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UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS WEBSITE |
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This website has all the Links needed, FAQ’s and contact list details needed for umass prospective students.
A few pictures of our college
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Information From ISA website (If any of the information below contradicts with the info on FAQ’s page, please feel free to mail me)
New students may find the following information helpful before their arrival to the university. New students MUST read all the information presented here before mailing the current students at Umass. Housing The important thing all new incoming students have questions about is the housing. Campus or Dormitory charges are very high compared to off-campus housing. On-campus: Off Campus: There are different apartments around Umass. The three closest within a radius of 1 mile from the campus are: Puffton Village : One of the cheaper housings available off-campus. Rent details are here. Note though, the bedrooms are quite small and the living room is also small. All these are on the bus routes to university. Actually, if you live in these you can access the two main bus routes to university. Bus service is free and runs up to 1.00am in night. Bus service is very frequent and dependable. It runs at lesser frequency on weekends, but you will find that it is manageable. It takes 20-30 minutes to walk to these from your department - they are about 1 mile away. These are the best options for new students according to us. These are where you will find majority of Indian students living. Farther from the Campus: The Indian students living here are mainly those who could not find a closer place when they came or are able to commute easily as they have cars. They are on one of the two main bus routes. Last bus in night at 11:45pm. About 6 to 7 miles from the university. The prices may be a little less as they are farther from the campus, though not a big difference.
Food Related Information You'll need a 5 or 6 ltr pressure cooker. Avoid getting steel utensils since they are painful to clean. most students here use non-stick pans which cost about $20 here. Non stick utensils can be purchased from WALMART store at a nominal price of 10-20$. Get pickles, masala and home made food. There should be no problemss with customs. BUT MAKE SURE THEY ARE VERY VERY WELL PACKED - SEALED TO BE AIR TIGHT. IF THEY LEAK IT COULD CAUSE PROBLEMS. Hand baggage should help. People fond of chapatis may get their rolling pins (the "belan" you might have seen used at home for cooking or otherwise). Bringing a flat tava is also ok. Get a vessel holder (u use it when the vessel is hot). Those fond of idlis can bring idli plates. The flat tava is good enough for dosa also. In general the enthusiasm to make all this stuff would die down in a couple of months. Get essential stuff like toothpaste, soap, etc to last until your first shopping trip here. But DON'T try to carry a years supply with you !
Household items Get a couple of bed sheets/ pillow covers. Get slippers to wear around in the house. DON'T get rugs/ thick blankets. You get good blankets (comforters/ rajais) here for reasonable prices. DO NOT carry hangers (they occupy a lot of space and anyway they are available here for almost no cost) Get stuff for some basic sewing (thread and needles).
Books Though text books here are expensive, most of them are not usually available in India. You may try and get in touch with seniors in your respective departments for a list of text books. Also if you know the courses you are taking you may buy the suggested textbooks. You will generally find the names of these textbooks on the Professor's homepage. * this will save you a buck.
Medicines carry some basic medicines as tablets/capsules (no tonics please)- for cough, cold, muscle pain, fever, stomach problems (gelucil tablets are good enough, etc.) Also the University Health Services UHS provides medical care to university graduate students. * important again.
Clothes, etc. Dressing here is casual. So you may want to get jeans, t-shirts etc. Jeans are cheaper here though. Cotton clothes/shirts in general are pretty expensive get them from India. T-shirts/Jeans - You can get decent t-shirts here for about 8-10 dollars each. Or, get them from India as the ones available here carry the tag "Made in India". So its your choice. Depends on you how much you want to carry from India. Also get lots of jeans/cargos or purchase from here (Levis/Lee/wranglers jeans-cargos cost 20-30$ per piece). Shoes - Get one pair of good sneakers and one pair of formal leather shoes. Try to get shoes with a good grip as it may be useful during winter. Sneakers (Nike/Adidas/Reeboks/NewBalance) are very reasonably priced here and cost anywhere from 30$-100$. You do not need to buy specific winter shoes that may be costly. You will get them here at a reasonable price. Also you would hardly use formal shoes (or even clothes) as it is very informal here. Suit - You won't need it for the first one year at least. You get good ones here for about $70-200. So it's up to you. IMPORTANT - undergarments - washing clothes on a daily basis is not quite possible since you need to pay $2.5 each time you use the washer & drier. the practice here is to do the laundry once in 2 weeks. so pl get sufficient no. of undergarments (at least a dozen). Same goes for socks. Traditional clothing - There will be quite a few occasions - events organized by ISAs - where you would like to dress in traditional clothes. Girls - sarees and formal salwaar kameez sets, clips and rubber bands, safety pins. Spectacles - Here the cost is around $160 each pair. So please get like 3 pairs. the same goes for contact lenses. However you don't need to bring too much contact lens solution as it is easily available here and is very reasonably priced. Winter clothing Leather jackets serve as FALL/ SPRING jackets (meant for transition from summer to hardcore winter and vice-versa). You get good FALL jackets here for $25-40. Leather jackets DO NOT help against the cold at all, though we see many guys wearing it here. A good winter jacket that will last for 3 yrs easily will cost about 100$. In general, people buy it here. So getting a leather jacket is optional.
