The first part of this post talks about admits/admissions/funding and such.
Now that you have decided to join UCLA, let's get you settled here. The primary resource is the Bharatiyam website. It contains a lot of useful information. Below is a collection of questions freshers asked me.
Bharatiyam:
http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/bharat/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bharat_ucla
bharat DOT ucla AT gmail DOT com
Co-op housing:
http://www.geocities.com/uchaonline/ucha_home.htm
UCLA off-campus listing:
http://www.data.cho.ucla.edu/cfapps/mainpublic.cfm
Craigslist:
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/
UCLA fall 2009 Indian community:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ucla_fall2009/
I plan to get down there by the end of August. How do i find a place to stay? Do i post it in the bharat UCLA community and ask for help. One of my friend would be joining with me. How do i go about in deciding on a place to stay?
Options:
- Weyburn Terrace grad housing
- University apartments
- Co-op housing
- Privately-owned apartments
The university offers accommodation to some grad students at Weyburn Terrace for (at most) first two years (you would know if you have been offered a spot - not everybody gets one). This is the cheapest private-bedroom option you will find close to campus. It's about $900/month per person. Even if you have been offered one, you can choose to decline it. Sharing bedrooms is not allowed at Weyburn.
University apartments are more suited to married grad students. They are also economical if you share bedroom with a roommate, which is allowed in this case. These apartments are farther from campus (about 4-5 miles) and harder to get due to a long waiting list. If you're looking to live close to campus early on, this is not the best option.
The "Co-op" housing is not owned by the university, but they allow only students to board. Find out more about it on the website. It's a cheap housing option close to campus if you are fine with the trade-offs.
Privately-owned apartments are the most common accommodation and allow you the most flexibility. Accommodation is rather expensive around UCLA. This are is called Westwood/Westwood village. If you look at the map of UCLA campus, you will notice it's shaped like the mickey-mouse face. There is a pocket of housing to the west of it next to the left ear of the mickey-mouse. This is also the area that includes Weyburn Terrace. You can usually find a place here for $450-$650/mo per person for a shared bedroom (3-5 people in one apartment), or double that for your own bedroom. This housing area provides the easiest access to UCLA. There are also a few houses to the east of the campus (Hilgard Av).
The next pocket is to the south of the campus, south of Wilshire Blvd. Houses will become cheaper as you go farther from the campus. This pocket (about 2-3miles from the campus) is a comfortable distance for biking to the campus or taking a bus. Commute time either way will be about 15-25min (excluding bus-wait time).
You can live farther if you want yet cheaper accommodation. Culver City is a nice neighborhood with bus access. At this radius, there are too many residential communities to list. Refer the map.
How do I find a privately-owned apartment?
I found Craigslist and UCLA community-housing (off-campus) database helpful in my housing search for an off-campus apartment.
I wanted to look at the apartment before I signed the lease and so, found one only after arriving at LA and going around looking. That's what most of my classmates also did. I stayed with some senior grad students while looking for an apartment. The process was to look at the listings, call and arrange appointments to look at the house, apply if to liking and finally sign the lease once settled, before moving in. I fixed my roommates before starting the house search, naturally.
Unfortunately, the Weyburn apartment is offered on an 'unfurnished' basis, except for the basic equipments in the room. It would have been so much easier if all the rooms were furnished.
"Unfurnished" still includes the basic utilities - refrigerator etc. I don't know if you'll get a mattress or not - ask someone who lives in Weyburn.
I wonder if you could let me know about general availability of furniture around that place, rental or purchase, how to lug it into the room and where to store it when I vacate the room at the end of the academic year.
That's the good part - with all the students moving out, there is an abundance of used stuff on the streets. You are welcome to pick up anything you like. If you would rather prefer a new mattress, you could order it from a store and they'll deliver it. Moving around stuff isn't easy without a car, but usually you will find stuff within walking distance. You can always promise us seniors a treat and we'd be happy to help you move in. Putting stuff at the end of the year etc is not an issue - you'll be able to work that out.
Is there some Desi Community of UCLA which helps the Indian students?
Did I already mention Bharatiyam? How about ucla_fall09?
This isn't the most help FAQ. What do I do now?
Are you kidding me?! Well, ok, I know. Finding an accommodation is a daunting task. It appears like a jungle in the beginning. There's no easy way out. Absorb the geography, lay down your preferences (close to campus or not, own-bedroom or not, budget, roommates), then see what fits your needs best. And be on the lookout for postings on the groups above - it's easiest to move into an already settled house.
I hope I can call you up for any assistance when we reach there.
Wouldn't you if I said no? :P
Welcome to Los Angeles, babeyh!
Showing posts with label new grads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new grads. Show all posts
Monday, June 22, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
New grad students to US
The second part of this post talks about housing and such, once you have decided to join UCLA.
Here is an FAQ for new admits to graduate school in the US, especially those from India. Some parts may be specific to UCLA/LA. Feel free to discuss and contribute. Also, a lot of these issues could be very subjective, depending on your background, your disposition and your goals. What I write here is just my opinion.
