Handbook for IAS Students from LMU Munich, Germany, to UAB Birmingham, Alabama
What we are trying to do here is a more or less comprehensive list of information and tips for prospective exchange students, based on our experiences as the first participants in this program in 2001/02. We do not pretend to be in any way complete, but we hope that reading this manual will help you with your preparations for your stay abroad.. We will keep this site in English so you can already get used to it J.
Contents:
Step 1: One Year Before Departure:
Step 2: Two Months Before Departure:
Step 3: One Week Before Departure:
Step 4: The First Week in Birmingham:
Our Experience with Buying a Car:
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UAB is located in the city of Birmingham in the middle of Alabama (map). It has about 15,000 students and with 15,000 employees is the largest employer in Alabama. It takes up about 6x8 blocks in the middle of Birmingham and is internationally renowned for it’s medical school. The math department is smaller than in Munich (about 25 faculty and another 25 grad-students) and responsible for providing mathematical education for all UAB students to whatever extent they need (they offer, for example, classes where one can learn to add fractions and solve linear equations for non-math majors). At the graduate and doctoral level, the department specializes mainly in mathematical physics and dynamical systems with a strong emphasis of topology. Small classes with about 8 students make for an excellent teacher-student-ratio and the teachers are always available for their students. Every Friday afternoon, the whole department (faculty and students) meets for tea and cookies.
Step 1: One Year Before Departure:
You just first saw that there is an exchange program offered and are thinking about applying for it. Think hard! It is a decision that will change you, your life and your academic studies forever. You should be in your third or fourth semester now and ideally already have taken the Vordiplom (a 1.x average would be helpful). Check with Prof. Siedentop for the requirements to apply (e.g. TOEFL and GRE tests). The application process might easily take you three months and we spent about 400 Euros each for the different tests and application fees. You might also want to have a look at the current exchange rate of the US-Dollar. We made the experience that in terms of buying power, a “greenback” is approximately only 0.60 Euros. So be prepared to add up to 5.000 Euros out of your own funds to what you get as a scholarship in order to keep up your standard of living in the US. Note that if you have a good friend come with you, you will be able to share some expenses (e.g. rent, car,…) and you will not feel so lost in the beginning J
Try and apply early for the scholarship and as soon as you can and then apply at UAB, because your application will take them another 6-8 weeks to process and there is still a lot to be done (you might want to mail them your application as registered mail).
Step 2: Two Months
Before Departure:
You have successfully applied for the scholarship and at UAB. By now, you should have received confirmation from UAB that they’ll accept you as an exchange student. You should have gotten your IAP-66 form from them giving you non-degree seeking student status. Now is the time to obtain a visa (make sure you have a passport that is valid for at least two more years – getting a new one requires about 4 weeks), medical insurance (probably through a private insurance company) and to book a flight. You want to do this early because the cheapest flights are booked out early, too. It is a good idea to arrive about two weeks before classes start to get settled into the new environment. Check the Academic Calendar for when classes start and here for new student orientation dates. We profited a lot from arriving the very night before the first orientation, because this way we could get a lot of our agenda done on the first day (compare step 4).
If LMU offers a pre-departure orientation workshop (they did in 2001), attend it! Depending on how much own research you have done, they will present more or less new information for you, but you will get the chance to speak to returnees about their experiences and ask them any questions you still have. Search the internet (http://www.google.com/, http://www.bham.net/, http://www.al.com/ and whatever else you are interested in (e.g. sports or other activities)) for pre-departure information.
Think about where you want to live. You have basically the choice between on-campus (in the dorms, information was probably included with your letter of acceptance) and off-campus, which is usually farther away, but cheaper if you can share a room with a friend. You can browse some of the apartments in the market here. They vary widely in price and niceness, ask a local for recommendations after your arrival. Note that in some places, furnished apartments (usually include a bed, a chair, a desk and a dresser) are available at much higher cost. We made the experience that it is not necessary to rent a furnished apartment. Used furniture can be obtained through leaving international students or at garage sales and Wal Mart sells a special huge and very thick air-mattress on which one could very well comfortably sleep for a year.
In order to have some time after your arrival to settle in, UAB operates an International House, where newly arrived foreign students can sleep during their first days for only $15 a night. You should make a reservation for a week to 10 days (in our experience, this is enough to get the basic things done) early to make sure you get a place (they only have about 20 beds). The International House is also a place where leaving international students post notes if they have for example furniture or a car to sell.
