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Frequently asked QuestionsQ1) What are my chances of getting financial aid when I come to Polytechnic University? A) It is very difficult to predict that! The funding scene differs from department to department. The students here would not know one's chances of getting financial aid. One may though predict your chances based on your TOEFL scores and your academics, but it's no guarantee that they would be accurate. Q2) Whom to contact for getting Financial aid? A) The university web-site (www.poly.edu) gives the email addresses of all the professors of every department. Usually, one might contact the professor and write to him/her about his/her interests. If the professor is interested, he/she will get in touch with you. It is always a good idea to have contact with the professors by mail and let him/her know who you are. If not immediately, you might 'improve your chances' of getting aid when you come and meet him/her personally. Q3) Do we HAVE to live "on-campus"? A) No! Not at all. It is mandatory only for the First year Undergraduate students. Almost all the International Graduate students live "off-campus". It is much economical and convenient to live off-campus. The subway service is very efficient and there is a train to the University from almost every part of the town. There is no problem in commutation whatsoever. Q4) What is the actual cost of living? Is it as much as is mentioned in the I-20? A) No! The university estimates the cost based on life "on-campus". If you are going to live on-campus then you will need that much money. But if you are going to live off-campus, which almost every International Graduate Student does, then it is much lesser. The average estimate for an Indian to live off-campus would be approximately not more than $500 to $600 per month, excluding the telephone bill and the cable bill. This includes apartment rent ($275-$350 per person), electricity (approx $15 per person), groceries ($150 overall), metrocard for transportation in and around New York City($70), and miscellaneous ($100). Of course, all these are approximate costs. The actual cost depends entirely on the spending capability of the individual! Q5) What kind of clothes do we have to get from here? A) Students here generally wear Jeans and T-shirts. The weather is going to be very pleasant in fall. It starts to get very cold sometime by the end of September and early October. It would be a good idea to buy your winter clothing (jackets, gloves, mufflers, thermal wear,...) from here rather than buying from India. If you are coming in the spring semester, you have to be dressed in very warm clothing, because the weather here is the coldest during December-February. Q6) Who takes care of us as soon as we reach Polytechnic University? A) As soon as you land in Polytechnic University, either at the airport or the bus terminal, you need to call your virtual host and let him/her know that you have arrived. You can also intimate him/her about your arrival plans before coming here. You shall be picked up at the airport or the bus terminal. The virtual host or some other student who is already living here will help the new student till he/she finds an apartment. Some arrangements for temporary accomodation can be made if you get in touch with us in advance, but there is no assurance on that. It might take a day to a week to find the apartment. The person, in whose apartment one will be staying, will help him/her out with the university procedures and other things. Everybody is very helpful and there should be no concerns about coming to a new place and living amongst new people! Everybody here understands the feelings and problems of a new student since someday even we were new students like you and we had someone helping us out! Q7) How does one find an apartment? A) Finding an apartment is not very difficult. Every student can get a list of available apartments from the ISA-POLY database. The apartment address, the contact telephone numbers, the rent, accommodation etc. will all be mentioned in the list. Typically every landlord will charge a deposit of one month's rent for security which is refundable. This money is refunded while leaving the apartment, provided that there is no damage done to the apartment. Usually 3-4 guys/girls share an apartment. One finds his/her apartment mate(s) either before coming here or after. There will be no problems in finding Apartment mate(s) if you haven't found one before coming here. Most of the students choose their apartment mate(s) after coming here. Q8) Can one get on-campus jobs if the department does not fund him/her? A) It is a law in the US that a student on F-1 visa is not allowed to work off-campus for a period of atleast 9 months after he/she comes here. Even if he/she does, it has to be related to his/her field of study. If one does not find funding from his/her department, he/she can work only on-campus. The money earned by working in these places might be just sufficient to meet the living expenses. |
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