Thursday, June 11, 2009

Revisiting "Rutgers Fall 2007 Orkut Community"

Some hilarious snippets from our Orkut community discussions. LMAO...

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PLACEMENTS:

Tripti: Do any one has any info regarding placements at rutgers in wireless/communications/DSP?? or any field in ECE ????
Madhura: well the placement scenario in the field of vlsi is quite good..n the companies that come for placements...the info is there on the website..
Me: placements are very good at rutgers... especially, Wireless, solid state, computer graphics, distributed computing... fundings are also very well here... from wat i hv heard from seniors... rutgers is the place to be...!!
Prem: i don't think in US u have it like here tat companies coming for interview on campus....at every university placements r through job fairs only
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I-20 BLUNDERS

Indraneel: hey guys the duration on I20 is 36 months so we need to show finances for 24 months or 36 months. because according to univ 9 credits are compulsory for full time student, taking this into account the course should take maximum of 24 months. so how much duration should we put on visa ?
Ateet: U`ll get a 3 year visa...The univ gives an extra year just in case u lag behind due to any reason !!Dude if u get a two year visa..then u`ll have to fly back to mother INDIA pretty soon!!
Indraneel: thanks...dude........but how to convince about this to the visa officer...
Me:There is the policy specific to US that after studying there for 2 yrs you have the option of working there for an year to retrieve all that you spent on ur education. Most other countries dont provide such option to students. This period is called OPT that is Optional Practical Training. I assume this span of 36 months includes this period of OPT along with 2 years of our normal course.
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TUITION FEES vs NO. OF CREDITS

Sneha: Is our tuition fees a functn of number of credits? few univs have their tuition as a functio of no. of credits.. n in the i20 he figure is considering the worst case scenario.
Mohnish: What is min no. of credits?
Me:
Its 30 credits.. and how fast we complete the degree is in our hands.. from 9-15 credits, same fee applies... usually 15 is not possible with job and other things... so ppl opt for 9 or 12 depending on load... fees are to be paid per sem, not per credit... so if you complete MS in 3 sems instead of 4, u save some money...
disclaimer: i am not responsible for the information provided above. the people who told me are...
Sneha: R u absolutely sure about this?
Me:i had attended a seminar by GEEBEE, churchgate, where they had mentioned that the fee is same for 9 to 15 credits... so one can complete MS earlier by a semester and save money...
you could ask a few seniors to confirm... i will do that too...
Tripti: I guess you should recheck!! cos as far as i know tuition fees is a function of no of credits
until or unless the no of credits to be taken in a sem are fixed.
Ram: if tution fees is a func of number of credits why wud they ask u for 36000$ for every year of study? thy wud hav probably asked for 30 credits spread over 2 years..
Mohnish:The $36000 is anyway an excess. The tution fee (without the per sem or per credit dispute) is around $19000 and the living expense is abt $8000. So in effect u will need only around $27000 per year. They jst want u to show an excess amount for the I20.
Me:i am sorry guys... my info was half correct... its fees per credit alright... but its true you can complete the degree earlier by loading yourself with more than 3 courses...but its tough life with 3 courses... at least for 1st sem... one can think of increasing next sem...
Sneha: i am still confused...
Ateet: Please reply..people !!
Tripti: your tuition fees for entire two years will be (30* tuition fees per credit hr) irrespective u complete it in 1 year,one and half years or 2 yrs. and abt the living expenses, i asked one senior he told me that it will come to about 500$ per month
Ateet:But from what I have heard from a senior is that the on campus job scene is quite tricky. And are u sure that $500 would be the monthly expense...I think it has to be a higher figure.
Tripti: Look ateet... It may vary.. i mean 100$ on upper or lower side...or may be more..
Ronak D:i just tried readin ever post nd make sense of it...but i seem to be even more confused...bottom line------what is a realistic amnt for tution+living fr one year????????
Ananth:the figures as shown in the rutgers website are like this...the basic tuition fees per credit is 606$ and per sem a minimum of 9 credits shud be taken being a full time student(generally each course is 3 creditsand some might be 4 as well). Other fees like the registration,computer fees inclusive of the 9 credits and all are summing to 5732$ which we need to pay just to the school per semester and insurance and others extra.
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VISA QUERIES

