Hindu YUVA, University of Washington

1. Keep a photocopy of all the important documents at home.
2. Indian driving license is acceptable in Washington state, hence remember to get it with you if you have one.
3. Talk to your seniors and know about the books that you can get from India. Books are very expensive here. So, it might be a good idea to get some books from India.
4. Do not forget to bring all the important medical, academic and professional documents in the US as they might be required for any of the health or academic formalities.
5. Make multiple copies of the transcripts and get them sealed by your college. You might be required to submit a copy of it at UW or if you plan to apply for advanced degrees in the future.

A key issue during travel would be to communicate your travel status to your parents/pickup person. You can use coin operated phones at airport, but you will need coins of the local currency to make a call. Alternatively you can use Free Wi-Fi available in some airports to send an e-mail. Remember that Seattle airport has a free Wi-Fi and you should be able to use the free Google Phone once you reach here!

1. Seattle is a wet place with less sunny days. So you want to make sure that you have the right kind of clothes. Do not get many jackets from India. Bring only one water resistant jacket. That should be enough for a few months. Snow in Seattle is enjoyable and not heavy. The right kind of clothes for the snowy days should be purchased here itself. If possible, get an umbrella or raincoat. The wikipedia page contains good information about Seattle, its weather and other aspects.
2. Seattle is an urban place with a good number of Indians. There are numerous Indian restaurants in Seattle and in the U-District area. There are many indian grocery shops too. The one close to UW is R&M which in on the 14th Avenue and 55th Street.
3. The 14th Avenue also called as The Ave is a shopping street and one of the most happening places in the U-District. There are pubs, book stores, ice cream shops, restaurants etc on the Ave and so you will find thins place to be quite crowded with students most of the times.

1. Go to the UW the next day to report to the ISS (International Student Services). They will have an information session for you which is quite informative
2. Make your student ID card.
3. Apply for SSN (Social Security Number).
4. Apply for state ID card by visiting a licensing office.
5. Attend various events organized by organizations like Hindu YUVA and FIUTS. Such events are a good way to interact with more and more people and getting accustomed to the place.

1. U-District is the area where most of the Indian students live and it should be fairly easy to get a decent apartment here.
2. Typically rent for a 1 BHK apartment is 800-900$ per month and that of a 2 BHK apartment is 1100-1200$ per month. Seattle tenant law allows 2 people to stay in a 1 BHK and maximum 3 people to stay in a 2 BHK. However, for some higher rent the landlord might allow higher number of people. Also, most of the landlords require you to sign a one year lease and require you to pay the last month’s rent in the form of deposit.
3. Seattle has a really good public transportation system and the U-District is very well connected by buses. Most of the students here prefer travelling by the King County Metro Bus system. UW has special discount for using the bus system. You will get something called U-Pass from UW which is basically a quarterly bus pass that will allow you to travel on any of the King County Metro Buses. The current cost of this quarterly pass is 100$. Google Transit and MyBus are the websites that’ll help you get around.
4. U-District area has huge number of grocery stores. Safeway and QFC are the ones where most of the students do their grocery shopping from since they are quite reasonable in terms of cost. There is an Indian grocery store in the U-District area and many others in areas like Bellevue and Redmond.
5. Shopping for clothes, utensils, shoes and electronic goods can be done in stores like Target, BestBuy and Northgate mall. All these places are very close to the university and are accessible through the bus service. Books can be purchase either online or at the University Book store.

1. Most of you will be paying your fees online through that is called as MyUW. It’s an online system where you can register for courses and pay your fee. In some cases, you might be required to pay the fees personally by going to the office. You should either bring your first quarter’s fee in traveler’s cheque or can transfer that amount to your US account (once you get it opened) through wire transfer. The wire transfer will typically cost you 20-25$ depending on the bank.
2. You should get close to $2500 for initial expenses with you when you come from India.You can explore international travel cards offered by banks to bring the money. See http://www.prepaidsbi.com/ftc.html for the Vishwa Yatra Card offered by SBI. You can bring that in the form of cash too if you think you can safely handle it. In any case, do not forget to bring some cash with too that includes various dollar denominations. Try to bring some 25c coins with you, if possible.
3. You should get a travel insurance of around 1 month that will cover your travel period and also the initial period in Seattle. There are many companies that offer such travel insurance at around 1500-2000 rupees.

For those students who do not have any kind of funding, finding some kind of assistantship is going to be tough in the current economic situation. Typically, Masters students are hired for GSA/TA/RA positions which give you a monthly stipend and a partial or full fee waiver depending on the program you are enrolled in. Part time jobs generally are easy to find and will pay you a minimum of approximately 8.5$ per hour. The maximum wage could be as high as 18$ per hour but those jobs are rare and difficult to find. Typically the earnings from a part time job should be good enough to cover your monthly expenses unless you eat and drink outside frequently.

