Comment from Current Student from Indiana University

School: Indiana University Bloomington

Major : Human Computer Interaction Design

Degree: Masters

Year From : 2006 To Year: 2008
GRE 1200

Toefl : 250

Aid :
I got $15000 as funding for my first year. I paid my tuition fees and used the rest of the money for my living but,I got some more money from home to manage the living expenses. The average living cost for a month will be around 400 - 500 (dollars). Its not difficult to get a part time job here.
Regarding the university, I love this place. The program is relaxing and not too hectic.

Overall : 8

I-94 is Arrival/Departure record, issued by U.S. Immigration ( USCIS). I -94 will be given when in flight before landing in U.S. Immigration officer will write down arrival date, when authorized period of stay expires in U.S. Also, immigration office might ask you few questions about your purpose of your visit.

Make sure its staple to your passport pages. Don’t lose it. You have to return it when departing the country, either by land, sea, or flight. If they don’t ask for it, make sure you give it to concerned person, before departure. Click here to find more information about I-94 form.

I was thinking about what different experiences/thoughts/questions a student could face in first few days after arriving U.S. and I came with the following list.

1) Searching for seniors who have come to pick you from airport ( when you walk out from airport)

2) You will notice difference in the people around.

3) You will be asked to Buckle up your seat belts in the car.

4) You might have booked your apartment online from India and move into an unfurnished empty apartment the first day with 2/3 suitcases.

5) Seniors might accommodate few new comers in your apartment for temporary stay

6) You could be put in with any of your seniors apartment till you find a place for you

7) After landing in U.S., you will ask for a way to call India to inform your parents about your safe arrival.

I have seen few cry when they talk to parents back home after arriving.

9) Some of you might come without arranging for pickup and cab driver would have dropped in front of the campus and you will have no contact and no where to go

10) You would tend to ask lot of questions about everything ( everything is different)

11) Seniors might take you for McDonald’s, Indian Restaurant or some other fast food chains

12) You might end up in your own apartment and making friends with your neighbours.

13) Seniors will ask not to sleep till night time if you arrived in U.S. in day time

14) You will be amazed ti see sunlight till 9 PM

15) Ask if you can access Internet to check your email

16) I have seen few who will feel relaxed and filled with joy, after coming to U.S. ( maybe they could have tried very hard to get study here)

17) You will ask about opening bank account and finding how bank works.

18) Compare the food you get from students cooking to delicious food mom cooks back home.

19) When I first entered into Walmart, I couldn’t believe my eyes, seeing its size. I never saw a super market of that size. That would make your eyes blink.. and say ..wow.. I’m in America

20) If you haven’t found an apartment after you arrived in U.S. searching for nice place to stay will be bit hectic.

21) You would go for a walk and come back home and say to seniors that a foreigner smiled at me and said Hello

22) First item you take from grocery store, see its price and do a mental calculation ( $5 * 40)

23) That calculation will continue for every item you put into your cart.

24) Your shopping experience will be different if you move-in with any senior who is been there for atleast 1 year.

25) I have taken so many new students to Walmart/Indian store within first few days of arrival. Usually, they don’t buy any stuffs, they will be hesitant. Not sure, if the price they will pay is wort its value. So, I will step-in and say take that blue comforter, that’s the cheapest you can get.

26) Amazed to see so many different types of car

27) No 2 cars you will find of same make, model and color.

28) No more than 1 people inside the car.

29) When you turn on the TV, ad’s will look different.

30) If you answer any marketing phone calls from 1-800 number, you wouldn’t understand a word they talk

31) I was asked by almost everyone whom I pickedup from airport, about part time jobs, aid.

32) What kind of part time job students does?

33) How will they pay?

34) Just after I say them while entering the campus, that university starts from othert side of the road, why is there no walls surrounding the campus?

35) Will it snow here?

36) Do you have a part time job/aid?

That’s not the end of it. If you happen to face any of the above situations, just pen down a comment with the thought number before it.

Like, I came across 26, 10, 13

If you wonder, what inspired me to write this list, its was because of comment from on the the reader, saying, I had faced 90% situations you were writing about.

School Name : Florida Institute of Technology
Location : Melbourne, Florida

Comment from a student:

There are some very good companies that come for recruiting at FIT. However it is upto the students themselves to try and find the best possible position for themselves.

