Hello, Incoming (International) Students,
So now you must be getting ready with packing stuff and getting ready for the experience. Check out this comprehensive list of essential things to do that will help you.
Book flight tickets:
The early you book the flight tickets, the cheaper it will be.
Usually you get connections from LA or Philadelphia or NY to Phoenix, so in this case, your immigration will happen at the source of entry to the USA, which is LA/Philadelphia/NY in this case.
Another option is a direct flight from London to Phoenix. London is a global hub connected with almost all countries.
You can also take advantage of the Abu Dhabi immigration check, which is an excellent facility started by the US gov.
It will be good if you could avoid the busy airport JFK. Immigration lines are quite long in there.
Also, do check how many check-in bags are allowed, two should be sufficient for all the stuff you need.
Pre Book housing at Tempe:
Tempe provides a lot of options for budget student housing. Some popular ones are 1255 Apartments, Omnia on 8th, University Pointe, Dorsey Place, University Park, Tempe Terrace, La Crescenta, Renue on Orange, Desert Palms, Agave, etc.
Premium housing apartments are Nexa, Vertex, 922 Place and Blvd1900.
Almost all of them can be booked online with a deposit hold, and then you pay the deposit and rent in person when you arrive here.
The approximate cost of living should come to around $600-$700 per room per month when you take a 2bed2bath apartment. Groceries should be less than $100 per person per month.
Arrange your finances:
Have your loan approved and be ready for international money transfer as well. Fees can be paid via Flywire service.
The total fee is payable in six installments, on the 25th of August, September, October, January, February, and March. After the due date, you will still be allowed around 20 days wherein no penalty will be charged to your account, but a hold will be created. For international students, each installment is about $9.5k. (This was for the year 2017-18)
The deposit paid to ASU to confirm your admission will be credited to your account in October.
Getting a FOREX card is a good idea. You can transfer money at par in Chase Bank (Not sure about other banks) counter. So moving your monthly expenses via FOREX card is a good option.
What to pack?
Check out this detailed list on the ISA website.
The Kitchen list especially caters to Indian Cooking needs.
In addition to the list, I would recommend:
14 sets of undergarments, so you can do laundry every alternate week.
Clothes from India can shrink if not of good quality. Better quality shirts are available here; you even get some for free during the events. (P.S: I have ten shirts in my wardrobe, which I collected for free from various events and career fairs, all are good quality)
Suits, I would recommend 2 (Super recommended if you are joining the business school), One standard black suit, and the other can be a three-piece suit(I prefer a darker shade of blue).
Do carry some warm clothes, the night temperature in December/January can go as low as 3-degree Celsius.
Sunglasses and sunscreen lotion are very very important.