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My year North America - SUCCESS! Now let's get planning!

Re: My year North America - help?

Right, well I submitted my application today. Just thought I'd let you know what I put down. :D I had to rank my places (which was harder than I thought it would be), so here we go:

1. University of Wisconsin - Madison
2. Case Western Reserve University
3. University of Maryland - College Park
4. McMaster University
5. University of Texas - Austin
6. Drexel University

I won't hear anything back from them until the middle of January, but for the time being, we're sorted! I can't thank you enough for all your helps folks! Really appreciated. :D

I'll just quote this again, in case anyone else has any input:
On that note, do you guys have any idea how easy it would be to pick up/insure a car at my age? I'm not sure if I'm going to go down this route, but it seems like it could be a good option. Only problem is I have no idea how feasible it is!
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Thanks!
 
Re: My year North America - help?

Not sure being from a different country or whatnot, but I know for me, I drive an 02 Ford Ranger and I pay about $1000 a year for insurance, and tags/registration cost me about $200 a year, but it depends on the state. You can get a reliable car for about $3000, especially if you only have it for a year, you should get most of it back, barring an accident. Compared to renting a car for a year, this could easily be the cheapest option. My first year of school, living 1500 miles away from home, I didn't have a car, and it made things difficult, but it was doable. Granted something you need to be aware of is if the campuses are split across the town, because that makes life more difficult, but there are buses for that.
 
Re: My year North America - help?

tomahawKSU said:
Not sure being from a different country or whatnot, but I know for me, I drive an 02 Ford Ranger and I pay about $1000 a year for insurance, and tags/registration cost me about $200 a year, but it depends on the state. You can get a reliable car for about $3000, especially if you only have it for a year, you should get most of it back, barring an accident. Compared to renting a car for a year, this could easily be the cheapest option. My first year of school, living 1500 miles away from home, I didn't have a car, and it made things difficult, but it was doable. Granted something you need to be aware of is if the campuses are split across the town, because that makes life more difficult, but there are buses for that.
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OK, that's interesting to know. Do you know the best places to look at used cars/insurance/rentals so I can start to get an idea of how feasible this will be? I'm sure it will be different all over the place, but just Googling "used cars usa" isn't all that helpful! :D
 
Re: My year North America - help?

kbb.com (kelly blue book), autotrader, cars.com are all great starts. Insurance wise, Progressive, 21st Century, Allstate, State Farm are probably your top bets. I have Progressive and they are pretty cheap for the most part. If you are a "good student" 3.0 GPA you get a discount, but again, I don't know if that takes account for international students or not.

On the car websites, you can look up the city each university you applied to are in, and then use that for a search, you can also use that for a basis to get costs for insurance estimates.
 
Re: My year North America - help?

That's brilliant! Thanks for all the advice/help Tom! No doubt I'll be back with more questions later! :D
 
Re: My year North America - help?

State Farm is my favorite/most popular car insurance agency around here. I'd suggest giving them a call when all the **** hits the fan.

As far as cars go.. everything depends on multiple factors:

1. Price range
2. Amount of driving
3. Style you prefer

To be fair, to get anything relatively good.. it will cost you around $4,000 on up. If you are buying from a dealer, add a few grand more.

Again, I don't know what the foreign component will factor into your stuff.. but when you need help.. be sure to ask.

Just for examples: 1996 Ford Thunderbird cost me $3,500 in 2004 and $29/month for just liability. Meanwhile, just got a 2008 Ford Fusion.. $12,600 and $86/month with full coverage.
 
Re: My year North America - help?

I got through my first year of university without a car just fine in a country where there is crappy public transit, so don't worry too much if it ends up not being doable!
 
Re: My year North America - help?

^KINDA that.

He might want to travel/go visit me/go to an amusement park and finding friends that want to do so may be tough. Also, some of these campuses he is talking about are not small by the smallest bit. Yeah, I got around a few years of college without a car.. but there were definitely times I wish I had one... especially if it's 15 degrees and you need to walk from one side of campus to another.. which again on some of those campuses can be 2-3 miles.

That being said, if all else fails, invest in a bike! I'm sure you know how to ride one of those. ;)
 
Re: My year North America - help?

^ Oh, obviously. My university last year had one of the biggest campuses in the country and it was in the snowbelt, often reaching -20 in the winter :P . It took 25-30 minutes sometimes to get from one end to the other. It's doable, but at points I wish I was able to bring my car up there. However, parking costs and that were just way too much, which also needs to be considered.

Public transport is annoying but if he wants to go to amusement parks there are always planes and Greyhounds!
 
Re: My year North America - help?

