Studying in the U.S. University - First Week

By now you have arrived in the University of your Choice. Great. If you have already made arrangements in the dorm, you’ll have a place and room to stay and your dining would have been arranged too. And like many other students, if you haven’t, then initially you would have to arrange for a temporary living and in the mean time, you would have to arrange for a permanent room and board. 

I must admit that I also made a mistake of not arranging for my stay anywhere. So when I arrived at my university, I didn’t have any choice but to stay at the dorm. It didn’t take me long to decide that I wanted to live off-campus, so I moved out in first couple of weeks. It is not to say that on-campus living is a bad decision. My younger brother opted for on-campus living throughout his studies. Both on and off-campus living has pros and cons. All is not bad. So you have to decide for yourself what you really want to do. 

A week before the university begins, there is a registration week. You would have to visit your department and an adviser will be assigned to you. He or she will advise your on the selection of course, guidance, provide an ear to hear you out and will be a great help to you throughout your undergrad education. This also depends on availability of time, number of students he or she is advising and your schedule. I was fortunate to have a great adviser who was there to guide me through during my studies. 

One thing to note about studying in the U.S. University is that they expect you to be adult. This means that you have to take responsibility for your actions. This also means that nobody will hold your finger to point you to the right answer to a question. You have to take the lead and make mature decisions. So don’t take your adviser for granted. Normally an adviser is a tenured professor. They have their own work cut out. So use their time wisely. Don’t go over to them and spill out your personal details. They don’t care what you do on your personal time. They are there to help you with decision making about your studies, courses, projects and everything scholarly. So be wise and act mature. 

Sometimes, communicating in English does come in the way of explaining yourself. But American people in general are very patient and open to hear you out. So take your time and learn more about their culture and language to express your thoughts. You will have plenty of time to make friends and speak to them. The more you speak and spend time with the local students, the more you will learn to communicate with them. They will also learn about your culture, religion, way of life etc. This is all part of your learning. You won’t only meet with the American students, but many others from various parts of the world. There will be some that you would be meeting first time in your life. So don’t be shy and open yourself up and make new friends.

Studying in the U.S. University - Traveling to the U.S.

If you are joining in the Fall semester, make sure that you have plenty of warm clothes for the upcoming winter season. Cold places in the winter are bitterly chilly and the warm places do get pretty chilly too. Few years back, even some places in Texas, which is considered to be one of the warmer places, got plenty of snow. So be prepared for that type of winter.

And if you are joining in the Spring semester, do not get confused with the name. There is no ‘Spring’ in January in the U.S. You may be getting ‘home-sick’ sooner rather than later this time of the year. So make sure you have plenty of warm clothes including everything. Some students might think that why take so much stuff and luggage on this long journey. Well, that is also a choice¸ if you want to go that route. It is also a choice¸ if you want to go that route. However, one thing to keep in mind is that there will be other ‘items of business’ that would require your immediate attention, once you join the university. These include reporting at the international office, registration for the classes, meeting the advisor, looking for a place to stay on or off-campus, books and many more. So, you don’t want to ‘go shopping’ right away. Therefore, making long story short, get yourselves plenty of warm clothes.

Arrive early at the airport to get your documents and luggage checked. Make sure you keep your documents close to your heart. As for the money, I would keep travel checks by American Express. That way, I would not have to carry hard cash on me. It is unsafe to travel with big chunks of hard cash on long travels. Either that or once your arrive at your university town and have opened a bank account, have that money transferred to your bank account. This may take a while but it is very safe. 

Once in the plane, get yourself comfortable. If you are flying from Pakistan, he flight is almost 17 hours long with a stop in one of the Europe airports, normally in England. Most of the flights have to land at the John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) in the U.S. If you are joining in the fall semester, you would see the weather similar to Pakistan, but if you are traveling in December, then snow awaits you. However, snow and ice hardly impedes the daily life. So, your travel plan will not be hampered by the ice. 

Once at the J.F.K airport, you will again have to go through the immigration. Your passport will be stamped and may be asked a few questions on the way. If you have the connecting flight from J.F.K, you would only have to be at the required terminal. Not all domestic airlines use J.F.K. airport. So you may have to travel to LaGuardia airport for a connecting flight. 

If you haven’t made any advance traveling arrangements, then you would have to inquire about these flights to your local destination. Either you may choose to travel over to the Greyhound Bus terminal or take the Amtrak train.