Transportation to Amherst (Read through this entire portion on transportation.) Boston to Amherst We are trying to give you a step by step account of what you need to do once you get off the flight at LOGAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. Immigration formalities are done at the port of entry (first airport in US that your flight lands). The Actual Immigration formalities take just 2 minutes per person but the total waiting time depends on the queue. They just check your I-20 and pass your handbag through the scanner. Next you get to the baggage collection belt (you wont need to search for anything - they are all located one after another). You will find pushcarts around the place. Most of the times these pushcarts can be used without charge. Carry a lot of $1 bills and quarters (25 cent coins) just in case you need pushcarts and there aren't any free ones available. Once you reach Boston please call us if you wish to be picked up from the Amherst bus stop. You would need lots of quarters to call (around 4 per call. Be prepared to make a few phone calls). Tejaswini - number will be put up shortly
There are two ways to reach Amherst from Boston. BOSTON AIRPORT - FRAMINGHAM - AMHERST One way to reach Amherst by bus from Boston is to take the Framingham Logan Express Bus service. You need to check the timings of the bus from Framingham to Amherst. You can check the schedule online by going to Peterpan home page and typing the departure city as Framingham and destination city as Amherst. The result will be the bus schedule from Framingham to Amherst. You must check the schedule before you start from India and plan accordingly. There are not many buses from Framingham to Amherst. So check your schedule and plan accordingly. BOSTON AIRPORT - SOUTH STATION (BOSTON) - AMHERST The second way to reach Amherst is to catch a bus from Boston Logan Airport to South Station bus terminal. To do that you need to take a bus from the airport terminal. Ask the people there for help and they will provide you information on how to reach South Station by bus. To reach south station from Logan airport, you have several options. Check out http://www.massport.com/logan/getti_typeo_buses.html which has info on all types of transport to south station. Among the bus services offered, the most frequent services are http://www.bonanzabus.com/logboswh.htm You will give as your origin "Logan" and destination as "Boston" or "South Station". http://www.concordtrailways.com/concord_manchester_bus_schedule_mf.htm if you are coming on a weekday and http://www.concordtrailways.com/concord_manchester_bus_schedule_ssh.htm if you are coming on a weekend or holiday. http://www.concordtrailways.com/concord_trailways_bus_fares.htm Look under New Hampshire for fares. Also check http://www.p-b.com/LDweekday.htm and http://www.p-b.com/busfairs.htm. Usually there is a bus every 2 hrs. Weekends there is a different schedule. From South Station you have to take peterpan bus to Amherst. Goto the peterpan/greyhound terminal and ask for a ticket to Amherst. Ask for student's concession (show your I-20 and visa). Keep the passport handy. You might have to change buses in Springfield. Ask the driver if you have any doubts. The frequency is lot better in South Station. To check the schedule goto the peterpan website and type Boston as the departure city and Amherst as the destination city. You will see the schedules. Once in Amherst, you should get down at Amherst Center bus stop (NOT Haigis Mall). Ask the driver and he would notify you when the stop is reached. Amherst Center is located in downtown Amherst. There is a peterpan bus stop there. You would also be having public telephone booths from where you can call us. Be prepared to wait for even an hour. We will definitely get someone to pick you up. Just stay put at the bus stop. Have at least $50-60 for expenses involved in the bus journey. Also quarters are used in lots of places so keep a separate sachet for it. As we have your arrival time, we will be expecting your call. AGAIN: before you start on your journey from India. 1. Check your arrival time at Logan Airport, Boston. 2. 3. Check for the earliest Logan Express service. 4. 5. It takes 1-1.5 hrs to reach Framingham. See if you have any immediate connection to Amherst from Framingham. 6. 7. Alternatively, check for earliest bus service from Logan to South Station on the bonanza bus or concord trailways. 8. 9. it takes 25-30 minutes to reach south station from Logan. Check for earliest possible connections from south station to Amherst. 10. 11. Draw a plan and get printouts of all the maps, schedules and this page and keep them in your hand luggage. 12. 13. In case your flight arrives late or anything else happens, be prepared to make changes in your plans. That is why you need the schedules on hand. If you are going to Framingham, make sure you go to the Logan Express info desk and ask them how long it will take to reach Framingham from Logan. 14. New York to Amherst In the baggage claim area of JFK airport, you will find ground transportation desks, courtesy telephones, and representatives of transportation agencies. Ask them about Peter pan bus counter. You may need to go to Port authority bus terminal on 42nd street (Manhattan) by cab (less than 40 $..its expensive, but better with luggage). Tell the driver about Peter pan bus terminal. There, you can ask people as you go in (at one entrance, you may find the wheel carriages for your luggage). There are 2 or three counters in different floors. Get the Ticket (ask for student discount) (its about 31$ one way without discount). They will tell to go to the gate where the bus starts. Buses normally run till 11 pm in the night. Once you reach NY please call us if you wish to be picked up from the Amherst bus stop. Follow the instructions for calling given in the Boston to Amherst section. The immigration formalities would be completed in an airport you would land before transferring to a flight to Hartford. So, they are the same as above. Hartford is a small airport. So, there are a couple of information counters where you can get general info. Take the Valley Transporter. It’s a taxi service that picks up people from Bradley airport and drops them off at specified addresses. It costs 35-50$ to reach and address in Amherst. However the frequency is very good: its usually there every hour on the fifteen of the hour. For more info, check http://www.valleytransporter.com/bradley.htm . In this case you can come directly to the specified address ( call/email us to get the address) and need not get down in Amherst Center. Note: Make sure you call one of us before you land up here because we need to make sure someone is in the apartment when you come! IMPORTANT NOTE: In any case if you are coming by BUS then, get down at AMHERST CENTER and give us a call from there and someone would come and pick you up. It is also a good thing if you could call us before you board the bus in Boston/Hartford/New York so that we have an idea of when you would be coming to Amherst. |
