When to arrive to grad school?!?!

[az91]

Hey all,I am an international student and  I've got accepted for the fall semester of 2014 with a graduate assistantship. The offer says that the GA begins on the 9th of august / 2014.  So my question is when should I be in my new city, how many weeks before I start in order to furnish the appartment, meet my professors, get to know the campus and the city..... etc .??

[cbttcher]

Check with the International Office at your school by when you have to be there and when the mandatory international orientation is. I'll probably arrive at my school a week to a week and a half before classes start. Last time I went two weeks before and that was too much time because I didn't meet any people because I was the first one there. I wouldn't go there too early.

[az91]

Thanks cbttcher, Ill follow your advice and check with the international office

[St Andrews Lynx]

The earliest you can enter the USA on an F1 visa is 1 month before the official program start date. I came as early as I could - which allowed me to explore the area a bit before it became over-run with students. Maybe 1-2 weeks - give yourself enough time to recover from jetlag, too! 

[themmases]

At many schools, this is not totally up to you. For example, in college towns many leases follow the school year, leases all start a week or two before classes, and your apartment is simply not available before then. If you get campus housing, move-in day is often very close to mandatory orientation/registration events.

 

If you're moving to a place less dominated by student housing, 1-2 weeks is still a good bet. Plan on a couple of days to move, recover, and maybe explore before you're required to be at any campus events. The schools I went to all had another couple of buffer days between orientation and the actual first day of class, which was plenty. There's not much point in arriving sooner unless you want to take advantage of a lease that starts that early, and your visa allows it.

[az91]

My sister lives 30 minutes away from campus so I might stay there until I can have my apt. To explore the campus and the city. Thats only if my visa allows

[nugget]

If you want to spend a lot of time with your sister, I'd take advantage of the fact that you won't have any readings or work to do before the start of your program and go as early as possible. If you're in a thesis program, you'll always have outstanding work to do until you defend your thesis so enjoy your time off while you can.

[DeleteMePlease]

Just in case anybody runs into the same problem: I decided to arrive about a week before classes started and booked my flight accordingly. Today I found out that there is some special TA preparation course in the beginning of August. Turns out I have to arrive three weeks earlier than I originally planned...