Studying in the U.S. University-Visa & Travel

You can keep in touch with your university admissions office via post mail or the email. Email is a better option if you have access to the internet. That way you can research and learn about the university, departments, people, place etc. about that university. 

Once you have received your admission in that particular program, your university international office will send you the I-20 to request for your visa at the U.S. embassy. Back when I was going through this process, my admissions’ office was quite prompt about sending me the required paperwork for me to apply for the U.S. visa. 

Back in good ol’ days, it was pretty simple to apply for the U.S. visa. Anyways, first you would send your application through a designated courier. They would receive your papers and would send back your documents with a specific date and time for you to appear before a visa counselor at the embassy. They would ask you some questions to determine whether you are either a ‘genuine’ or ‘not so genuine’ student. So, let’s just say you were very convincing and charming and the visa counselor believed that you were an authentic student and a great addition to the university program. That is why you have been awarded the U.S. student visa. You get your passport back and now you are ready to make a leap of your lifetime to study in one of the prestigious universities in the U.S. in the program of your interest. How exciting!!

Make sure that you have applied for the visa well in advance of your semester beginning date. That way you would have plenty of time to spend some quality time with your family and also to prepare yourself psychologically and physically. Make sure you are healthy and have taken all the precautions to move overseas. As a word of caution, you don’t want to visit the hospital during studies. It is not only the studies that would suffer, but also the pocket that would take a huge burden. Therefore, you want to be super fit so that you could get yourself acclimated and be able to take the culture shock. 

Time would be flying while you are preparing to leave. Everybody around you would be anticipating you to leave them for a while and showering you with the love that you may or may not have seen before. So enjoy this time and be good to your immediate family, specially your parents. Being a parent, I can now understand how difficult it is to let your loved ones leave knowing that I would not be able to see them for a while. Anyways, there will be some emotional moments. However, you and everybody around you, knows for sure that this would be the best thing for you to obtain your higher education from a well-reputed university. 

By this time, get your travel arrangements ready. These travel arrangements are not only to fly from your home country to the U.S., but also to the place where your university is located. This means one or may be two domestic flights once you have arrived in the U.S. If there are no  flights to that particular town, you may have to research for an alternative like Amtrak train, or even a Greyhound bus service. All of this should be done in advance to be hassle-free. Another important point to know that travel planning  in advance also saves a lot of money rather than buying tickets on the counter.

Studying in the U.S. University-Admissions

Studying in the U.S. for the undergraduate studies is a unique experience. This experience starts way before you land in the U.S. Most of the universities have two semester system: Fall and Spring semesters. Fall semester starts in mid-August and Spring semester begins in January. Most of the universities offer admissions in Fall semester. However, some universities do offer admissions for Spring semester as well.

Next thing is a student should prepare and take TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) in advance to complete the application. Some universities also require SAT results (Scholastic Aptitude Test) as well. A well prepared student can do quite well on the SAT and TOEFL exams. Therefore, preparation is the key for these exams.

A completed university application is required for the admission. These admission applications are generally available on the university admissions’ websites. Therefore, the application should be downloaded and completed. Generally, all the information regarding the student, his/her family, educational background, and some other pertinent information is required on this application. One important thing to note is that all the information which is entered in that application should be true and factual. Nothing should be fabricated to enhance the application. It does not matter which school you studied or who you are related and if you participated in any extracurricular activities. If you are a good student and scored well in the TOEFL and SAT exams, the universities will consider you for admission. 

There is also an application fee which is to be paid in the U.S. dollar along with the application. Your application will not be processed until this fee is paid. This fee ranges anywhere from $30 - $100, depending on the university. 

These things are quite easy and this application can be submitted online. Also, the application fee can also be paid with a debit or credit card. The scores can also be sent online by declaring the university and the department to which you are interested. 

For international admissions, there is another important piece of application which is a financial certification that your sponsor can pay for your education including tuition fee, room and board, etc. during your stay in the U.S. This certification is also an important component for the U.S. visa requirement. 

Once you have submitted your completed application, the university will inform you about receiving your documents. They will probably get in touch with you if they require any more important information from you. 

Make sure that you keep track of the admission deadlines. For Fall semester, the application deadline is normally in December. And for international students, these deadlines are a bit earlier than the domestic students.