Step 3: One Week Before
Departure:
Now it is time to get your suitcase packed. You can take up to 74kg and another 10kg as carry-on luggage, but you might not want to use all of this. The reason is that you will not have more allowance on the return trip and clothes are cheaper in the US (we made the experience that even at an exchange rate of 0.90c per Euro, you save money buying clothes here). Also, for a complete equipment of our kitchen, we spent no more than $200 at Wal-Mart, including spices J.
That is not to say travel bare-handed, but you might want to think about every piece you take along.
Make sure you got your passport with visa and IAP-66 handy at all times and also your flight-tickets (they wanted to see our return tickets!) Take your German driver’s license along: If you want to buy a car (which we can recommend highly if you want to see more of the country than downtown Birmingham – which is not very big J) or even drive one, you will see that with an Alabama license, people will give you a lot less trouble (e.g. much cheaper auto-insurance) – and with a German license, you might not have to take the driver’s test to get the Alabama license – but you will have to pay the fee of about $25 (click here for more information on driving in Alabama).
You should have about $2.000 in Traveler’s Checks with you (more if you plan to buy a car: estimate about $2000-$4000 for a decent one). The scholarship will be transferred to your German account (it may be a couple weeks late!), so give a close relative power of attorney for your account (so they can transfer funds to your prospective US-account).
Our scholarship arrived at our accounts four weeks later than promised and the transfer here took another 3 weeks, so make sure you have enough money for two months with you (~$1000; the first months are most expensive, as you will have to buy some household equipment.)
You will be assigned a mentor from UAB who may pick you up at the airport if you ask. The mentor will contact you by e-mail and you can also ask them any further questions.
Step 4: The First Week in
Birmingham:
You will probably live in the International House and have a new-student orientation scheduled soon. There you will meet other internationals and your mentors. You will be given a chance to open a bank account, apply for a social security number (very important!) and get a waiver for UAB medical insurance (which is twice as expensive as the private one you can buy in Germany) all in one afternoon at the International House, which saves you a lot of hassle.
Unless you plan to live in the dorm, you can now look at some apartments more or less close to UAB and try to find a car (through the ads in the UAB reporter, in the Birmingham News or on a placard at the International House). During orientation, you get information on what to pay attention to when shopping for an apartment or car.
Report to the Math department and talk to your advisor about which classes you will be taking. Talk to them about the registration process (don’t register on your own, because then you will not get a tuition waiver!). Only after registration can you get a student ID which is useful for discounts at several places.
You might want to sign up for a shopping trip (the International House offers them) and have a look at Wal-Mart. This is certainly the cheapest store around and you get virtually everything there, especially house-wares, so you needn’t bring them with you (they also have shoes for about $14 – no high quality, but good enough for a year and very good for the price.)
Our Experience with Buying
a Car:
In order to get a driver’s license, you MUST have a social security number (SSN). After applying for a SSN, the card takes about three weeks to reach you (you can have it sent to HUC). However, the number will exist after only three days, so after that time, you can pick it up at the Social Security Administration. You can also get it on phone, although we didn’t manage to do it. Details can be obtained from the ISSS at HUC, note though that the SSA is opened from 8:30 thru 3:30 and not from 9 to 4. With your SSN, you can go to the DMV and have them issue you a license. We got it without having to take any test, but in case they make you take it, you will need an insured car for the road test (friend/rental car?)
It is helpful to have the license before starting to shop for a car, as most people will let you test-drive their car only after seeing your license (they won’t know what the German license is J). Now you will have to phone several people who advertised their cars (there’s a free phone at International House) and go there to test drive them. Maybe some people will be willing to come to International House to present their cars to you, otherwise you might need a friend (mentor?) to give you a ride to their places. Once you found a car you like, take it to a certified mechanic for a pre-purchase inspection, in order to avoid hidden faults or at least deduct them from the price. Make sure that after buying the car, the seller gives you the car’s title and a written sales-contract. These two items you take to the DMV where you got your license and have the title transferred to your name, which costs about $150, including a new tag (makes a nice souvenir, as you will own it J). And last not least you need insurance for your car. Ask people at the I-House who have been to Birmingham for a longer time where to go for insurance.
Step 5: Anything Else
If after your arrival you encounter anything important that we forgot to mention or that has changed since we’ve been here, talk to the Graduate Program Director to update this site.
Certainly, you can always write us an email for more detailed information:
Alexandra Kaffl, Johannes Rueckert, Philipp Schlicht.
