THINGS TO TAKE

Many universities have an Indian students association. They will send you a list of things that you should bring when to got there. But in case there is no such association you must make it a point to write to the studetns there. Here are few of the common things that all students take.
1. TUTION FEES :

If you do not have assistantship, prepare to take the  first semester tution fees listed on the I-20. Please check your  I-20 or department brochure for further details. The tuition fee draft  should be drawn favoring the University (check up with your university)

2. PERSONAL EXPENSES:

Please take US$ 2000 (preferrably by Traveller's Cheque's) for preliminary expenses for the first semester. You could alternately take approx. $1500 as Traveler Checks, and remaining amount as cash but make sure you are careful about the cash you have. Also make sure you have around US$ 50 to US$ 100 in cash in  smaller denominations for emergency. If possible try to carry some change for US$2.00 as nickels, dimes and quarters in case you have to use the telephone. You are allowed upto 5000 dollars out of which a maximum of 500 dollars can be in cash while the rest would have to be in TCs.

3. CLOTHING:

Less of formal wear and more of casuals (T-shirts and jeans), a dozen or more of inner wear. Try and take some traditional Indian dress for ocassions like Diwali, incase the Indian students there have some function. Take some formal dresses (shirts, trousers,blazers/suits, ties) for guys and similar formal wears for girls along with churidhars etc) for interviews. Socks, handkerchiefs, a good swimming trunk, few shorts, a tie, 1-2 belts ( formal & casual) 2/3    Towels, bedspread (double bed size), 1 or 2 pillow covers (large) lungies/dhotis/pyjamas, thermal underwear (these are quite expensive, so just take one if you find them expensive). Alarm clock, knife. A decent sports and formal shoes. Do not buy expensive ones. FOR COLD CITIES(like Chicago, NY, NJ):
Warm clothing like sweaters sufficient for a while. You will necessarily have to buy winter jacket there (approx. $70) to combat the cold. You don't have to take any leather jacket or something from India as they may not be very good, but if want, you could take one.

4. PERSONAL ITEMS :

Toiletry items like brush (2/3), comb,soap, paste sufficient for a couple of months. 1 pair leather chappals, 1 hawai chappals (+ extra straps). If you wear glasses carry spare (1 or 2 ) pairs, nail cutter, umbrella, music cassettes/CDs, socks, and shoelace. If you are talented in some art like playing instruments, please take them.

 
5. STATIONARY ITEMS :

Please take ball pens, eraser, pencils, stapler, blank notebooks, markers, tapes, clips for couple of months. These are quite expensive when you buy them in the University but you will get used to it. A good school bag will also be very helpful intially to go around. A good file to carry your resume's will definitely be helpful. Dont carry too many files as the filing system in the US differs.

6. COOKING ITEMS :

Cooking vessels, pressure cooker with spare, plates, tumblers, spoons, frying pans and all spices which you might need for cooking. If you have already got in touch with other Indians going to you university and will be your room-mates, plan what kind of vessels  you can take and thus you can eliminate redundant utensils. We suggest that you think carefully about all the stuff. You will be cooking everyday in US so you should plan accordingly. You can get all kinds of Indian groceries at reasonable rates in US. Just take stuff enough for a couple of months.

 
7. MEDICINE AND MEDICAL PRESCRIPTIONS :

If you have any particular medical conditions take the medicines, as well as a presription from  your doctor. Crocin, Actified, Avil, Benadryl tonic, band aids, cotton, cotton bandage, Iodex, Vicks, Digene, Baralgan, Brufen. We strogly recommend you take a Dental and Eye Examination before you go to US, as both of the problems can cause a lot of inconvenience and can prove very expensive as they are not covered by insurane. Do not worry if you can't take any of the stuff listed above - most of them are available in US. In a month or two you will be in a position to get anything you want, but not everything (unless you are not on aid)

 
THINGS TO BE KEPT IN HAND BAGGAGE

Some medicines (including for air-sickness),Sweater(incase its cold), Original important documents (I-20, visa, tickets). Enough money (little cash, traveler checks) Address book/phone book (Indian & US). Things to survive for a week in case luggage gets misplaced - two sets of clothes and misc.

 
THINGS TO BE KEPT IN PERSON

Shorter extract of contact addresses - especially of people coming to pick you up. Receipt got along with traveler checks - in case you lose the TC's.

THINGS TO BE LEFT AT HOME

List of addresses/phone numbers at which info about you can be obtained, one copy of all your important documents (passport, transcript). A copy of all relevant parts of Medical History files. A few blank signed papers - so that your parents can be authorized to look after anything on your behalf. Traveller Cheques numbers should also be given to your parents.

 
Course Textbook   Mentioned below are some of the books commonly used in the US. You will obviously have to talk to some of the students there before thinking of buying any of these. This is not be a comprehensive list, as the choice of books depends on the instructor who takes the course during that semester. So
this list must be used as a guideline only. Other than these, we would like to suggest that you take all relevant books from your undergrad.
If any of the books are very expensive (either more than Rs600 or you have to pay the US dollar price converted to Indian Rupees) please avoid them. You could either borrow them from seniors or buy them in US.
Software Design Young, The X Windows System: Programming and Applications.
Horstmann,Mastering Object-Oriented Design in C++
Heller annd Ferguson, Motif Programming Manual
Operating systems Schilberschatz and Galvin
Computer Algorithms Computer Algorithms- Sara Baase
Networks A.S Tanenbaum
Engineering Roger S.Pressman
Databases Concepts and Applications Korth and Schilberschatz and also the book by C.J. Date would be helpful
Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, by Hennessy and Patterson, 2nd edition, Morgan Kaufmann, 1995.
Software Engg- A Practitioner's approach, by Roger Pressman, 4th edition, McGraw-Hill, 1997
Scalable Parallel COmputing : by Hwang and Xu (i don't think this is available in India)
Data Structures and Algorithms in Java, by Mark Alan Weiss.
The following are the books for communication and DSP:
1.Contemprary Communication Systems - J Proakis & M Salehi using Matlab
2. DSP Principles, algorithms and applicns  - J Proakis & D Manolakis
3. Adaptive Filter Theory -Simon Haykin
4. Digital filters and Signal Processing with Matlab exer.  - Leland Jackson
5. Digital Communications - J Proakis
6. Prob. Random Variables and Random Signal Principles- Peyton Peebles
7. Comp Communicn N/Ws -Tannenbaum
USA CURRENCY INFORMATION
Here is an overview of the denominations that are used in the US. So dont be fauxed when someone offers you a million dollar note!!!
All dollar bills have the same size and color. Denominations are 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100.
Also note:
1 Penny =1 cent = 1/100 dollar
1dime = 10 cents = 1/10 dollar
1 Nickel = 5 cents = 1/20 dollar
1 quarter = 25 cents = 1/4 dollar
Half Dollar = do you require an explaination?
Please be careful to check the denomination of the dollar bills while using them. They are all the same the size.