FIT has one of the best Quality Assurance/Testing programs in the country … no lie. Two of the industry’s leading experts in the field of Software Engineering and Testing teach at FIT. Dr. Cem Kaner and Dr. Whittaker.

There are plenty of part time opportunities to work in companies such as GE Transportation… GE Energy and a host of small IT companies.

The aid scene when I was studying was not great. Not everyone got aid. However by the time I had graduated, the aid situation seemed to be a lot better with a lot more people getting aid.

Year From : 2002 To Year: 2004
GRE : 2100
Major : Computer Science and Software Engineering
Degree: Masters

Overall : 7

Link to Indian Students Association- Sanskriti

I used to live near by FIT and they have nice Computer Science programs. Not everyone gets aid, but they manage to find part time job or internship ( full time or part time). GE is one of the major employer and FIT students get internship and full time job too.

It’s a private school, so concept of instate fees doesn’t apply. Generally schools in Florida are little expensive in comparison to schools in Texas. From what I heard, there could be approximate 150 - 200 Indian Students.

I have uploaded few photos from California ( Hollywood, Golden Gate Bridge, Redwood trees, Yosemite National Park). Now, you know where you can plan for your next trip.

It would take atleast 1 week to see from Mt.Shasta ( North California to San Diego). That would include SFO, LA, Silicon Valley, Redwood forest, Lake Tahoe, LA and San Diego Zoo.

More pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/life.strikes/California

One of the reader had asked to Student Loans. So, I did some analysis1) How to save on Student Loan Interest
2) When to get the Student Loan( to minimize the interest rate)
3) What about exchange rate

It will be difficult to obtain students loan in U.S. as International Student. They will usually require credit check or someone( relative, friend, who must be citizen or permanent resident) must co-sign for you.

If I’m not wrong, student loan in India will be around 12-13% interest rate.

First first semester, lets assume you borrow $10,000 in total from Student Loan account
Tuition Fee : approx $5000
Living Expenses : $5,000

I’m going to suggest some ways to save few dollars you pay as interest rate. Per month living expense will be around $350 to $700. You will have rest around $4300 in your student free checking account. Student checking account doesn’t pay you interest. Also, savings account will pay around 1% interest rate.

if you have $4000 in Savings Account, per month you will be paid $3.33 per month. Instead, you can deposit $4000 in Online savings account that will pay you around 5.00% per year. Some, online savings account might require SSN. Other idea would be to get CD’s ( Certificate of Deposit). Its similar to Fixed Deposit in India. its available in various terms like 3months, 6 months, 9 months and so.

This is what you can do:Month 1 : Estimate your living expense and have some back up money( ~ 3 months). You can have $1,500 in your checking account. Buy a 3-month CD for $3,500.

Month 4: Take $1,500 from 3 months and buy another CD for $1,500.

How much will this pay you?

CD -1 : 3 months, 5% APY = $38
CD -2 : 3 months, 5% APY = $25

Total Savings = $63

Some little bit here and there you can ear money by effectively manging your money, instead of sitting idle in Checking Account. This will effectively minimize your interest rate that you will pay for Student Loan.

Exchange rate is not under our control. It all depends on how U.S. Economy is performing. Another best way is to borrow only what is needed. Again, if rate goes up we will be at loss. In, either way, using Online Savings Account or CD’s is effective way to save more money.

For atleast 2-4 years in U.S. we will have to share the bills, including utilities, apartment, groceries, and some money lending activities will be going on.

We were 7 guys staying and pretty lazy in calculating monthly expenses. We usually do once in 2-3 months. Most of them do it every month.

Sometimes, we had a folder, so any bills that are paid, will be put in that with the name of the person who paid the bill and every 2 months, someone will do the math and manually, decide who has to pay and how much.

We, used to go to Walmart once in every 3 weeks and bill will be very huge. It will take atleast 45 minutes to bill all the items we buy. So, the best time for use to go to Walmart is around 1 AM. So, there wont be any rush and long queues at the bill register. We used to get groceries for around $300 every 3 weeks.

Responsibility’s was usually, split. One will take car of Power, water, Internet and cable connections. Also, this to make sure, everyone has something to manage and you might need address proof in form of some bills.

Later, I came across Buxfer, a tool to manage money transactions between friends, roommates.
It looked pretty cool. You can pen down all the transactions, and if you set it up with number of roommates, it does the math for you. Try it out!