Scenario 1: If you want to have your own room, so assuming a 2 BHK house shared between two people. In this case, you will be spending around 550-650$ per month per head for the rent.
Scenario 2: If you are fine with sharing a room with someone, so assuming a 2 BHK house shared between 4 people. The rent in this case comes out to 350-400$ per month per head.
Most of the times, the rent covers water, sewage and garbage. The electricity expenses vary a lot depending on your usage and will mostly be not covered in your rent. The per head per month electricity expenses can be assumed to be close to $20.
Other expenses per month:
Cellphone bills: $40 per month
Grocery expense: $100 per month
Internet: $20 per month
Other than these expenses, depending your style of living you might end up spending more.

UW campus and area around the campus can be generally considered to be safe unless you are being careless. There are some incidences which are reported occasionally. However, the university itself has many means for student safety. Programs like the Night ride and UW Night Walk are the best possible safety programs that a university can possibly use. The Night ride is a kind of bus that operates after 8 PM till late midnight and it takes students from various places in the campus to right in front of their house (only if your house is within 1 mile radius from the campus). The UW Night walk is a program under which you can call a number and there will be cops that will escort you to your house.

Shopping for your US stay is going to consume a lot of time. There are a few important things that you must not forget. So, following is a list of things you must remember while doing your packing for US:

(1) Passport and I20

(2) Spare photos of various sizes

(3) Do not bring any heavy blankets. It is better and cheaper to buy those or the comforters/ sleeping bags here in US.

(4) Do not pack any liquids in your bags as they might not be legally allowed.

(5) Bring a raincoat or an umbrella. You will surely require one in Seattle. Bring only 1 jacket (water-proof) and hand gloves. Rest of the winter stuff you can buy here

(6) Make sure your utensils have a flat base. Do not pack excessive utensils. Co-ordinate with your prospective roomies to make sure you are bringing the right number of utensils.

(7) Bring lot of undergarments and socks. Make sure you have them sufficient for 2 weeks as you would not get much time to do the laundry.

(8) Finally, do not forget to pack some sweets for us!

We also have an exhaustive shopping list for you. The list is a general checklist and might contain some unnecessary things too. Click here to view the list. You will surely enjoy reading this one.

Most of the airlines (not all of them though) allow students to carry three 23 Kg bags and in addition to that they allow you to carry a carry-in luggage bag. Airlines also might allow you to carry a back-pack or a laptop bag. It will be good to carry a sort of college bag or laptop bag and keep all your important documents and money in that. You should check with your airline for the kind of luggage allowance they have. Do not buy expensive luggage bags since you won’t be using them frequently once you arrive here.

Cellphone with a plan (kind of postpaid connections) require you to have a SSN number with credit history. Since, most of you would not have a SSN when you come to US, the option you have is to either go for a pre-paid or pay as you go kind of cellphone (which is a little on the expensive side) or to get a postpaid cellphone by paying some refundable deposit (approx $500) from shops like RadioShack. Make sure that you get some extra money if you plan to pay that deposit for the cellphone connection. Most of us here use AT&T and so calling each other is free anytime. It would be advisable to go for a family plan as they are a bit cheaper. Also, make sure that you check all the deals online before buying a cellphone. There are numerous student discounts available online and in shops which you don’t want to miss.

Opening a bank account here should not be a big problem.  Most of the students either have a bank account in Bank of America or US Bank. Both these banks have numerous ATMs on campus and so it is quite convenient to withdraw money. Opening of a bank account only requires your passport to be shown at the bank.

Getting a SSN is easy once you get a job (or if you already have one). Once you have a job of some sort with the University, you will have to get a SSN approval form signed by the International Student Services office and the payroll co-ordinator of the department you have your job in. You need to carry this form and passport to the SSN office located in downtown Seattle. You should be able to get your SSN within a week or two after form submission.

(1) Payment of tuition fees: If you are not a funded student, make arrangements for this. You can either bring a demand draft or make a wire transfer from India to your american bank account. You should contact your respective department to get an accurate number for the amount of fees to be paid.

(2) If you plan to get a postpaid cellphone, it will cost you a deposit of 500$ (approx). Plus you might have to pay for the handset costs unless you prefer the ones that cost zero.

(3) Quarterly health insurance: Again if you are not a funded student, you will be paying $473 per quarter (current rate) for health insurance.

(4) Deposit for apartment: Generally when you move into a new apartment, you will have to pay the first month’s rent and the last month’s rent. The last month’s rent is considered as a deposit.

(5) Apart from this, you can consider around 200-250$ as the expenses for books, bus pass and initial purchases of grocery, home appliances and clothes (if any).