Incoming Students

• Finding Roommates
• Airline Information
• Immunization
• When to arrive
• How to look for apartments
• Things to Bring

Airport pickup and stay

Stay will be arranged in the apartments of the senior gradute students.
Fill the form below and email it to Ashwin Tengli <tengli@cs.cmu.edu> with the subject titled "Registration: airport pickup and stay"
IMPORTANT: In case subsequent to registration, you decide later not to avail the airport pickup or stay facilities provided by IGSC, then please initimate us ASAP.

FORM

1. Name:
2. Flight No:
3. Date and time of Arrival:
4. Airport Pickup Required (Yes/No):
5. Temproary stay required (Yes/No):
6. Program to which you are admitted:
7. Region of origin:

Finding Roommates

You can use the bulletin board to find roommates and for any other general discussion.

http://pub61.ezboard.com/bindiangraduatestudentscouncil

Airline Information

Pittsburgh is the hub for US Airways. So you can get lot of flights to Pittsburgh via Europe if you choose US Airways as your connecting carrier. Last year Alitalia offered the best deal (in terms of cost). They fly via Milan. Air India has direct flights to NY and Chicago and the prices are also good, but you have to book quite early.

Immunization

All of you would have taken the vaccinations mentioned in the form. Just fill fill the form with dates and get it signed by a doctor. Make sure that the dates you fill are approximately near to the correct date when the vaccination should have been taken (consult doctor for correct dates). Get a chest X-ray with a lab certification that it is negative for TB.

When to Arrive

Its best to arrive a few days before the orientation. There are enough apartments/houses available nearby campus. But coming earlier would increase your chances of getting a good one, cos many apartments are horrible.

How to look for apartments

CMU is providing housing to gradute students for the first time on a limited availibility basis at Saxony apartments - http://www.housing.cmu.edu/GraduateHousing/ - The apartment and the location is pretty good. But the price might be slightly higher.
All graduate students live off campus (i.e. in apartments/houses near the campus).

I dont think you can book apartments from India. Its always better to have a look at the apartments yourself before deciding. Factors to consider would be quality of the apartment (make sure it has good windows - winters are bad here), security, distance from school, whether its on the CMU shuttle service route, whether its in the range of CMU night escort service, how well its connected by PAT bus service (the local bus service), distance to grocery stores like Giant Eagle etc. We will help you in looking for apartments by providing lot of general knowledge.


Good Resources for Apartments:

http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/vccbc/0/PA/Pittsburgh/_n_/15/_n_/

http://www.pitt.edu/~property/hrc.htm

http://www.pitt.edu/~property/aptcom.htm

Things to Bring

Since we believe in reusing of effort [and not at all coz we are lazy or anything] we shall present here not a bulleted list of vanilla information, but pointers to existing bulleted lists.

• Ankur's list [Ankur is the Indian Grad Student Organization in the Univ. of Pittsburgh, another big univ in Pittsburgh]
   
• Pittsburgh Indian [General info for Indians in Pittsburgh]
   
• SCI UMD's list [SCI is the Indian org. in UMD]
   
• Grad Student Handbook [the CMU slang, goals, vision and shtuff. Not for those who view with suspicion anything with heavy words like "goals", "vision", "responsiblitie... snorrrre]
   

Okay, perhaps we too should contribute to 'em nasty bulleted lists -

• For Tams: Bring Paruppu Podi. Lots of it. And don't forget to give us some, when you land here and wonder how you got brainwashed into bringing that suitcase full of Paruppu Podis.
   
• Bring an IDP [International Driver's Permit] It allows one to drive for a year here without an American license. Unless you are of the major enthu type who devours evil looking thousand-paged Driving Instruction Booklets for breakfast and manages a driving test or two by lunch. If so, you are evil and can only redeem your soul by bringing some Paruppu Podi for your beloved seniors.
   
• Bring Pyjamas. Its amazing how people bring everything from a to zee but leave out on Pajamas.
   
• Buy tight fitting Leather Jackets and not those super loose jackets which are big enough for one to feel all scared and lonely inside its vast cavernous depths. Many a times we see out here what seems to be a lone jacket walking on its own along the road. Observe closely, and one sees an Indian head or two pop out momentarily from inside the jacket for a gasp of breath only to disappear again into the vast folds of the jacket.
  People here tend to wear tight waist length jackets since they are used only in Fall. For proper winter you need a Down Jacket that you will purchase after coming here.