
Individual and Consolidated Mark Sheets
10th and 12th Mark sheets
GRE/TOEFL Originals
Merit Certificates (if any)
Scholarship/ Financial Assistance Letters
I-20’s from other universities (This might also be needed sometimes)

Financial Documents

CA Certificate
Sponsor’s Affidavit of Support or Form I-134 for US Sponsor
All Bank Balance Certificate, with statements 6 months or more
Investments
Fixed Deposits
Shares
Bonds
LIC Surrender Value ****
Postal Investments
Provident Fund/PPF/GPF (if any) ****
Business Investments
Income Proofs:
- Form 16
- Salary Slip
- Employer Certificate

Immovable Properties (Valuation Certificate along with original deeds + Tax paid receipts)

Land and Building

House Sites

Agriculture

**** – It is recommended not to show these as a major source of funding. Some VO’s might question what your parents might do for their financial security if they spend everything on you?

POST VISA

Immunization & Medical Check Up

Immunization requirements have to be met before you could enroll yourself in US graduate school. Some vaccines have longer intervals between doses. For example, the ‘Hepatitis – B’ Vaccine needs three doses – 1st Dose (0 days), 2nd Dose (30 – 45 days) and 3rd Dose (180 – 210 days). Check these dates. It is always better to get vaccinated if you haven’t been in the past.
Go for a dental and eye check up in advance. It is recommended to check your dental health before you leave, as Dentists generally charge you a lion share of your earnings. I ended up spending around 400$ for just a small treatment. If you wear power glasses, get one spare (as they are costly too) and a prescription (so you can avoid a check up if your spare glasses break up 🙂 )
Get all your medical records intact before you plan your travel.
Health Insurance: Some students buy health insurance from their home country. However, I would advise you to purchase your insurance after coming to US, because several ‘terms and conditions’ of your home country insurance might not match with university requirements. Please understand health insurance is very very important in US, as health care is very expensive. Here at TAMU, if you get graduate assistantship and work for 20 hrs/week, most departments offer you university insurance.

Air Tickets

Block the tickets well in advance, to get a cheaper fare. You need a VISA to book for Student concessions (Because BA had given a Student discount for Rs. 27000/- and a whooping 73 kg of luggage). Some airlines (Lufthansa for sure) offers an extra-baggage option @ $25 for 9 kg. And since you are an international traveler you’ll have this applicable until your final destination. Also paste your US Temporary addresses to make sure that lost/delayed baggage reaches you at least after sometime. Make your bag easily identifiable by tying up some tags with some fluorescent colors to make it comfortable to pick up on the baggage conveyer. Don’t lock your check-in baggage. If you want to lock your bags, get TSA Approved locks. Get to know about the food that is served on the flight from the travel agent. Check out My First US Trip

Once your visa is through, you need to be more dynamic.

Book an Air ticket immediately. See to that you have enough time to arrive at the university in advance to look for apartments and get settled.
Contact the Indian Student Association or Indian Association in your university and inform them about your travel plans once your travel date is confirmed. It will help them in preparing for your initial stay and pick up . For us, the IA here at TAMU helped a lot in that respect. There were so many tips from them too about the trip.
Get ready with your immunization records
Make all your bank accounts into joint accounts, so that your parents could operate on your behalf and sign up some blank sheets and give it to your parents as they might require it sometime.
Close your credit accounts. You may need it once you are in US, but the exchange rates are exorbitant. So you could get one after you come to US
Get the contact numbers of your pals and relatives in US. This is very much useful.
Check with the airlines for the baggage size and limits. Buy them accordingly. Get a really good brand as you wouldn’t be investing often on this. I would suggest to get a soft baggage instead of a hard box. My hard box was heavily damaged in transit. Also I got a smaller box when compared to people who accompanied me to US.
Get your foreign exchange. You need to have your passport(of course with a VISA), I-20 and admission letter from the university before you go for this. Any student visitor to US is allowed to carry a total of $0.1 Million for a calendar year. You don’t need that much. Check with your university for the preferred mode of payment, mostly DD. Get some travelers cheque. Also some people get Travel cards. It is good as you need not carry huge amounts in cash. At the airport transit points, you need to pay for some carts, so better get some cash in lower denomination as $3, $10, $20 and all. Carry enough money for the apartment rent , tuition and other living expenses
Allow some time to meet all your friends and relatives to say good bye. Enjoy your days with your family as you are going to be away for quite sometime
Learn cooking, it will be really helpful once you are here. At least ask your mother to write some recipes on paper or get it on text chat after you come here or on mail :).
Make a scanned copy of important documents like your passport, driving license, mark sheets and convert to PDF. Upload the same to your yahoo briefcase or at least your mail Inbox. Take photocopies of all important documents into two sets atleast. Carry one each in each check-in baggage and leave the remaining at your house. It is important to keep the originals at your cabin luggage.
Keep a few sets of dresses and other essentials to manage the delayed baggage problem.
Get a driving license and an International Driving Permit
Get in touch with the students going to your university. You could decide on your room mates too and share your purchases like cooking utensils, so that your baggage limits are not exceeded
If you are working, get an Employee relieving letter and Work experience certificate without fail
File your income tax returns without fail
Remember to call your professors who recommended you and thank them.

