Applying to US Universities

In his lecture Professor Paush talked about achieving one’s dreams and enabling others achieve their dreams. The lecture became a hit on Youtube with millions of hits. It became the basis for a book by the same title. We encourage you to watch the full lecture. It may change your life. You can read more about Randy Pausch at the CMU page - an enduring legacy.

Professor Pausch is survived by his wife Jai and three small children. The family requests that donations on his behalf be directed to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, 2141 Rosecrans Ave., Suite 7000, El Segundo, CA 90245, or to Carnegie Mellon’s Randy Pausch Memorial Fund , which the university will use primarily to support continued work on the Alice project.

Reference: Carnegie Mellon University Website

After you have got the visa, the most important task is to book an air ticket. Wherever you are, you will have plenty of choices on which airlines to fly.

Before we discuss the airlines, it is important to note for the first time fliers, that there are huge and illogical price variations even for the same flight. You might be used to the notion of uniform pricing given how it works for local bus fares or rail fares. But unfortunately within the same flight, travelers end up paying different prices for the same class of seats. If you get friendly with the person sitting next to you in a flight and happen to exchange the information on your ticket price, you may get shocked to know how cheap the other person got the ticket - or the other person will get a shock to know how cheap you got it! These variations are caused by the fact that airlines seldom directly sell tickets. They depend on travel agents or travel portals and each agent is free to decide the commission. The prices also fluctuate with time, usually getting more expensive as the date of travel comes closer.

So it is important to refer to many sources, talk to different agents and check the prices on travel sites. Some airlines are low-cost but for a given date and route, any airline could turn out to be cheapest.

In addition to the cost of the ticket, you should consider the following factors while booking an air ticket:

1.Availability of flight: (on a particular date) - not all airlines fly their every route every day.


2.Transit visa: The flight to US can have an stopover in a country that requires a transit visa for your nationality - simply forget such airlines. It is not only a matter of expense and hassles but also a matter of insult if a country selectively requires a transit visa for your nationality.


3.Stopover time: Ideal time between the incoming and outgoing flight is 3 hours to 6 hours. You may miss the connection if the stopover time is very short. You may have a tough time in eating at a transit airport as the food choices may be unsuitable or insanely expensive.


4.Luggage limits: Find out the number and weight of luggage allowed. Recently, with the rise in fuel prices, some airlines are trying to make money by reducing the weight limits and then charging a hefty fine. Find out if any airline if offering student concessions on luggage limits.


5.Connection: If your final destination in US is a remote college town like Ann Arbor and College Station, make sure what type of connection is available. Never book a ticket in parts. If you book a ticket to a major US airport, you may have a tough time getting a ticket to your small town airport destination.


6.Food: If you are a vegetarian or vegan, make sure the airline offers a vegetarian/vegan meal. With the growing clout and number of the Indian traveler, these days most airlines that do business in India offer an Indian Vegetarian meal option. But the crucial point is to find out if the same option is available on the second leg of the flight.