Applying for F-1 US visa from India

This post is intended to share my experience with those who are applying for F-1 visa to pursue education in the United States of America. Please note that this post is based on my OWN personal experience ONLY. Please follow the US-traveldocs (http://www.ustraveldocs.com/in/) website for the correct information.

There are many good websites online which gives a very detailed information about applying to F-1 visa. Here is how I applied for the visa.

Step-1: Receive i-20 from the university of your choice

Step-2: Pay SEVIS fee online (save this payment confirmation slip)

Step-3: Fill up DS-160 form online (My visa interview is in Hyderabad. So, no need for me to upload my photograph online. I went to OFC for a separate photo and fingerprint collection.)

Step-4: Take appointment for OFC and visa interview on ustraveldocs website

Step-5: At OFC: Take these documents along with you: passport, appointment confirmation, DS-160 confirmation. (Good to take i-20 as well but not required. I was not asked to show i-20)

You will be given a token number and asked to be seated. When your token number shows up, they will take your photograph and collect your finger prints (all fingers). They may ask you why you are going to the States.

Step-6: At the US consulate for visa interview: Take all the required documents which may include: passport, appointment confirmation, DS-160, SEVIS receipt, i-20, admission letter, GRE scorecard, TOEFL scorecard, funding letters (if no funding then bank loan documents that support you financially), transcripts, degree certificates, etc. And proceed for the interview.

Good luck for all the aspirants who want to pursue education in the US!

Tips on Time Management and Writing E-mails

Found it interesting!

Tips on Time Management and Writing E-mails

IN GRADUATE STUDY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005),
Gregory Colon Semenza notes that “poor time management and inadequate organization skills” often create the major barrier to a successful graduate school experience. To help you manage your time and your work materials, we’ve summarized some of his suggestions.

DATE BOOKS may be out of date (or style) but...it’s important to have something that will help you keep track of your appointments and deadlines. Here’s a great tip: create a one- page weekly TO-DO listing of your deadlines, appointments and tasks, and post it somewhere that’s
easily accessible.

USE YOUR COMPUTER AS AN ORGANIZATIONAL TOOL. Create a folder for each area of your work: research, teaching, coursework and your academic portfolio. In your research folder, begin developing your list of references and keep copies of any papers you’ve written for any seminar you’ve taken. Bookmark important websites and electronic databases like Academic Search Premier available on the UNL Libraries resources page. In your teaching folder, keep copies of your syllabi and lesson plans for every course you teach. Begin developing your teaching statement and save each draft (you never know when you’ll want to return to an earlier
version). Save future job search materials like your CV and other documentation materials in your academic portfolio folder. The time you put into organizing these materials now will save you a great deal of time later.

ESTABLISH A ROUTINE. As much as possible try to follow a regular daily schedule so that by the time you are ready to write your dissertation your work habits will be well established. Doing so will allow you to coordinate your activities with those of your adviser, graduate
colleagues, and family and friends, and will alleviate the feeling that someone is always demanding your time.

PRIORITIZE. PRIORITIZE. PRIORITIZE. In graduate school, you need to be very protective of your research and writing time. It doesn’t matter when you set aside time to write or plan your next teaching lecture. It DOES matter that you recognize that these tasks are more important than some of your other tasks, like checking e-mail. Save the more mundane tasks for low energy times. If you’re a doctoral or master’s student who is expected to complete a thesis, spend the bulk of your day on research-related activities. And learn to say “no” — to friends, family, maybe even your graduate adviserJ. Managing your time in one area of your professional life will help you do it in other areas, too.

Having said that, BE REASONABLE ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN DO AND WHEN. If you have to work at night or on weekends, try to choose a time thatminimizes disruptions of your personal and family time.

USE HOLIDAY BREAKS TO FOCUS ON RESEARCH. Stay near the university during the summer. If you stay on campus and spend time on your research and writing, you’ll have a much better chance of finishing in a timely manner.

MAINTAIN SOME SORT OF DAILY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY during graduate school. Exercise can help you structure your day and release stress, contributes to greater confidence, keeps you healthy and clears a space in your mind for those “aha” moments that help you break through barriers in your thinking. Hobbies are good, too. Go to a UNL basketball game. Attend a
show at the Lied Center. Learn to knit (yes, there are health benefits to knitting). Like people who exercise regularly, people who take time to enjoy their favorite hobbies tend to experience less stress.

BEGIN WORKING ON YOUR CURRICULUM VITAE NOW. By building your vita early in your graduate career, you’ll be able to track your accomplishments while noting the gaps in your experience.

FIVE QUICK TIPS FOR WRITING EFFECTIVE E-MAILS

E-MAIL IS AN INCREASINGLY PREFERRED TOOL FOR COMMUNICATION between students and faculty. When communicating with your professors via e-mail, it’s important to remember that many faculty view an e-mail message as a letter that was delivered quickly rather than a quick conversation. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when writing e-mail
messages to your professors.

USE APPROPRIATE SALUTATIONS AND TITLES.
Like letters, e-mails should begin with a proper salutation. If “Dear Dr. Smith” seems too formal, begin your message with “Hello Dr. Smith,” but avoid the kinds of casual greetings you would use with friends (e.g., “Hey”) or no greeting at all. When in doubt about using Dr. or the professor’s first name, use Dr.; the faculty member will let you know when it’s okay to use his or her first name.

IDENTIFY YOURSELF.
Faculty interact with a large number of students every semester. At the beginning of your message, refer to the class you’re taking with the faculty member or how the faculty member knows you, especially when you’re contacting someone who doesn’t know you very well. Conclude your message with more than just your first name. Provide your full name and NUID number.