LIFE IN USA

Getting settled

After I reached Houston IAH Airport, I collected my baggage and headed towards the limousine exit. Earlier, I contacted the ‘Indian Association’ (IA) and they informed me that they have arranged for a ‘ground shuttle‘ which would be waiting at ‘Terminal C’ limousine exit. My flight was a bit delayed and I caught the shuttle at the last minute. I know some people who missed the shuttle at the last moment. Never panic in such a situation!!! Always, keep the contact numbers of your friends, IA people with you and some change to make a phone call. Most people here are more willing to help you out and you should be safe :-). After, I got into the shuttle I was in deep slumber and woke up only at College station. I was received by the IA and since my friend has already rented a house, I went to stay with him. IA makes every effort to host you with someone in College station. But they too have to handle 300+ students, so if something goes on a toss take it in a lighter vein. Later, I felt that I should have been hosted by someone. In that way, you get know new people that would help you in seeking an oncampus job or choosing your initial courses.

It was great fun during those days. It took me a day or two to get out of jet lag. I brought some maggi noodles from India and I used to have them in the morning. Later, I got used to cereals and milk for the breakfast. I didn’t know cooking at that time, but some guys who stayed with us managed to cook a palatable meal. At times, it had its butterfly effects. I strongly suggest everyone coming here to learn cooking before hand. Eating outside is not always healthy and costs you more.

Keep all your documents: passport, I-20, acceptance letter, scholarship letter (if any), DD, Traveler’s cheque, Immunization form etc., intact. To start with, you need to open your bank account. Deposit your DD’s and Traveler’s cheque. They would need your proof of residence or lease agreement. You could temporarily give your friend’s address and phone number. Later, don’t forget to change it. Obtain your deposit slip and keep it safe. You need it later, when you lease your apartment. Then, you need to go to the ‘pavilion’ which is near the Sterling Evans Library, to get your student id card. Then, you need to activate your ‘open access lab’ account so that you can use the university computers. You need to go to either Student Computing Center (SCC) or Blockers Lab help desk to activate your account.

Looking for an apartment: Seek your seniors help and also start looking for room mates among the students who came with you. Remember, room mates are the people with whom you interact daily so choose them wisely. There are lot of apartments very near to the campus itself. Consider the pros and cons of each apartment like proximity to campus, safety, bed bugs, facilities and then choose a good apartment. I would strongly suggest you to read through the terms and conditions properly in the lease agreement before signing it. Look for faulty electrical outlets, bad airconditioner, leaky taps, bad smoke alarm, unclean carpets etc. Make sure there are no pests, bed bugs in particular. Bed bugs have always been a nightmare since I came here. If you find anything irregular, report to the apartment management and get it fixed. Later, they are very reluctant to do it. Keep your lease agreement safely and go to the bank to produce a copy of the same.

Get hold of your friends and seniors who have a car. Go to walmart, heb to get stuff for your house. Search in ‘tamu for sale’ and other online groups to purchase things. There will be ‘church giveaways’ where you could get some good furniture. However, make sure there are no bed bugs when you bring in any old furniture into the house. Otherwise, you will live a life of hell.

Contact your department: Email your graduate advisor for an appointment. Discuss with him, about the assistantships/scholarships. Check whether there are any separate orientation for your department apart from the International orientation. Fix an appointment with other faculty members, go and talk to them about their research or possible funding.

Jobs and Assistantships: There is a site called Jobsforaggies, where lot of oncampus job opportunities will be posted. Prepare a good resume tuned to the particular job requirement and keep applying. Apart from this, you need to network with lot of people. This country is a land of opportunity, but you may not come to know unless you network with people. I found that most oncampus jobs are about ‘being at the right time and place’. Some jobs have the possibility of converting to ‘Graduate Assistantship’. If you get assistantship in the first semester itself, you will live a life of a king in Texas. You get your tuition waived and get handsome pay. So, I strongly suggest you to come early to campus and start you job hunt. Some employers give importance to referrals. I would say trust, sincerity and integrity matters a lot to an employer than the skills that could be gained on the job. Be ready to sell your skills and the interviews are more behavioral in nature rather than technical.

SSN: In order to work here in US, you need to have a social security number. So you need to catch some oncampus job first, to apply for your SSN. SSN is needed for everything to buy a phone, get a car loan etc. So, when you get a job you would be given a temporary id to get your pay, before you get your SSN.

Credit Card: You need to have a good credit history in order to get a car or education loan. Get a student credit card from any of the popular banks and start spending on your credit card even it is a small purchase. Try to pay your bills on time and in full. A good credit score matters a lot here.

Medical Insurance: As I have already said, Health insurance is very very important in US. If you have already purchased your health insurance from outside US, you need to go to ISS and verify the policy you purchased that meets with the University requirements. If they ask you to get a different one, you could purchase within a matter of minutes online. You need to have credit card for this. I would suggest not to purchase online anything with your debit card. If you don’t have one, ask your seniors to help you. Then, you need to go to the beutal health center to submit your immunization form and proof of health insurance so that they could remove your medical block.

Tax Information: http://www.irs.gov/app/vita/foreign_student_module.jsp

I will update this section when I find time 😀

If you find this material useful, do find time to send me your valuable comments and suggestions to improve the same.

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