It varies with departments of course but in general it can take around 3 to 4 months.

If the university has sent a letter that your documents are missing, that means they have not received them on that date. If it's GRE/TOEFL scores, either they have not received them or they have been put up on a different name (first name, last name interchanged). Please send an email to ois@uic.edu with your name, SSN/TCN (if you have been given one by university) and DOB. IGSA used to do this before for the students. For issues related privacy we are not able to continue to do so. For worst cases you could authorize one of the IGSA members to OIS to look up your case.

It will usually take around 3 - 4 week after the change in status in the online system, if all your documents such as, Financial statement etc are already present with them. To check on the status you should mail OIS (Office of International Students) at ois @ uic.edu.

If you don't hear in this period, please email us at uic_incoming @ yahoogroups.com and we will try and check up the status for you.

Students who study here are most likely not aware of the courses in another University Hence it is very difficult for anyone here to give a comparison. You need to hear from students from both universities and make your own decision. Also for some departments UIC might be better than the other University. If it's a very highly ranked University like MIT/UIUC etc then we definitely recommend you to go there but since there are lots of universities in the US, this is a difficult question to answer for a student studying here.

You can check out the forums at www.edulix.com or msdreamz.com. A lot of people post the same kinds of questions on these forums and most of them get replies.

Rankings are published by various organizations based on various criteria. Please look for those publications. In general if your field of study is there in UIC, you can come over here. Rankings haven't affected the current students of UIC in getting good jobs in the industry (especially in the CS field).

Just to give you an idea about UIC's standing, here is some information. Medical Center at UIC is ranked amongst the top 10 in US. Also, according US News, UIC has been ranked around 55 - 60 for the engineering fields in 2005. Mechanical Dept received 53rd rank and CS Dept received 55 rank in 2002.

Again, these ranking are just here to give an idea.

As a Research Assistant in your department, Teaching Assistant in your department and Graduate Assistant in other Colleges in UIC (Medicine, Dentistry, ACCC, Nursing, SPSHI etc).

For RA and TA you send them through application packets. Graduate Assistantship positions can be applied only after you are in UIC.

Typically the pay for an RA is arounf $1500 and around the same amount for a TA. GAs get $1200 after tax for 50% assistantships which is 20 hrs/ week work.

Assistantships come with a tuition and fee waiver and typically pay more. Even when you get a tuition waiver, you still have to pay differential. It is about $1500 for Engineering, $600 for Medicine and $4000 for MBA.

On Campus jobs don't get you a tuition waiver. Also, these pay less, approximately $7 to $14 per hour.

Whatever be the form of work, you can only work a maximum of 20 hrs/week.

You will usually get any where from US $ 7 per hour to a maximum of US $20 per hour. Most of the jobs usually pay between US $7 to US $9 per hour. 

You are allowed to work 20 hrs/week maximum on F1

You cannot work outside the University for the first 9 months. After 9 months you can work outside on you CPT/OPT (details of these can be know after you are in UIC or under current students section).

This varies with your individual departments. Typically CS, CE, EE, MIS and MBA departments don't have too much trouble in getting a job and asking the company to sponsor H1B (work visa). In other departments, you will be able to find a job but getting the company sponsor might be difficult. You can contact a student in that department for further details.

On F1 status you should be registered for a minimum 12 credit hours in UIC. This is typically 3 courses in UIC. You can register for 8 credit hours if you have a 50% assistantship (not on campus job). If you are an RA/TA then the dept might require you to register for 12 credit hours still.

On average most students take 2 years for an MS in UIC. You might be able to complete earlier based on your efforts. For PhD its totally based on your efforts. It might take anythin between 4 to 7 years.

You will maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 / 4.0 which translates to an average of Grade 'B' in all courses you take. You will get a warning if your GPA falls below 3.0 and have 2 semesters to improve your GPA. If you don't improve, you will be asked to leave the University. In the past some students had to leave the University due to poor performance. In order for you to graduate from UIC, you will have to have a minimum GPA of 3.0.

As you know, copying in exams or term reports or projects are not allowed. This is one problem we have been facing with some students. If you are caught cheating the professor has the right to fail you or to take necessary actions to make you leave from the University. Hence be prepared.