AVOID TEXT ACRONYMS.
If you’re responding to e-mails on a Blackberry or smart phone, it’s tempting to abbreviate or shorten words and phrases (e.g., u instead of you). However, abbreviations are easy to misinterpret or may be completely misunderstood.

BEWARE OF YOUR TONE.
Perhaps the most difficult part of writing an e-mail is achieving the right tone. If you’re writing an especially sensitive e-mail, let your final draft sit overnight and reread it before sending to make sure the message is appropriate. You also can ask a colleague or friend to read your message and offer feedback about how the message might be perceived. Remember, e-mail creates a permanent record of your communication that you have no control over after you click the send button. So if you’re worried about the tone of your e-mail, you might want to skip the message altogether and ask for a meeting with the faculty member.

KEEP IT SIMPLE.
Long e-mails with too many questions can get confusing. If your message is more than one or two paragraphs, rethink the purpose of the message. You may want to start with the most important question or topic. A lengthy e-mail may be a signal that the subject warrants a meeting rather than a written communication. E-mail communication is an important part of building positive relationships with your professors. It’s always worthwhile to take the time to make sure your messages are clear and appropriate.

RESOURCES
Jerz, D. & Bauer, J. (2000, December 12). Writing effective e- mail: Top
10 tips. Retrieved October 7, 2010 from
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/etext/e-mail.htm#message. Toth, E.
(2009, April 28). Don’t e-mail me this way. The Chronicle of Higher
Education. Retrieved October 8, 2010, from
http://chronicle.com/article/Dont-E-Mail-Me-This- Way/44818/.

Study tips for GRE-CBT

Few tips based on my personal experience which are useful for acing gre..

1. For verbal, Barrons is more than enough. But make sure you are acquainted with the synonyms for the words over there. An easy way to learn the synonyms is to install softwares like WordWeb on your computer. While reading the word lists it is good to follow this website to measure your ability.
http://learnwordlist.com/tests/gre-word-list-test-letter-a/2 -> This is for 'a'. For all the alphabets, tests are available.

2. For maths, Novas material is good and should suffice. If you are from Maths background, you will not find any difficulty in answering the questions.

3. Check the above(learnwordlist.com) website for different other practice tests like Synonyms, Antonyms, sentence completions, etc.

4. Check online communities of gre for more info about recently appeared questions n other suggestions from the past test takers.

5. Once u r done with wordlists, for practice:
5.1. Install GreBible on ur system.Contains numerous tests and are very helpful.
5.2. Kaplan tests are a bit tough but you can give them a try.
5.3. While doing these tests, you should practice BIG BOOK. This book was compiled by ETS guys.

6. For revision of important words you can go through this website: http://majortests.com/gre/wordlist.php

7. One or two days before the actual GRE exam, install powerprep by ETS and practice the 2 tests. They are helpful in predicting your score( by +/- 100 marks).

8. Last but not the least tip: "STAY CALM!"

Good luck!

Swimming trance

After Olympics and especially after my trip to Sydney, I've finally decided to take Swimming classes because I've realized the importance of swimming in Sydney. I've shown much interest in taking swimming classes. Since my childhood every summer my dad used to force us(my brother n me) to join the swimming classes but we never did what he asked us to do. We normally don't take elders words seriously until we experience the bad consequences in our life which they asked us to take care of. I think I'm exceeding my boundaries in teaching philosophy [:D] Anyways with the inspiration of Michael Phelps [:D], went to the stadium for registration. Unluckily the registrations for that month (August) were closed. Again a hinderance :( I made a strong decision that I should join swimming from September. Waited desperately for the 1st of September. As usual I've lost completely in my work :( Forgot about swimming and it was already 7th of September. So on Monday which was 8th I decided to get myself registered. (The dates are not sure which I'm mentioning) Successfully registered for swimming. Guess what happened, again an obstacle on my way. Then it was a weird obstacle. Doctors in our college asked students of IIIT not to attend swimming classes. I was so angry and I thought eventhough I get anything, I loose my skin color or anything I decided not to stop joining. Just before I was planning to join that next day, few hours before going for the swimming class, we received a mail mentioning that. Finally with a great inspiration from Phelps who won 8 Gold medals in Beijing Olympics [:D] of course I cannot ever think about acheiving, I wanted to learn swimming at least. Got addicted to the swimming videos of major events like Olympics especially videos of Phelps. Really am a biggest fan of Phelps. Even am a fan of Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe who took retirement. Ian Thorpe was the first youngest male ever to represent Australia at an age of 14. Phelps declared once that Thorpe was his inspiration . When I was watching the videos of Beijing Olympics, how cool Phelps was. I suggest you to watch those clips if you ever get a chance. In every event he was so cool without any tension on his face and every time he was listening to music and coolly he takes his position and the way he swims was so amazing. The way he rolls back by hitting the other side of the pool was a very very interesting one. Anyways I'm going out of the topic I guess [:D]. After joining swimming, getting dreams that I was drowning and suddenly waking up in the middle of night. It was so terrible and now I am confident that at least I will learn well and am learning slowly. I feel that everyone should learn swimming. In foreign countries almost everyone knows how to swim. I encourage each and everyone to learn swimming which is a very helpful one and is also a good relaxation for the body. No one knows, it may save your life someday!!!


He is Michael Phelps who won eight gold medals in a single Olympics who set the world records in almost all the different events of swimming. He is an exceptional swimmer I've ever seen in my life. You can read more about him in wiki :)