Ambigiousbuthopeful

Hi everyone, I'm a student at UMN and I'm looking for a female sub-leaser for the summer. My place is very close to the west bank campus (walking distance!) and is available for two months (June and July). Rent is $450 per month. If you are an incoming student and need a temporary place for a couple of months PM me! (Maybe International students, who havent had a chance to house hunt, would be interested?)

I don't have a car and I manage just fine. Actually most people I know don't have a car. You just have to make sure you live on a good bus route and make sure your commute isn't more that half an hour. Works great for me. I moved from India last year - surviving just fine!

From what I remember Johns Hopkins Soc is strong on World Systems. I was in a similar situation last year in terms of academic interests. Feel free to PM, I may be of some help...

I have 28 days before I leave for the U.S and about 6-7 weeks before I start. All I can say is this is the stage of obsessive list-making! There is one required course that is filling me with dread so that does temper my excitement. Despite having heard so much about what grad school life is like, I still feel like I have no idea what's in store for me. Moving to a new country is a big deal and my programme is going to stretch out over 7 maybe even 8 years...I don't think this has entirely sunk in. Still, excitement definitely continues to trump nervousness

Gosh. Thanks for posting this.

Do most people who own a macbook air also use a secondary system of some kind, like a desktop or whatever? Or does an Air fulfil all needs/purposes? I'm actually considering spending the extra cash and getting an air instead of a lenovo thinkpad. The only other consideration is that I've only used windows so the adjustment to a new OS is a little worrying since I'm averse to change and not tech savy.

Thank you!

It was strange. The official took my passport and said your visa has been approved. No questions asked - not one. I just got my passport today and they have authorised a five year visa. My I20 clearly says '2020' and not '2018'. I know it isn't a big deal and it wan be renewed but is this a standard practice? I also have a valid tourist visa which I assumed would be struck off with a big 'cancelled without prejudice ' sign across it. But it wasn't! according to my passport I have two valid visas - not sure what's going on.

Despite being widely accepted as convention I agree that 'Best' sounds strange. I presume I will get used to it eventually but until then it sounds weirdly truncated, curt and stiffly professional. I prefer All the best, Thanks and (warm) regards.

My visa interview is one day away. I only today realised I had to pay the SEVIS fee and immediately paid it. I have a print out of the receipt for the interview. However the website clearly states that this has to be done three days prior to the interview. I don't know if I should just land up for my interview (in a different city) or reschedule so that I am certain that the payment will show up in the system. (aaahhhh last minute stress!!)

Sorry to hear this - must be very frustrating. I think you should continue your search in the same vein. Try Uloop, craigslist and such like. See if there are relevant facebook groups too and there often are. Ask your 'roommate wanted' ad to be sent not just to incoming students but to the existing student list. The main thing is to clearly discuss commitment. I was very upfront and basically said, "So are you committed to sharing this place? Because then I will suspend my roommate hunt. Don't flake on me! " and the person in question was equally forthright. Often people are assessing all their options and are keeping multiple potential-roommates on hold. It's important to ensure that you are on the same page and have both clearly agreed to an arrangement so the other person knows what's at stake. Of course things may still fall through in the end but this is what worked for me. Hope this helps!

Wow, I really surprised by how judgemental and harsh everyone is being. I think it is understandable to to want to clear bad air before a departure. Why is everyone so quick to assume that she 'wants' something beyond that. It's offensive.

I know this may be paranoia speaking, but do they do internet searches as part of their background checks? I'm being stupid right?

I am also an international student going to Minneapolis and I suggest you try finding housing before August. I can't say my search is successful as yet but I am fairly certain I'll find something before I get there. You should send out an email to your department and ask them to forward it to current and incoming students. There a bound to be a few people looking for housing/housemates. And if you do find someone all you need to do is schedule a few skype calls to ensure you are compatible. Also, you could start looking at craigslist and responding to listings. Things will really open up in the May-June period. The cities forum on gradcafe has tons of useful information on the best neighbourhoods for grad students and on what a decent rental budget looks like. It is definitely stressful, it's seems doable! By the way, if all else fails, the university does provide cheap temporary housing for international students. However, one would have to be prepared to settle for a less that satisfactory place in august since all the good stuff might have dried up. Also, finding a roommate in august might be tough.