I'm thinking of this more in terms of travelling and getting to places I want to get to, when I want to get to them. Not necessarily to drive to and from Uni, or even to the local theme park (for example, I'm not planning on JUST visiting parks). I have a 30-40min walk to Uni each way, every day. The walk doesn't bother me, so getting across campus might not be as much of an issue. I just want to try and be as flexible as possible, and if paying a little more to have a car and have that flexibility, then it might be a good option for me. I don't want to be that worried about cost while I'm out there, just want to do what I want when I want. If it's cheap, it's a bonus! :D

As for the bike, I'm in two minds. I've gotten used to some quite aggressive riding, so I might just hire bikes when I hit up the bike parks.

Like I said, I'm just looking at the moment. Interesting to hear your input. Thanks.
 
Re: My year North America - help?

Yah Hix, if you're worried about heat in places like Texas and stuff, it's not as bad as you'd think. When I went to Vegas, most of the days were between 40-45 degrees but it felt a LOT cooler than some of the days on the Live, for example. Where I live, even if it's 33 degrees or so, it feels a lot worse because of the humidity. The only problem I found with the heat in the Southern states was making my nose bleed :P .
 
Re: My year North America - help?

Got given my place today:

The University of Wisconsin - Madison!!!

Was my first choice, and I can't wait to start planning it all! :D :D :D
 
Re: My year North America - help?

Hixee said:
Got given my place today:

The University of Wisconsin - Madison!!!

Was my first choice, and I can't wait to start planning it all! :D :D :D
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Mt. Olympus w/Hades (Wisconsin Dells), Six Flags Great America (Chicago), Bay Beach w/Zippin Pippin (Green Bay), Valleyfair & Nick Universe (Minneapolis) all within a few hours drive - Hell Yeah! :--D
 
Re: My year North America - SUCCESS! Now let's get planning

^And the walking-theme-park-fact-book arrives! ;)

Yeah, I'd knew about Mt. Olympus and SFGAm were near-ish. Can't wait! :D
 
Re: My year North America - SUCCESS! Now let's get planning

It's getting to the time where I have to pick my accommodation. I'm not expecting anyone to know anything specifically about Madison, but if anyone has any general comments on Uni Halls then I'd be really grateful.

Are double rooms the way to go? Are the Universtiy eating plans worth getting? The usual stuff really. I'm not expecting much, but any little tips or advice about things in general would be great! Might as well ask! :D
 
Re: My year North America - SUCCESS! Now let's get planning

^ For the eating thing, I suggest getting a card or plan especially since most of them give you discounts and whatnot. From my experience, you get refunds if you don't use all the money, but that varies depending on the university, so you'll have to look into that. It's also such a convenience to just be able to pay with a card rather than having to carry money around all the time.

As for halls, the traditional experience is a double room, but I had a really bad experience with that so I can't recommend it. It's like having a built in friend for most people, but for me it was like having a built in pain in the ass c*nt. It's also hard for when you're trying to bring someone back for a shag, haha. I really liked my single room in the traditional style halls because it still gave that traditional uni experience. I know in England, you guys mostly have like maybe between 6-12 people in your flats, but for us the traditional thing is having about fourty people to a flat and about three toilets/showers for each gender, which is what I had. I could get away from them and be alone if things got too noisy, but I also had the option of just stepping out of my door and having someone to talk to. I also didn't have to live by someone else's sleeping schedule or be worried if I was bringing someone over :P .

The other options are usually the four person flats where you have two toilets, two showers, a kitchen, and a sitting space. In hindsight I think I might have liked this better, but I can't comment too much because I only got to experience them a few times. I suppose either style could be enjoyable as long as the people you're living with are decent.

Hope that helped :)

EDIT- I perused the housing options at the UofW-M and I noticed they have an international option. I'm NOT trying to be racist before someone has a go, but we have some international floors in the halls at the uni I'm at now (my friend lives on one) and it's absolutely awful. They're the stereotypical Asians who spend all their time studying and don't talk or party at all.

After looking at the options, I think Smith hall looks really nice. It has the option of double and single rooms and the facilities look really clean/new. It's also co-ed which is obviously good, and the number of residents is perfect. I had 650 in my halls last year and I found it was better than the places that could hold over a thousand because you got to know people better, etc.
 
Re: My year North America - SUCCESS! Now let's get planning

I had 5 years of the American higher education system, and I can tell you this:

Double rooms are cool, but if the person sucks.. it will blow huge. If they blend well.. they could end up being your best friend (one of my closest friends I met my Sophomore year).

Meal plans are ALWAYS worth it. You get to meet more people, socialize, and enjoy terrible food!

While I was at a enormously smaller school (Tiffin had 1,600 undergraduates when I started), the general college experience is normally around the same basic thing. Like I've said to friends, enjoy it and stay safe. It is some of the best times of your life.
 
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