Planning After Admission

   By now you have made one of the major decision in this whole process about which university you are going to join. But, in order to begin and pursue your curriculum smoothly you need to plan everything before you are on the campus. If you are an international student, it starts all the way from purchasing international airline ticket. You might also need to purchase a domestic ticket depending on the airline you are travelling and the university location. We will highlight some of the essentials that you may need to plan your trip well and also if possible without hurting your budget.

Step 1: Make travel plans
Here are some sites we would recommend that you try. Try all and select whichever is the lowest. Also compare these fares with your travel agent fare as most of times especially domestic travel within US work out much cheaper using these online websites we have highlighted. For travel try Sidestep and Expedia. If you are flexible with the time of the flight then you can get cheapest fare with Priceline.

Step 2: Airport Shuttle or alternate pickup
No matter which university you go......you are most likely to need someone to pick you up or book a shuttle. If some student association is picking you up then call or mail them and confirm that someone will indeed plan to be at the airport and give then your airline carrier name and flight number. Also, if you have a cell phone please pass your cellphone number to the person picking you up. Majority of times you will need to book a shuttle (airport shuttle, cab or limo). In this case contact the student association or admissions school and find out the best alternatives for local travel to the university. If you plan on taking a cab, be aware that cab travel will cost you more than a shuttle since the cab is providing an exclusive service to you where as shuttle has more travellers and hence cheaper. Some of the popular airport shuttles available are "Super Shuttle", etc.

Step 3: Accomodations
If you are planning to stay at the university housing then contact the university housing reception to arrange your stay. On a few occasions if we have the bandwidth we may be able to provide you with phone number or email to contact university housing. Send us an email to support@bigstudent.com.
If you are an international student, you might want to either contact the students association and see if you could stay temporarily with a student who could host you or see if someone on campus has any vacany. Usually people on campus have vacancies when their roommates graduate. So contacting the students association helps quite a bit. Otherwise contact the univeristy housing. You can also plan to stay in a nearby hotel or inn temporarily at a competitive price most of times. We recommend that you use priceline or sidestep to check out the best prices for accomodation. Remember, at priceline you get much cheaper accomodations but you will not be able to change or cancel your booking once confirmed.

Step 4: Your First Semester
Get in touch with some students and find out more about the area you are specaializing in within your department. Remember that your department may have core courses that you will need to complete as a part of your curriculum. Plan on discussing the same with the seniors and find out the best timings to take courses and also well ahead its nice to do some prior reading to get familiar. Also, most professors recommend a particular text books and these books may be cheaper on websites like Amazon. You can check and buy books at Amazon.com.

Step 5: Health Insurance
Very important! Do not forget to purchase health insurance as the one provided by the university (in case where you are provided coverage by the school for being a RA/TA/GA)will commence only when your semester begins. There are some healthcare providers that provide insurance for a short periods and we recommend that you consider looking at this option.