Yes, books are expensive. Based on your field of study, you can try to bring books necessary. Each course is not taught by the same professor and hence each professor might change the necessary book(s) for the course. Current students in your department might be able to help you in suggesting some basic books.

We have also prepared a list of books that might be helpful. Check it out here.

Yes, IGSA will provide pickup. Fill in the forms (once they are ready) and you can make arrangements. Most students don't have cars and hence you will be coming back by a cab. Hence please be prepared to pay the pickup charges which might be around $35 - $40 per person.

Yes, we will in our best efforts provide temporary accommodation for a few days. Within this period you have to find a permanent place and move into a new apartment. Typically, be prepared to share expenditure on food and utilities with the place you are being hosted. Be courteous with the person who is hosting you and share the burden of cooking/cleaning etc. We have received complaints from the hosts. Hence we are making you prepared for this.

If you have friends here in UIC, then you can ask them whether you can join them. Otherwise, IGSA will not be able to help you in finding permanent accommodation (off campus). This is due to the fact that you need to sign lease papers with the rental agencies and it cannot be done when you are in India. You need to get your Social Security Number (a unique ID for each person working in the US) and only after that you can sign and move to a new apartment.

You should subscribe to uic_incoming on Yahoo groups and communicate with other students expected at UIC in that semester. Try to finalize roommates etc.

No, you need all your roommates to sign the lease and hence make necessary arrangements to arrive within 1-2 days.

If you have financial support from UIC, bring around US $2500 or the maximum amount allowed by the Indian Government You will need this to pay advance, first couple of months rent and also moving in charges. If you don't have financial support. Bring a check on the University name for the first semester tuition fees + around $3000 or more for initial expenses. Make arrangements for money for the subsequent semesters in case you don't get financial support.

You will have to pay around $360 per semester for health insurance and other extra fees which are not covered by the tuition and fee waiver.

Typically any where from 2-5 students can live in an apartment based on the regulations of the land lord and the Chicago leasing laws. DO NOT overstay in an apartment to reduce cost. The land lord has the right to make you leave after proper notice if this happens. Students in the past have suffered and hence plan accordingly.

You can get further details on this once you are here in UIC. IGSA will help you with this.

Chicago's weather varies a lot from -30C to +40C. This is not to psyche you but be prepared for the worst. Typically the temperatures might range from -20C to +40C. You will gradually get acclimatized to the weather as others. Hence nothing to worry.

If you get a Graduate Assistantship/ Research Assistantship, based on the place/professor you are working for, you can start early before the semester starts. You can be hired only after you get your permanent SSN number which typically takes around 5 - 10 working days to get.

You will have to fill up a I-94 form. Declare the amount you bring. You need not mention the fee that you bring. You will be finger printed and photographed. Co-operate with them and if you have a change over flight look and see if you are in the proper terminal. If you land in chicago head out to customs and someone from IGSA would be waiitng for you if you filled up the pick up form

Please refer to the closest US Embassy for details on this. Since the visa regulations change often, we wont be able to provide a concrete list of things.

IGSA cannot help in any way for you to obtain your visa. We would urge you to read the visa file in the downloads section for a lot of information. You could join other yahoo groups perhaps.

We do our best to let you know the places you can look for assistantships within UIC. We can in no way influence or guarantee financial support for you. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES after coming here.

Yes, you will have to pay tax. There is both federal and state tax to be paid.

No, you have plenty of stuff even though choices are not as much as in India.

There are a reasonable amount of girls pursuing graduate studies and girls will be hosted at other girls houses unless you want to be hosted at guys houses (i.e friends studying @ UIC).

Your health insurance will cover all charges including prescribed medicines. Dental and Eye care are typically not covered. If you are a TA/RA/GA you are partially covered for these charges.

You can do so by subscribing to uic_incoming on Yahoo groups. Or by visiting the site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uic_incoming/

We don't recommend you to get this from India since the winter jackets here are better to withstand cold here. You can buy one of these between $55 - $100. Leather jackets in general are not recommended but bring them in case you love them.