Q. I saw approximation of the fee on the UCLA site and the i20 is 44k. However, what does the actual fee turn out to be? They say that MS CS is a 5 quarter course...so is the fee / quarter. In the nut shell, how much will the tuition come to for the entire MS?
UCLA fees and tuition amount to about 24k/year for the MS program. That is for three quarters a year, excluding summer, therefore about 8k/quarter. Living costs included in the calculation are estimated to be about 2k/month, adding another 20k for I-20. Tuition + fees alone are, therefore, 24k/year. MS program usually will take 5 quarters of university. (The spread will be 6 quarters because it will include a quarter of summer). It is not hard to finish in 4 quarters if you plan out your curriculum well.
Q. What is the approximate duration of the course? Is it 1.5 years or 2 years?
1.5 years, as explained above.
Q. What does your monthly expenditure come to, staying in LA + misc..
Obviously, that subjective, but LA, especially Westwood (the area where UCLA is located) is one of the most expensive areas in the US. If you live close to the university campus and share bedroom, you will pay about $600/month for house rent (including utilities). A personal bedroom would be anywhere from $900-$1100. Assuming you share, $1000/month is a moderate, comfortable expenditure, but even the stringent estimate would be atleast $850/month.
Q. How is the aid situation? How easy is an RA/TA? I haven't been offered any aid as of now... So, do MS-CS grad students get something at least by the 2nd quarter or so, or there is absolutely no aid?
As of April 2009, the economy's downturn has affected everyone. The aid situation is bad. Even PhD students don't feel secure. Aid for MS students is yet harder to find. In my batch, a few have found TA positions are in the third quarter, but new students without aid should not count on finding one. RA positions are similarly hard to find due to very reduced funding to professors. Apart from RA and TA, there are some "reader" positions that include grading homeworks, and pay about $1000/quarter at best. Usually, you can hold more than one reader positions but, again, don't count on it.
Q. How easy do campus jobs come by, and what do they pay like? I am really hoping that cali should be better than elsewhere...
Campus jobs don't pay enough to buy tuition - best jobs will pay about $15-20/hour (usually coding jobs). Campus jobs like working in stores/restaurants etc will pay about $7-10/hour. Given your work restrictions and available time anyway, this is all peanuts, especially since you're also paying NRT.
Q. How is the internship / job scene there? Is UCLA CS as affected as other colleges?
Quite affected. Some students are deliberately extending their stay in the program because they didn't find a job of their liking.
Q. And right after your admit, did you write to professors, and if so, did it help? I wrote to a few profs before the admit, no response....do u think that wriiting now can possibly help for RA/TA?
I wrote after my admit and got no response. Professors are very busy, so it's no surprise they don't respond. You shouldn't read anything into it. Since the funding scene is pretty bad, there are a lot of students roaming around for funding, so perhaps it's not that much personal/individual attention to student funding right now. My best advice to try find a funding is to arrive early - say 2-3 weeks earlier than most students would, and approach a professor immediately. That's what I did, and it worked. Chances of finding a yet-vacant TA position also improve if you come early. But again, no guarantees.
Q. I know if I should be taking such a heavy loan...so, do you think, taking the job + internship situation there, that UCLA CS will be worth the money I pump in?
Always entirely your call. From my personal experience and exposure, I'd say that the research scene and culture in US is significantly different than in India. This is not to compare professors, students or the quality of work, whatever is being done in either India or US. I'm only comparing the environment, culture and the working of things. If you aim to make research a career, the US experience would be very valuable. As for loan, try to imagine yourself 10 years down the line on either path, and weigh loan today against your place in 10 years, rather than weighing against your/your family's current situation. That should be a more appropriate basis for decision. But, like I said, it's entirely your call.
Q. I have an admit from Cornell MEngg. CS as well now, so I have to choose between UCLA CS and Cornell MEngg. What is your opinion?
That's exactly the situation I was in. The Cornell MEngg program is a rapid 9-month two-semester program with 5 courses each quarter. It is not a research program, be design. It's more of a terminal degree for students looking to enter the industry. MS, on the other hand, is a degree that prepares you for a research career through PhD. MS also allows you more opportunity to do research. It was mainly this that led me to choose UCLA MSCS over Cornell MEngg, because I was sure on continuing for a PhD (either at UCLA or another university). Another factor was that UCLA MSCS to PhD transition is internal to the department and therefore, easy if you perform well enough in the MS, while at Cornell, switch from MEngg to PhD would go through a full central application procedure and is much less common (to the best of my knowledge).
Q. How do you think are the job prospects from UCLA for an MS CS grad...And if they have deteriorated sharply in the past couple of falls, were they great before that? And how do you thing it compares with Cornell job-wise?
I'm not very aware of the job prospect comparison of the two programs.
