What are some important things that international students must know before starting college in the US?

Cooking might be useful, then, if it's MIT, as some of the dorms have mandatory meal plans, and others don't.  I'm thinking you might be coming from the subcontinent, in which case you'll find life at MIT very informal, casual, and non-hierarchical.  Watch "Real Genius", which while a bit dated and actually set at CalTech, not MIT, will give you some idea of at least some parts of MIT's culture.

Cooking won't be all that useful, as you will likely be living in a dorm without access to a kitchen. What school will you be attending? Basic knowledge of US geography will be important, as you will be meeting students from various locations in the US. Also, a basic knowledge of American history and our political system is a must. Good luck!

So 1 whole year in the US is finally done and I am coming back home in the summer (Yay!!). A number of my friends (Preetam, Shiladitya to name a few) are gonna come to the United States to do a Masters/PHD degree in Engineering, just like me. And though I had been living in the America for almost 3 years when I was a kid and so I didn’t have much of a culture shock, there were still certain things that took me by surprise over the course of the year. Here are some of the things that any Indian who is coming to America must know.   1. Winters Winters are really LONG and EXTREMELY COLD!! Me being in Kansas, which is the Central most state in the US, I thought that it’ll be ok. Well, I was sorely mistaken. The Winter started from November and ended in MAY!!! Temperatures in peak winter were in negative Fahrenheit.  There were days in May with temperatures in the order of 5 degrees Celcius!! Plenty of times I was dearly missing India just because of the weather (which is a really crazy thing to miss, considering all the other wonderful things in India). So DO GET PREPARED to face the Chilly Blast for atleast half a year (or maybe more if you are gonna live in one of the northern states).   2. Do not miss out on Orientations   Almost every University has an Orientation for International Students along with a Departmental Orientation. The Best part about these orientations is the plenty offree food and free Tshirts that you get. But most important of all, it is the number of new people that you meet and interact with. Most of my friends are International students and we have all become buddies and hanged out together ever since. They are not only informative but also a lot of fun. I remember we had a Treasure hunt scavenging for clues across the whole campus. You also get to learn about a lot of cool trivia.   3. Black Friday For Shopping purposes, especially for Clothes and Electronics, do not make rash decisions (something which I do, especially in the case of PS3 games). Just wait for the Friday of Thanksgiving Week or Black Friday. There are really crazy discounts on almost everything, which explains why people are in huge lines in front of stores right from 3 am in the morning!! Be aware that you might have to spend almost the whole day in the stores as well , and just see how quickly any number of attractive products become out of stock almost in a few seconds!!   4. Engineering   Engineering really kicks your ass. You have deadlines all the time and you lose credit if you do not submit assignments on time. Plus (atleast for Mechanical Engineers), almost every person is expected to know how to operate Matlab as well as Solidworks. And almost all the exams are Open Book, Open Notes or atleast you can take an Equation sheet so that you don’t have to worry about memorizing formulas. It’s all about the application of what you’ve learned. (More into that in my next note).   5. Parties There are parties all over the place (mostly on Fridays and the weekends) and I have become quite a party boy myself. Even if you are not into parties, there is one party that you should never ever even consider missing out on– the Halloween Party. There is always a Halloween party in every place on October 31st. Its good for even the Introverts because you dress up as anything and just have as much fun as possible. And because you really have to work hard all week, these parties are one of the best ways to release all your tension and just be in the moment.   6. Family   You do appreciate and miss your family a lot , being in such a faraway place and all. Fortunately, for me, I have family almost in every corner of America. Another thing here is that since relatives hardly meet each other because of so much work and business, it is these moments when you meet them which are truly relaxing and wonderful. Plus, the Indian food that you get to eat is another great reason to meet up too!! Also you get to be pampered a lot, because you havent met some of them for such a long time. They go out of their way to make you happy all the time.   7. Internet   Yes, Internet is Super Fast here, but that doesn’t meet you can just download stuff from Torrents like what almost every Indian does in India. There is severe Internet Policing out here and you have to be very very careful of downloading stuff, especially things like Books(because Books are extremely expensive here). There are ways to download stuff from Torrents obviously but again to do all that is a lot of work so if you want to see TV shows and movies, just watch it on Netflix or other Online Streaming sites. Even for watching Sports, Streaming is always the Best option.   