Please refer to the section on things to bring.

Typically any where from $500 - $800 for reasonable necessary expenses. Please refer to accommodation section for more details.

We have three students assigned for emergency contact. Please have their addresses and numbers handy.

1. Arunan Rabindran
2. Sirish Manikant Srinivasan
3. Sushant Ranadvie

All registered students of UIC will automatically be subscribed to Campus Care Health Insurance which covers all your illness and medicine. If you are a TA/RA/GA then you will also have limited benefits on Eye and Dental.

Please get health insurance from the date of departure from India till the beginning of semester (August 28, 2006).

This varies with departments. Please contact your department for additional details.

Usually not, since there are already enough students in those departments. Rarely you might get TA in other departments.

Please see the posted sample resume in the downloads section. You should need a subset of things on the resume. The maximum you have, better are your chances.

Even if you are not a CS student, if you have got sufficient knowledge of commonly used software (look at the sample resume), you have good chances of getting a GA.

It's usually a combination of luck and your skills. Students have got as early as 2-3 hours but some of them haven't got for one whole semester too. Always be prepared for the worst case.

UIC_incoming is a informal group that prospective students participate and ask questions to seniors. Almost most of the questions that you might want to ask have been answered before, for we all had the same doubts, so do a search in the archives before asking a question.

It's reasonably safe. Please read other sections of Prospective Students for more details.

Each student is required to get the immunization form duly signed with the dates by a doctor in India. Please have this ready and bring it along with you. In the worst case you are not able to get this done in India due to lack of time, you can get the vaccinations in Chicago and get the form signed. Just make sure every single column in there is filled.

No need, just carry in sealed transcripts of the all your certificates. Leave the originals at home. You can carry them but it they are not required.

Refer to the section in prospective students and make sure you read about the differential fee also.

Illinois does not recognize one, If you have a valid driver's license in india, bring the original. It helps to go to bars, night clubs and some car rental companies like enterprise accept them at certain locations.

They are 3 different campuses coming under univeristy of illinois. They are very different and people are admitted only to the university they apply to. To learn more about the three campuses, visit the University of Illinois website.

For practical reasons it is not advisable as it takes a lot of time traveling from those campuses to UIC using public transprotation. However, if you have a car, UC and IIT are only about 15 - 20 mins drive. But, Northwestern is still quite far off.

UIC has a virtual tour. You could look at Google Maps and type in one of the addresses mentioned above. Have a UIC map and start navigating to see various places.

Its totally unpredictable. It will be shiny at 4 in the evening and 2 hours later it might snow. Head to weather.com and check out zip 60607 for latest weather.

America is quite different from what you see in india. The way ppl dress, what they eat, how they behave; everything is different. It takes a little while to get used to things here. Americans are very friendly people. In general, when you move out at nights alone avoid dark alleys and say hi and thank you to most people you see. A couple kissing at a bus stop is a very common sight and must not be given second glances. Dress casually for most occassions and you should be fine. Dont think that you are spending 250 rupees on a meal. I mean forget exchange conversion rates once you come here. You might want to read this.

Yes, 5000 rupees is a lot cheaper than $200 which is the normal cost of a suit here. You might want to dress formally to interviews and occassions when you have to do presentations, and such times come atleast a few times a year.

Yes, you will have plenty of places to access high speed internet on campus for free. Most of the current students have either a laptop or desktop with high speed internet at home too.

UIC has something called a phone book. Type in the name to get their contact info. There is also something called A-Z. Use that to find dept specific info. For general announcements head over to UIC announce.

UIC has 2 main libraries. One on East campus called the Richard J. Daley (Main) Library which has mostly Enigneering and Arts related books and hypermedia. You can also rent old movies, and other media from there. On the West campus, we have the Library of Health Sciences.

Also, Illinois Universities have an online system called ILCSO. You can search for a Book online not only from UIC but from any college library in Illinois and request it. Its pretty good and usually you can find a book that you need.

There are a lot of good sports facilites at UIC. One of the centers has recently come up and houses state of the art gym, swimming pool and other courts. Best part is that it is all FREE for UIC students. See this link.