Here is an FAQ for new admits to graduate school in the US, especially those from India. Some parts may be specific to UCLA/LA. Feel free to discuss and contribute. Also, a lot of these issues could be very subjective, depending on your background, your disposition and your goals. What I write here is just my opinion.
Q. I saw approximation of the fee on the UCLA site and the i20 is 44k. However, what does the actual fee turn out to be? They say that MS CS is a 5 quarter course...so is the fee / quarter. In the nut shell, how much will the tuition come to for the entire MS?
UCLA fees and tuition amount to about 24k/year for the MS program. That is for three quarters a year, excluding summer, therefore about 8k/quarter. Living costs included in the calculation are estimated to be about 2k/month, adding another 20k for I-20. Tuition + fees alone are, therefore, 24k/year. MS program usually will take 5 quarters of university. (The spread will be 6 quarters because it will include a quarter of summer). It is not hard to finish in 4 quarters if you plan out your curriculum well.
Q. What is the approximate duration of the course? Is it 1.5 years or 2 years?
1.5 years, as explained above.
Q. What does your monthly expenditure come to, staying in LA + misc..
Obviously, that subjective, but LA, especially Westwood (the area where UCLA is located) is one of the most expensive areas in the US. If you live close to the university campus and share bedroom, you will pay about $600/month for house rent (including utilities). A personal bedroom would be anywhere from $900-$1100. Assuming you share, $1000/month is a moderate, comfortable expenditure, but even the stringent estimate would be atleast $850/month.
Q. How is the aid situation? How easy is an RA/TA? I haven't been offered any aid as of now... So, do MS-CS grad students get something at least by the 2nd quarter or so, or there is absolutely no aid?
As of April 2009, the economy's downturn has affected everyone. The aid situation is bad. Even PhD students don't feel secure. Aid for MS students is yet harder to find. In my batch, a few have found TA positions are in the third quarter, but new students without aid should not count on finding one. RA positions are similarly hard to find due to very reduced funding to professors. Apart from RA and TA, there are some "reader" positions that include grading homeworks, and pay about $1000/quarter at best. Usually, you can hold more than one reader positions but, again, don't count on it.
Q. How easy do campus jobs come by, and what do they pay like? I am really hoping that cali should be better than elsewhere...
Campus jobs don't pay enough to buy tuition - best jobs will pay about $15-20/hour (usually coding jobs). Campus jobs like working in stores/restaurants etc will pay about $7-10/hour. Given your work restrictions and available time anyway, this is all peanuts, especially since you're also paying NRT.
Q. How is the internship / job scene there? Is UCLA CS as affected as other colleges?
Quite affected. Some students are deliberately extending their stay in the program because they didn't find a job of their liking.
Q. And right after your admit, did you write to professors, and if so, did it help? I wrote to a few profs before the admit, no response....do u think that wriiting now can possibly help for RA/TA?
I wrote after my admit and got no response. Professors are very busy, so it's no surprise they don't respond. You shouldn't read anything into it. Since the funding scene is pretty bad, there are a lot of students roaming around for funding, so perhaps it's not that much personal/individual attention to student funding right now. My best advice to try find a funding is to arrive early - say 2-3 weeks earlier than most students would, and approach a professor immediately. That's what I did, and it worked. Chances of finding a yet-vacant TA position also improve if you come early. But again, no guarantees.
Q. I know if I should be taking such a heavy loan...so, do you think, taking the job + internship situation there, that UCLA CS will be worth the money I pump in?
Always entirely your call. From my personal experience and exposure, I'd say that the research scene and culture in US is significantly different than in India. This is not to compare professors, students or the quality of work, whatever is being done in either India or US. I'm only comparing the environment, culture and the working of things. If you aim to make research a career, the US experience would be very valuable. As for loan, try to imagine yourself 10 years down the line on either path, and weigh loan today against your place in 10 years, rather than weighing against your/your family's current situation. That should be a more appropriate basis for decision. But, like I said, it's entirely your call.
Q. I have an admit from Cornell MEngg. CS as well now, so I have to choose between UCLA CS and Cornell MEngg. What is your opinion?
That's exactly the situation I was in. The Cornell MEngg program is a rapid 9-month two-semester program with 5 courses each quarter. It is not a research program, be design. It's more of a terminal degree for students looking to enter the industry. MS, on the other hand, is a degree that prepares you for a research career through PhD. MS also allows you more opportunity to do research. It was mainly this that led me to choose UCLA MSCS over Cornell MEngg, because I was sure on continuing for a PhD (either at UCLA or another university). Another factor was that UCLA MSCS to PhD transition is internal to the department and therefore, easy if you perform well enough in the MS, while at Cornell, switch from MEngg to PhD would go through a full central application procedure and is much less common (to the best of my knowledge).
Q. How do you think are the job prospects from UCLA for an MS CS grad...And if they have deteriorated sharply in the past couple of falls, were they great before that? And how do you thing it compares with Cornell job-wise?
I'm not very aware of the job prospect comparison of the two programs.
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