You won't need a car if you live in a university town. But that isn't the case at most universities.
If you go to Stanford or Berkeley for instance, you'd need a car to get around in the city because the public transport system in the bay area is bad.
Housewares: You know, groceries, utensils, Air Conditioners (if you don't live in a dorm and if your apartment doesn't have one).
Books: There will be books in the libraries that you can borrow for a limited amount of time but you won't have unlimited copies.
And no, they won't provide you with free copies of the books. And textbooks are quite expensive. A few of my engineering books costed me anywhere between $100 and $200 each.
ammuseeru wrote:
bb wrote:
It is nice/good/smart to save as much as you can before you head over to BSchool. Being international can be tough due to salary parity and cost of living. What many don't know (myself included) is that the loan will not disburse until you start school, so if your orientation starts on Aug 25th, School starts on Sept 5th, and your land in the US on July 30th, there is a good chance your loan wont' disburse until the 5th (some lenders may release it on the 25th but still, that's a month on your own).
And before the school starts, is the time you will need $$$ to get security deposit, first and last months of rent on your apartment/etc - that can easily be $5K. If you have to get a phone, computer, car, housewares, and anything else that is expensive (e.g. books), you are looking into quite an amount to have available and accessible pre loan.
Plan well!
bb, Could you explain need of CAR ? What do you mean by housewares, and anything else that is expensive? School Library won't provide Books ? Just a curious question. Because in India at least premium Engineering schools/colleges give books to each student.