newms

Swedish meatballs

General Electric

justice system

Gmail has a desktop notification - so you get a little popup at the bottom of your screen when you get a new email. I also created a filter in my gmail that sends email about my schools to a sms on my phone.

How about asking this in the Computer Science forum - you might find someone there who's from UIUC.

trailer park

brain teaser

meat dish

pneumonia symptom

down payment

ball bearing

beach house

It's not exactly pro forma. I haven't been accepted anywhere yet either, but from what I've read, in addition to the documentation from the school, you have to demonstrate a few things: 1) That you have a permanent residence in your home country (such as a family home) 2) That you intend to return to your home country on completion of your studies. Now it is possible to stay in America after the student visa is up, but you just have to show them that you don't intend to stay after your studies. So if you own property or have family ties in your home country that you can point to that would show your intent to return, then that would be good. 3) That you have enough funds to cover your studies and life in the US. If you get funding from your school, then they will give you documentation to show the interviewers and that should be enough. See more information from the State department's website: http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1268.html

personal statement

Happy to help. Credit cards can be scary - you just have to make sure you don't charge more than you can manage.

If you pay the balance before the due date, then there isn't usually an interest charge. You usually only get hit with interest when you charge more than you can pay back at once and so you have to only pay a portion of the balance - the minimum payment (or more - its never recommended to just pay the minimum amount). That's why in this scenario, you would use the card for small amounts - so the charges don't get too much that you can't pay it off all at once.

There are many types of loans. Maybe we can't take a loan from a bank at first, but maybe a shop would give an international student the option of buying furniture by paying in payments - that's credit or a form of loan. Similarly, so is a secured credit card - although for that you would have already paid the maximum you could owe to the bank before you get the card as a form of security in case you default on making payments. Once you close the secured credit card you get back your original deposit (the $500 or $1000 fuzzy mentions above) I think fuzzy means that you put small money charges on the card - such as the amount you'd spend weekly at the grocery shop (i.e. you use the card rather than cash to pay small amounts). Then you make the payment back on the card on time and in full, and you'd build a good credit reputation as someone who pays their bills on time and in full.

If he offered to call, I would agree to it. It's a risk, yes, but the benefits far outweigh the potential negatives. They aren't (likely) going to reject you because they don't like that he called on your behalf, but his call could make the difference if they're choosing between you and someone else. I would have had him write one of my letters too.

night vision

I don't think it'll be easy to get a credit card - at least at first. You'd have to build up credit rating first. you may be able to get a secure credit card, where you put a certain amount of money in the bank and you can't charge more on your card than what you've put in the bank. I don't think lease payments add to your credit rating unless you default and get evicted. I may be wrong though.

Well everyone who comes to the US as a foreign student would be starting with no credit. There are ways to build up credit...I think some stores will allow you to buy furniture or other goods on hire purchase and once you make your payments on time, you will start to build up good credit. You can try to get utility bills in your name, if you pay on time that will add to your credit rating. You should try to open a bank account and try to get a secured credit card - that way you cant spend more on your card than you've already put in the bank, so it's easier to get than a regular credit card. Pay the bills on time and it adds to your credit rating. It sucks really that credit is so important in America, but that's just the way it is. Just don't bite off more than you can handle and you'll be alright.

dream school

Yeah I noticed that What happens is that when the first person entered a misspelling, gets saved into the database and whenever someone enters their result, it comes up as an option as well as the correct spelling, and some people choose the wrong one.

Many of the people that received notifications from UWashington today say that 8% of 11200 applicants were accepted. When I first saw it I thought the poster meant 1200 applicants. But many people have since repeated it. Could UWashington really have received 11200 applicants? I'm wondering if maybe there was a typo in the batch email because 8% of 11200 is almost 900 admits. Surely those numbers must be wrong right? I think MIT had 2700 applicants last year. Edit: Oh, it's for the entire grad school.