UTA Newcomers

by Brijesh on December 5, 2009 · 27 comments

in Personal

This post is intended for the UTA newcomers. So if you are not associated with UTA, you can skip to next post safely.

I had very intense discussion with UTA newcomers on Orkut community (with over 500 replies by now). Here is the link to that post: Orkut Thread Link

I am not that active on Orkut, so you can continue that discussion here in the comments. I will reply as needed.

Many people requested for the famous PDFs that I used to host at my old website. Here is for all you to-be-UTA people. Again the password to access the PDFs is the same “brijesh_chauhan” (without quotes)

Useful information for UTA newcomers:

1. Applying to UTA
2. Before VISA
3. Clothing
4. Personal Stuff
5. Kitchen
6. Money
7. Medicine
8. Insurance
9. Books for EE
10. Books for CS
11. Driving License
12. Pre-departure
13. Port of Entry
14. Arrival at DFW Airport
15. Post Arrival at UTA
16. American terms explained
17. Useful Links
18. I-94 Sample
19. General Guidance

This information is a courtesy of UTAgujjus. They put up a geocities website at http://geocities.com/utagujjus. Fortunately, I backed up all pages before that site went down.

Feel free to ask any questions in comments.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • Delicious
  • Slashdot
  • Orkut
  • FriendFeed
  • MySpace
  • Ping
  • Technorati Favorites
  • WordPress
  • Share/Bookmark

{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }

Sumit December 6, 2009 at 11:17 PM

Doubt – Got Admit from UTA
hi seniors,
I got admit for MS in CS for Fall 2010 but they said following in mail

“Congratulations! It is my honor to inform you that you have been admitted on probation. To fulfill our admission requirements, please satisfactorily complete the conditions listed below to end your probation.

Student must make no grade lower than B in the first 9 hours of graduate work taken as a UTA Graduate Student.
Student must complete the following deficiency courses: CSE 2320 and IE 3301″

now can you plz tell me what is admitted on probation ? n wht is that means ? n also wht is deficiency courses CSE 2320 and IE 3301 ?

Brijesh December 6, 2009 at 11:38 PM

@ Sumit,

It just means that your undergrad courses do not meet minimum requirement. So to overcome that you will have to take this two extra subjects. But you can come here and talk to your advisor to get a waiver on this.

Sumit December 9, 2009 at 12:35 PM

@ Brijesh
Thx. I will talk to my advisor becoz I already checked curriculum for that courses and I have done it in my undergraduate studies. Besides there is more doubt. Generally in order to complete MS we need to complete 30 credits but at UTA it seem to be 12*3 = 36 credits + 1 seminar, is it correct or I am having improper information….????

Brijesh December 9, 2009 at 5:31 PM

@ Sumit,

There is no rule that says MS should be completed in 30 credits. Each college has their own requirement about the credits and it will very among all universities.

Also, there is no need for 1 seminar. I dont know what you mean by seminar. Never heard of it.

Sumit December 10, 2009 at 11:58 PM

oh… I read it from MS guide for CS. Btw ppl say doing MS in UTA cost so less even if u did nt have any kind of funding. Is it true ?

Brijesh December 12, 2009 at 12:38 AM

@ Sumit,
Yes

Abhishek January 9, 2010 at 5:24 AM

Hi Brijesh,

I have recieved my visa on the 7th of Jan, I am travelling on the 11th of Jan. My visa was delayed under the section 221G and everything happened in such hurry that I could not my seniors in advance, is there a chance that someone could pick me up.I tried contacting ‘Indian student Association’ thru e-mail but there was no reply. Who should I contact?

Brijesh January 9, 2010 at 10:01 PM

Call ISA and verify it. I am not in UTA anymore.

Abhishek January 9, 2010 at 11:28 PM

Thanks for replying brijesh and your site is very helpful, specially for newcomers.

Brijesh January 12, 2010 at 4:17 AM

I am glad that you found it helpful

Arjav January 28, 2010 at 10:35 PM

@Sumit: If the advisor doesnt waive the courses right away, there is a test you have to pass in to waive the subject off.