Arjun: Cant i take a lona for more than 30% of the total amnt.. bt there are education loans that cover the entire expense??
Me: it wud b stupid 2 take loan for entire amount... how will you explain that to VO?? can you imagine the amount of interest you would have to shell out for a loan amount for say 16 lakhs??
Ram: Iam takin a loan for 15lacs! well that makes me stupid doesnt it ?? well i dont think the VO shud have problems in explainin loans to VO..
Me:sorry about the word stupid... go ahead with your scheme and do post in your experience at VISA office.. we would all like to hear about it... all the best!
Ram:thanx!!! well may be you are right in a way...personally i hav 3 years of exp with a pay that can justify such loans! may be there might be more questions to ppl with weak financials n no work exp wat so ever
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ACCOMMODATIONS FOR VEGETARIANS

Vishal:I am seeking friends who eat vegetarian food to share an apartment with me. If i can be accomodated somewhere ... or if someone is interested for the same please message me..
Shahil, Ashrith, Mohit, Ananth: I am a veggie
Ankit:
me a veggie too.. a marwadi staying in mumbai...
Vishal:join my community specially for Vegans...search for : Rutgers NB-Veggie Accomodations

Saurabh(in another post): I am lookin for ppl who eat non-vegetarian food or those veggies who dnt have a prob with non -veg to share an apartment with me. If i can be accomodated somewhere ... or if someone is interested for the same please message me.. thnks vishal...
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SHOPPING I-PORTAL

Me:
Welcome to the shopping information portal..
Here we discuss our daily shopping trips with respect to the stuff bought, prices, the place where it was purchased etc. Basically we help each other to get the best deals at the best stores which are offering discounts and sales.
Basic things to be included:
1. What was bought?
2. where is the place?
3. what is the price?
4. How long are the sales on? etc.
Lets make our shopping experience more fun, less excruciating...
Sambit:
dude.. thats weird...!!
tomorrow u gonna put up how many undies u got n from where... i get the idea, but put down things tat are important... like a must buy sort of thing... say pull overs or thermals..!!
don go on discussin ur wardrobe for god sake..!!!
Me:
dude..
i m NOT giving out my list here or asking for one... all of us are gonna have the same list but it would make a big difference if we could share with each other where great sales and good bargains are going on, so that we SAVE some money... Anyways, if others feel the same way too, i guess i should keep my outings to myself... happy shopping!

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TOUCHDOWN STORIES

Pandey:
Hello friends, time's now to pack your luggage and get ready for one of "the" ultimate experience of your life.... Staring from 4th august or maybe 27th july... all of us one by one are going to land or touch down to the US of A.... So do all of us a favor by sharing your experience, how the flight was.. what you went through, what problems or moments you had in your crucial voyage, share it with us so that we'll be beware and prepared for it in advance... many of us will be picked up by seniors and will be accommodated temporarily how was it, wher are you staying now, how do u like the city and many more experiences you gone thru,, tell us....
Arastu:well this could help everybody .....do mention as well ...if anyone of u have excess weight and u were allowed with that.......or any bad experience with airlines......
Me:if any one of u has excess weight? hehe...
Indraneel:any 1 leaving before 4th august......????
Me: hey dude... its the first date to fly.. u r not allowed before!! hey swena, homemade masalas not allowed?? sure abt tht? not even in cargo??
Pandey:If you wanta take masala's or some stuffs you thing is worthy of taking and afraid they will catch ya ther is a tip:- put it inside ur Cooker or inside any steel utensil . THIS IS ONLY A TIP, BUT EVERY THING DEPENDS ON UR LUCK... One more thing do not even think of taking unauthentic software with you.. many of us would have pirated OS copy wit us... dont take it with you, it is a serious crime..
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IMPORTANT FOR ECE PPL (WE WERE FOREWARNED!)

Sameer:

I was all set in going to Rutgers till yesterday, but i then talked with a senior from my college (DJ) who was in ECE department there and what he told me completely changed my perspective. A complete shocker for me
1. Rutgers ECE department doesn't have good funding.
2. The reasons why he went to rutgers, hearing that its wireless (with Winlab) is ranked 4th in USA and all were undone when he realised that only PhD students are allowed to use that lab and the professors are involved only with PhD students
3. The department has a stupid rule that in case you want to do an internship, you have to write a thesis, which is time consuming and doesnt really count that much for jobs
4. the placement scene is horrible for ece. all the companies coming are coding oriented who pick CS and FE students and the jobs in picture are coding related only. He said that this year stevens college had better companies coming than rutgers ece

Basically, Rutgers ECE for PhD is excellent, if you do thesis then the prof can get you funding also, but research is all that they are involved in. Job scene good for CS and FE but no EE related work. I thought everyone should know this info, so i posted it. final decisions everyone has to take oneself. If anyone wants that senior's contact you can ask me.

vlsi is very much hardwork. apparently bushnell makes you work a lot. job scene same: coding even i am thinking EE vlsi only, but i didnt know it was in CS! are you sure?