There are few things that you have to consider when applying for credit cards.

* Student Credit Cards
* Does that card have 0% Introductory APR for atleast 6months?
* Does the card have annual fees?
* What is the APR after introductory APR period?

Usually, all the credit cards will have at least 6 months free of interest ( i.e. 0% APR). After, that they would have mentioned under Terms and Conditions. Don’t apply for any card that has APR greater than 13%. If you don’t pay your bills by due date, you will be paying 13% interest, which is too much.

Also, check for Annual Fee. Some cars will have annual fee of $75 or more. So, find a card that doesn’t have annual fee.

Make sure you don’t accept any other offers that come with that card, like credit protections plans. They will charge you extra $7 to $15 for using that service. Usually, first month will be free, and it will be charged from second month. So, make sure you say no them it, as and when they give the offer. At times you will get phone call marketing to accept the offer.

I had an email from one of the readers, about opening bank account without SSN and access to online services without SSN.

Yes, you can open bank account without SSN. Usually, they would need, I-20, passport and admission letter. Of course, money to deposit into the account. You can register with user name and password for online account access. Banks usually provide lots of online services. Like, money transfer to friends within same bank for free, check deposited will be scanned and posted into your transactions, and many other options.

After, SSN is issued, you can call the bank and update your records.

I came across this blog and post

…..
I payed the reqd fees at HDFC bank in New Alipore. AFter 2 days you can register at the vfs site and start the appl procedure. There are 3 forms that you will need to fill. Total time taken exceeds 1 hr, and you can always go back and change the form anytime. Once the forms are ready, take printouts. Get your photograph clicked as per the US Visa requirements (ears shud show, white b/g,etc) just 1 photo is needed. Dont forget to write ur name in native alphabet once you print the forms. Also, sign all forms and your I-20. Pay your SEVIS fees online ..
…
http://koolkumud.blogspot.com/2007/07/on-road-to-us-for-studies-part-3-admits.html

She’s apparently one of the frequent visitor of Happy Schools too. You can read about her experience in applying for Universities and Visa preparations.

http://koolkumud.blogspot.com Hope you all enjoyed the taste of Arizona and its wilderness. I was talking to couple of students online and they had questions about fee structure. So, I decided to write about In-State tuition fee vs Out of State tuition fee.

Before I explain about the difference, let me explain how the few other terms

* Public Universities

* Private Universities

* State Tax funding

To run university, money is needed and depending on where the money source of money, universities are classified under Public or Private Universities.

Public Universities:
In U.S. every state has State Tax, in addition to Federal Tax. Few states don’t have state tax. But majority of states have State Tax. So, for the money earned, we have to pay state tax and federal tax.

State Tax money is used by state government to fund schools, colleges, universities. Those schools that are funded by state tax are called Public Schools.

Private Universities:
Private schools don’t get funding from state government. They raise funds from donations, rewards, tuition fees paid by the students.

Students attending Public universities will pay less tuition fee in comparison to Private Universities.

In-State fee vs Out-of-State Fees
So, students who are residents of that particular state, need to pay In-state fee, since the school is run from their money ( parents, tax, their tax). Usually In-state fees are very less.

Out-State-Fees, is paid by students who are not residents of that state where they go to school. Even if s student goes to school in Texas, but lives in Florida. He/She has to pay Out-of-State fees.

Example: (University of Texas System)

For 9 credits ( usually 1 course = 3 credits)

Out of State tuition and International ~= $6,000
In State Tuition fee ~= $3,200

So, you can see the difference. In next post, I will talk about how this will impact International Students. What happens if International Student gets RA/TA or Scholarship.

I have uploaded the wilderness photo. It was amazing place to visit Arizona, Utah, Nevada state. I had a chance to go on a business trip and above all got chance to see few tourist places. I saw, Glen Canyon Dam at Page, AZ, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and few other lakes and marina. If you guys planning for a long weekend trip or Grand Canyon is well know place, but there is more to it in the surrounding areas. I have uploaded few photos at

http://picasaweb.google.com/life.strikes/ArizonaUtha

If you are visiting Zion National Park, make sure you go all the way to the end in the shuttle bus and go for a walk on the Virgin River. Zion photos are stuck inside my crashed HDD. Figuring out a way to take it out and couldn’t find time to fix it.