Opting for MS or BS-Phd February 17, 2010 at 11:01 AM

I had applied for MS in Mech. Got an admit yest. and later a mail stating tht my advisor has recommended me for BS-Phd Program. Now i dont knw much abt this program except tht it wuld be a direct Phd. What is the aide scenario if i opt for it and how the placements likely to be. I am kind of confused and would like someone to help me wther to opt for MS or Phd. (btw i wuld like to pursue Phd eventually after MS too)

Joseph February 17, 2010 at 11:15 AM

Sorry put the subject instead of name above

Brijesh February 17, 2010 at 12:34 PM

@Joseph,

This is unusual scenario, best thing would be to call your advisor and ask him if you can directly get in to PhD. I think if you convince him the right way, he would agree. You can find their phone number from http://www.uta.edu

Joseph February 17, 2010 at 1:30 PM

This was the mail received from UTA:

“You are receiving this email because Dr. Tong, the Graduate Advisor for the Mechanical Engineering Graduate School at UTA, feels you might be interested in changing your application to our BS/BA to PhD program rather than the masters program.
He would like to recommend you for that, but needs to know if you would indeed be interested in it, first.
Please reply as soon as possible, so we can make the necessary changes in your program.”

and this is the brief description of the course:

Applicants who have completed a bachelor’s degree and who wish to pursue a doctoral degree without completing a master’s degree may apply for admission in the B.S. to Ph.D. Track. The admission requirements to this highly competitive track are the same as those for all doctoral applicants.

In addition to the requirements for the Ph.D. degree, a B.S.- Ph.D. Track student will be required to enroll in at least three hours of research each semester during the student’s first two years, receiving a pass/fail grade (no R grade) in these hours. A student may be exempted from enrolling in research hours in the student’s initial semester. A B.S.-Ph.D. Track student must have a faculty research (dissertation) advisor prior to the start of the student’s second full semester. A B.S.- Ph.D. student must take the Ph.D. diagnostic examination prior to the start of the student’s fourth full semester.

I guess it seems to be as a direct entry to phd only…

Joseph February 20, 2010 at 11:40 PM

request u to reply asap..thank you

Brijesh February 21, 2010 at 12:29 AM

@Joseph,
What is your question?

Joseph February 21, 2010 at 1:01 AM

I received the mail as mentioned above frm UTA and when i chked abt the BS-Phd track program this is wht was given (also mentioned above), by reading it seems to me that its a direct phd program. Culd u tell me how gud is this program in relation to Mech and will thr be any funding associated with. Also i wuld be gratefully if u culd suggest me wht wuld be better doin an MS nd then Phd or direct Phd.
Thanking you in advance

Brijesh February 22, 2010 at 4:10 PM

@Joseph,
If I were in your position, I would first find out length of each program. I personally don’t believe that spending those extra years in PhD is worth it. As I said before, talk to your advisor and work on getting into MS degree

Trishul February 23, 2010 at 11:31 PM

I have got admit for fall 2010 msee, they have stated it as non thesis. i had applied for thesis. whats the difference? i also heard they ll change it to thesis once i reach there and request. is that true whats the procedure. thank you

Brijesh February 23, 2010 at 11:48 PM

@Trishul,
It doesn’t matter what is written on your documents. You can always select thesis or non-thesis in your course work after coming here, its all up to your choice. You have to select your courses before starting of each semester, choose thesis as subject if you want to do that.

Trishul February 24, 2010 at 12:06 PM

Thank you for the crystal clear answer bro, what is the difference bw thesis and non thesis subjects
Also among U of Tx arlington, U of Nrth texas, U of Houston, Texas tech, U of south florida tampa.
Which should be given top priority to do my MSEE ( communications). i have got unconditional admits from UTA and USF, will get from others soon.
Thank you.

Brijesh February 24, 2010 at 12:40 PM

@Trishul,
You’re welcome.

Thesis is like research. You do research on your interested topic instead of studying books.

And I don’t have idea about any other college other than UTA

Trishul February 24, 2010 at 10:55 PM

Thank you bro….

Brijesh February 25, 2010 at 4:50 PM

You’re welcome Trishul. I hope this helped you.

Yogesh March 1, 2010 at 10:04 AM

Hi Brijesh…
First of all, thanx for this gr8 website.
I got an admit for PHD in CS at UTA.

“Congratulations! It is my honor to inform you that you have been admitted to The University of Texas at Arlington. Please submit the items listed below as soon as possible, and please remember to include your UT Arlington Student ID Number in your communications with us.

Submit Statement of Resources, Sponsor’s Statement, and Bank Affidavit. Go to http://grad.uta.edu/prospective/apply/howto/ to obtain these forms.

Your I-20 form ( if applicable), registration, and orientation information will be issued once the documentation is received.”

Does this mean I did not receive financial aid?

Brijesh March 3, 2010 at 11:39 AM

@Yogesh,
You’re welcome. I feel good about sharing what I know.

From what you have wrote, it looks more like an admission letter, which only says that you have secured admission. This does not say anything about financial aid.

If you already received your student “NetID” and password, you can go to http://www.uta.edu and click on the MyMav link. You can see the status of your financial aid after logging in.

If you don’t have NetID yet, you can call your advisor or admission office to confirm about that. You can find their phone number on UTA website.

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: