The Indian Graduate Students Association - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Hi! New to campus?

No Problem. We are here to help you!

On the outset, congratulations on getting admitted to the University of Infinite Unbounded Corn fields! You have made the best decision in your life, by choosing to do your grad studies at UIUC!

We at IGSA will endeavour to assist you as you set foot in UIUC. We'll try to arrange temporary accommodation until you find your own apartment in Chambana. We'll also try to arrange pick-ups and drop offs, when you first land in Urbana-Champaign with all your luggage.

You may leave any additional queries in the ShoutBox on the homepage or visit our Facebook Community

General Guide
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FINALLY! ALL SET!
This is the most wonderful time you will ever have (before coming to USA). We recommend that you enjoy it to the fullest: Meet all your friends and family, watch a lot of desi movies (You won't miss out on them here anyway!), learn cooking, learn driving, eat home made food and do all the things you feel you are going to miss once you are here... Here are some helpful tips on:
- Journey from India to USA
- Money
- Food
- Clothes
- Books
- Misc
Journey from India to the US

Before your flight
- Reach the airport in time. At least 2 hours before a national flight and 3 hours before an international flight.
- Make sure that you have address and phone number tags on all your luggage.
- Keep your passport, ticket, I-20, admission letter and all other official documents in your hand bag.
- Make photocopies of all important documents and keep them in your check-in luggage and as well in your hand bag.
- Carry an extra set of clothes.
- Keep at least one or two contact phone numbers and address handy.
- Apart from dollars keep some Indian currency.
Check-in
- Make sure that your luggage is checked in all the way to your destination in USA.
- Keep your baggage tags safely.
- A national flight might need baggage identification. Confirm this with the local airlines staff.
- Fill out the necessary customs and immigration forms in the international airport.
On the plane
- Before landing you will be given a customs and immigration form. Fill them up in the plane itself.
- When in doubt, always put the address in your passport as the address in India and your school's address as address in USA.
Once you are in USA
- After leaving the plane proceed towards the immigration counter. The queues tend to be really long.
- The immigration officer will look at your forms and passport. Be ready with your I-20, before you get to the counter.
- The officer will return you the custom form and the lower portion of Immigration form(I-94). Normally that is stapled with the passport.
- Pick up your bags from the luggage claim area and proceed towards the customs area.
- Normally they ask you if are carrying any fruit, vegetables, spices, bay-leaves, papad, pickles etc. Declare whatever you have.
From Chicago to Champaign
- One of the most popular shuttle services is the LincolnLandExpress. Their service can be seen here...
- There are some groups on Orkut made by Indian students who are coming to UIUC (the Orkut UIUC Fall 2011 community) .This group will be particularly helpful in locating other students in your region who are coming to UIUC too. Its a nice place to look for prospective roommates.
Money

You will need money for the following : (The list may not be complete) Security deposit for the apartment and a month's rent. The rental rates are approximately as follows:
- Efficiency (one room) : $350
- Single bedroom : $400
- Double bedroom : $700
- Triple bedroom : $900
- Utility bills for first month (phone, cable, electricity) : $100
- Food and other things for the apartment : $300 - $600
A conservative estimate for the amount of money you need to bring would be a figure more than $1500

Food

For all grad. students food is a major issue. Its nice to have at least a basic knowledge of cooking before coming here.

There are lots of Indian stores here :

World Harvest - 519 E. University Ave

Annapoorna Grocery - 505 S. Neil St. , Suite #11

Mirsung - 49A E. Green St.

Bombay Stores - 48 E. Springfield Ave.

You will find frozen curries, roti, Nan and other stuff in these stores.

You need to bring some crockery and cutlery with you. Some non-stick pans and a pressure cooker might be needed.

Clothes
- It gets really cold in winters. You will need warm sweaters and jackets. You might bring a blanket with you.
- Try to bring 2-3 double size bed sheets and some pillow cases.
- In summer it also gets quite hot, so you may need lighter clothes.
- Also try to get some Indian attire like kurtas, salwar, sarees, and lahengas as you might need them in Indian get-togethers.
Books
- Books are extremely expensive here. Each book costs around $50-$100.
- Try bringing the books that are relevant to your field along with you.
- Please don't hesitate to contact someone from your department if you are not sure of the booklist.
Misc.
- Its a good idea to learn driving and to get an IDP (International Driving Permit).
- You definitely do need medical insurance till your coverage starts here. Normally this should be the date school starts.
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Contact List

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Department	Name	Email Id
Aerospace Engineering	Kosha Patel	patel92@illinois.edu
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering	Rahul Keswani	keswani2@uiuc.edu
Civil and Environmental Engineering	Prannoy Suraneni	suranen1@illinois.edu
Computer Science	Abhishek Verma	verma7@illinois.edu
Electrical and Computer Engineering	Riya Singh	singh33@uiuc.edu
Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering	Ankur Kulkarni	akulkar3@uiuc.edu
Materials Science and Engineering	Rannesh Lokesh	lokesh1@uiuc.edu
Mechanical Science and Engineering	Omkar Shetty	oshetty2@uiuc.edu
Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering	Rajat Saksena	rsaksen2@uiuc.edu
MBA	Shoubhik Gupta	gupta33@uiuc.edu
Dept. of Advertising, College of Communications and Media	Pragni Sanghvi	pragnis@gmail.com
Dept. of Economics	Abhimanyu Khan	shoubhikgupta@gmail.com
Crop Sciences	Gurpreet Singh Smagh	gsmagh2@uiuc.edu
Mathematics	Atul Dixit	aadixit2@uiuc.edu
Chemistry	Apratim Dhar	apratim@uiuc.edu
Physics	Chandrashekhar Mohapatra	cmohapa2@uiuc.edu
Biophysics	Kaushik Ragunathan	kmadabh2@uiuc.edu
Applied Fine Arts	Rashi Jain	rjain5@uiuc.edu
Human Resources and Industrial Relations	Dipti Gorur	gorur1@uiuc.edu
Urban Planning	Pallavi Nadimpalli	snadimp2@uiuc.edu

Pick up/Temporary Accommodation
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For 2011
We usually offer pickup and temporary accomodation for the fall semester. If you are coming in the spring semester, we endeavor try to assist you. We will reply to you by e-mail in any case. Make sure you give us a proper contact address. Thanks!

Please Note: We can arrange pickup only from Illinois Bus Terminal, Folletts Book Store or Champaign Willard Airport.

In case you are arriving at Chicago, you can take a shuttle bus from the Airport to Champaign. Few of the popular shuttle services are the LincolnLandExpress and SuburbanExpress. These shuttles offer several locations to choose from as your final destination; but as mentioned above, we can arrange pick up from only two of them, viz. Illinois Bus Terminal and Folletts Book Store. There are other means of transportation from Chicago to Urbana-Champaign, eg. Grey Hound bus service and Amtrak train, both of which will drop you at the Illinois Bus Terminal.

If you need help from IGSA regarding pick-up (from Champaign Airport, or any of the shuttle stops in Champaign) and temporary accomodation, then send a mail to igsauiuc1@gmail.com observing the following guidelines:

Subject Line:
Please include the phrase "pick-up" in the subject line
Mail the following details:
Temporary Accommodation:

Please mention whether you need temporary accomodation or not.
P.S.- Please inform us at least 1 week before your arrival. We generally update our records with in 2-3 days. Please confirm wih the Pick-up person before your journey. In case he/she does not reply to your mails, kindly send an email to the Emergency Contact Person
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To-do List upon arrival at UIUC
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- Registration: Visit the Illini Bookstore at 809 S. Wright Street to get your I-Card made for which you will need your I-20 and your Letter of Acceptance along with your passport. This will get you free bus access and your University Identity Number (UIN) too. Please collect a
  Temporary Control Number as it takes some time to get Social Security Number (SSN).
- Next, go to the International Students and Scholar Services building(ISSS) on Sixth and John St. and check yourself in as an International student. You will get maps of the campus there. For more information please visit: http://www.ips.uiuc.edu/isss
- Go to any of the Banks on campus, Busey, National City, TCF (at the bookstore) and Credit Union (in the students' union) are some of the widely used ones and set up student checking accounts. This should get you an account to transfer your money into and a debit card for your expenses.
- Vaccination at McKinley - Take the health form you got with your I-20 (or will recieve at the ISSS) and report t0 the McKinley Health Center. They might require your I-20 and your passport for verification. The staff there will take your TB test, check your form and will brief about your next steps. Carry your I Card with you and some cash (~$50). You also need to have a doctorâ€™s prescription for all the medicines that you are carrying from home. For more information please visit: http://www.mckinley.illinois.edu/Clinics/ITC/itc.htm
- Getting a Social Security Number (SSN): For all the students who are getting assistantship, it is mandatory to get a SSN. It helps to get Credit Card and necessary to build Credit History in USA.
  For more information please visit: http://www.ssn.uillinois.edu/students.html
- Do go to your departments, talk with your advisors, fix up your class schedule. Submit your transcripts at Coble Hall.
- Familiarize yourself with the campus:
  - Walk around, go to the different labs, explore the Union, talk to your seniors/accommodating hosts about the campus, visit the different sites around campus.
  - Check out the bookstores, you will get a lot of free stuff from them and instructions too.
  - Pick up Bus schedules from any bus that you take.
  - Take buses to Market Place Mall, Walmart, Meijers and explore downtown too!
This time is precious and you will not get it again! Maximize it!
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House Rent Information
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- Campus Property Management:
  
  Main Office: 303 E. Green Street Champaign, IL 61820, United States
  
  Phone: +1-217-328-3030
  Website
- University Group:
  
  309 S 1st St, Champaign, IL 61820-4164, United States
  
  Phone: +1-217-352-3182
  Website
- Barr Real Estate:
  
  1710 S Neil St # 3, Champaign, IL 61820-7234, United States
  
  Phone: +1-217-356-1873
  Website
- Roland Realty Inc
  
  212 E Green St, Champaign, IL 61820-5607, United States
  
  Phone: +1-217-328-1226
  Website
- 5. Ramshaw Real Estate:
  
  1817 South Neil Street, Champaign, IL-61820, United States
  
  Phone:+1-217-359-6400
  Website
There are many more apartment rental agencies. There are other private owners near to the campus. You can also contact the University Tenants Union.
Visit their website
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Shopping List
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As most of you are coming abroad for the first time, we would like to suggest to Carry all the Original Certificates, Passport (with VISA-Stamped), I-20, Ticket and money (both USD and INR) with you in your cabin luggage. Also, you need to carry some cloths, medicines (with prescription), utensils and some optional items in your check-in luggage. So, let us categorize the items as follows:
You can download the total list in PDF format: Complete List

You can download the Shopping List alone in PDF format: Shopping List
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