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| My Experience | Step-by-Step Guide | Students in US | Links |
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Join our Mailing List Forum Questions? Comments? Last modified 11/13/02 |
You might want to arrange with one of the professors to come for summer research. If you don't have any special plans for summer, this might be a good decision for you. Summer months Research Assistantship is at least as much as during the year and often more, so you will be earning money instead of spending. You will have a chance to improve your English before classes begin. Another advantage it that you will have a chance to find appropriate housing before all students arrive and start looking for it. Also, you will get some experience working with the professor who can possibly become your scientific advisor. Ask the secretary whether there exists such an opportunity and if it does (which, as I know, almost always does in Physics, Math and Biology) ask the faculty members who you might be interested to work with whether they would agree to take you for summer research assistantship position. Stay in touch with the current graduate students at the chosen university, all universities have Russian students, ask the secretary for e-mails or check for the Russian Club on the university webpage. It is nice to get to know some people before you come to unknown city in a foreign country. Ask these students about the climate, about life at the university, get some understanding of what to expect.
Prepare for the visit to the embassy.
Gather all the necessary documents: passport, 2 pictures (3X4),
admission letter from the University and I-20 are usually enough. To be
sure find out about current situation at the American embassy from your
friends or visit web-site
of American embassy in Moscow.
Book and buy airplane tickets. Most
people I know order their tickets through
STAR Travel
(Student Travel Agency Russia). This agency allows you to book tickets
2-3 month in advance, you can book couple of tickets if you are unsure
about the date of departure. The tickets are usually held for you until
1-2 days before departure. Also of great advantage is their return and
exchange policy. You can change the date of flight or return the ticket
for the fee of $25, which is really low. Attend pre-departure orientation at the American Center. It is usually organized in June and last 4-6 hours, you might come and leave any time. The program features talks by U.S. Education Information Center staff, panel discussions with Russian students who studied in US, etc. Buy books and CDs which you might need in US. Books are very expensive in US, especially textbooks, plus you won't find textbooks in Russian. Don't take many but take the ones you especially like and often use. Also, such programs as Mathematica, MatLab, etc., non-licensed copies of which are ready available in Russia, will be very expensive in US. Universities are usually subscribed to some of them and you can get a permission to install them, but still it is better to be safe and take them with you from here. If you like music don't forget to take music CDs with you. How much money to take with you? To answer this question ask the department when will be your first payment? Think about where are you going to leave before you find a permanent place. If you are short of money (which is often the case) try to arrange to stay with somebody of current graduate students there. In terms of expenses for food, you can always find cheap and reasonable Chinese fast-food for $5 per meal. Frozen dinners are available in all supermarkets and are $2-3 per meal (I am not saying that this food is healthy, this is just a suggestion if you are unused to preparing meals yourself). Prices for food in supermarkets are somewhat similar to those in Moscow supermarkets. Check out www.vons.com for more details. Thus think in terms of $150-200 per month, I assume that you won't always go out for food. |