8. Vegetarian people   America is very bad for Indian Veggies. Me being a hardcore Non-Veggie, I have no problems because there are so many varieties of meat dishes but the staple food of Vegetarians in America are Salads mostly. So, whoever is a Veggie, Please do learn how to cook!!. All the vegetables you need are available in stores, its just that you wont get to eat them in restaurants and fast food joints. If you do, then you are very lucky indeed!!   9. Free Food   It doesn’t matter if you are Indian, American, German or whatever. If there is free food anywhere, everyone goes for it. Its just human nature. There are many seminars, guest lectures, company lectures (some are quite boring definitely!!) which offer free food and they are always packed with people. So don’t feel shy and just be in the right place at the right time because food is always limited in such scenarios.   10. Amazon   I buy a lot of stuff online and Amazon is definitely the best for online retail. Plus there is a 6 month free shipping offer for students so it is definitely worth registering because shipping here is very expensive. After the 6 months is over, I recommend people to sign up for Amazon Prime because the products which are registered in Prime are guaranteed to reach you in 2 days and shipping is free as well.   11. Walmart   Undoubtedly, the BEST store in the US. Almost everything is available here and it is also much cheaper than other stores like JC Penny. For buying food, this is definitely the BEST place possible and what most people do is they buy food in bulk (atleast 2 weeks or more). Even their website is quite good – I ordered my PS3 from Walmart’s website because it was much cheaper than what was there on Amazon.   12. Credit Cards   Now this is something new for all Indians because in India 99% thing of transactions are done in Cash or Debit cards. Do not start applying for Credit cards like Citibank because they have a very strict policy. For International Students especially, getting a Discover or Capital One credit card is the best option because they have a very good student policy. My Discover credit card gives me a limit of $1250 dollars which is quite a lot for a student. The only thing to be wary about is paying atleast the minimum amount in time every month – because here everything is based onCredit Score/Rating and once your Credit score goes down, it generally is a bad reflection of you, especially when you buy stuff online.   13. Public Transport   Apart from the Big Cities, public transport is not good at all which is why almost every one has a car of their own. I fortunately live in Lawrence which is a College town and has a really good bus system. But I generally walk to campus, which is what most people do. You can get a bike as well if you want (by bike - I mean bicycle not motorcycle), but if not then always try to live in a place close to the campus. Its always an advantage to be close especially during finals when you can stay late nights in the library and come back home at any time.   14. College Sports   If your university is good at any sport, do go to watch the games. KU has always been one of the best Basketball College teams every year and the atmosphere in the Allen Fieldhouse, where the home games take place, is absolutely electric. Americans are extremely passionate about College sports in particular and that passion and energy is definitely infectious. Whenever there is a win, celebrations occur in Downtown and last well into the night.   15. Respect Women   Definitely one of the most important points. Some Indian guys, especially the conservative ones, have never seen women wear miniskirts or tank tops. They start ogling at girls and it really becomes embarrassing and gives a really bad reputation to Indians. I have a lot of girl friends here who have told me about this and almost every single time I didnt have any answer to give them. It is a such a huge shame. So please my Indian brothers, behave yourselves and Respect Women not only here but also in India because they are also humans like us and do not deserve to be treated as objects.     Whew. That was quite a long yarn but I think they were some of the basic things every Indian needs to know after arriving to their respective Universities. My next post will be on the system of Engineering here and how different it is compared to what we have in India.   So long Guys and Gals, hope you liked this.   Anurag (Duky)