Guide Book for Prospective Graduate & Freshmen
(Under Construction)

This page contains some information especially for prospective graudate and freshmen of UCSD.  Some information is especially for students from China.  This page is under construction.  Please send me email for any suggestion.

0. Overview about San Diego: San Diego links and Chinese Organizations
1. Before you come here:
        Books  Housing
2. For the flight:
        Phonecard
3. Startup -- things to do in the first few days in San Diego:
        StudentID  BusStick  Bus  Bank  SSN  Telephone  TV
4. Improvement -- things for better life:
        CreditCard  Book ShoppingMall
5. General -- things you might to know for whole life here:
        Barber_HairCut  Beach Movie Restaurant  Dentist  Insurance
6. Research -- this is the most important thing for your PHD life

0. San Diego Info:

• 圣迭戈小站BBS：
  讨论区：海外留学版 房屋租赁 二手买卖 ……
  更多讨论区以及注册: http://sd-bbs.net or telnet://sd-bbs.net
• Yanhua Mao's infodesk Yanhua is a very nice and warmhearted guy. He wrote a more completed guide page than mine:)
• San Diego!: This site includes some most attractions for visitors and several "Live Cams" of San Diego.
• Shopping & Eating A list of stores and restaurants near UCSD. Maintained by Graduate Student Association of CSE Department.
• CSSA-UCSD: Chinese Students and Scholars Association in UCSD
• SDCA: San Diego Chinese Association
• SDTHAA: San Diego Tsinghua Alumni Association
• Kinds of Links about San Diego
  
• San Diego Business Search: If you want to find more local information, search the web.

1. Before you come here:

• Buy some books:
  The textbooks here are very expensive.  Fortunately, many books are published in China.  For CSE students, you can refer to textbook page for textbook info.
• Apply for on-campus housing and also look for off-campus housing
      Once you decide to accept the offers of UCSD, you should apply for the on-campus housing immediately.  Because the on-campus housing is much better (closer to school) and cheaper (about 1/2 to 2/3 of the off-campus housing), and the waiting list is very very long (1~2 years).  Many Chinese students chose Mesa Apartments, which is the cheapest.  The Coast Apartments is near the ocean.  The Del Sol Apartments are luxurious but more expensive.  The Single Apartments is also cheap and closer to school, but car parking is not free.  The waiting list of Single Apartments is shorter than Mesa or Coast.  You can refer to UCSD housing page for more information.
      Many students have to leave in off-campus housing in the beginning.  You can refer to the following pages:
      SD-BBS.net 房屋租房版
      Craigslist (Search for UCSD)
      UCSD Off-campus Housing Guide
      Housing Information from International Center
      CSSA-UCSD housing guide 
• Contact some people who are in San Diego.  You can get more information from your schoolfellow.  Also you need find somebody to pick you up at the airport.
• Get information and help from CSSA-UCSD.
• The "Arrival Information for UCSD Admitted Students" from UCSD International Center is highly recommended.

2. For the Flight:

• You might want to buy a prepaid phonecard so that you can call your family and also call people who will pick you up from airport.
• If you bring any food, do tell the customs inspection people.  You cannot bring any kinds of meat from outside of US.
• Don't bring illegal music/software CDs. If they are found at the US customs, you'll be charged a LOT.

3. "Startup" things: (for freshmen's first week)

    1). Buying List:

            Bed
            study Desk
            Chair

            Microwave
            Rice cooker
            Food: milk, cereals, bread, eggs, meat, vegetable, fruit
            Water
            Dish washer, paper
            (knife, chopsticks, dishes)

            Toilet paper

            Telephone
            Prepaid phone card

            TV & TV stand
            Dinner desk
            sofa

            Laundry basket
            Garbage bin

            Bicycle

    2). Banking

USE Credit Union:  You may open an account with Regular Saving and Basic Checking.
Bank of America:
Wells Fargo 

    3). SSN: Social Security Number.  Go to International Center to apply for SSN.  SSN is necessary to apply credit card, it also helps on your banking and installation of telephone and cable, etc..

    4). Guide:

Telephone & internet access at school: For CSE students, you can use the public labs in CSE building (Where are they? I don't know yet since we just moved to the new CSE building this July). For other students, you might find telephone in international center, and there are many public computers in Price Center (first floor: near east entry; second floor: near post office).

Nearby shopping centers & grocery (those can be reached by bus); 
Shopping Centers: UTC, La Jolla Villiage Center, La Jolla Villiage Square
Grocery shops:
    Vons at south end of Regents Road
    Ralphs in La Jolla Villiage Center
    Trader Joe's in La Jolla Villiage Center
    Savon in La Jolla Villiage Square
    Whole Food Market in La Jolla Villiage Square

How to take bus:
If you have got the student ID card, go to Parking Office (near USE Credit Union) for a free bus sticker with which you can take bus 30, 41, 48/49, 150 for free in "free zone".  You can also get free UCSD map there. Check UCSD Parking for more information.
Here is the on-line bus timetable and map: http://www.sdcommute.com/Rider_Information/routes/mapstts.asp.
Remember, bus doesn't stop at all bus stops -- it only stops when someone want to get on or off.  So if you want to get off, you should pull the thread on windows to let bus driver know your request.

How to go school: Bus 30, 41, 48/49, 150, 301 or school shuttle.  Mesa Shuttle operates in weekdays year-round; City Shuttle operates in weekdays of acedemic year.  Check UCSD Shuttle for more information.

How to apply for credit cards: You have to get your SSN first.  Refer to the Credit Cards section.  

How to go beach: take bus 30.

How to deal with the phone advertise: if you don't understand the advertise completely, never say "yes".  You can ask them to mail you paper document.

Buy Books:

Books in American is very expensive compared to in China.  So if you want to save money, you should buy some books published in China.  A book list for CSE dept is in http://info.huaxiaspace.net/textbooks.html.  The following are some links for buying books in America.
http://www.campusi.com: Search for the best price
BooksPrice.com: Multiple Book Price Comparison
http://www.bamm.com: "Books A Million", provides very good prices
http://www.bookpool.com: Bookpool, provides very good prices
http://www.bn.com: Barnes & Noble, the biggest book shop (7% discount using Discover card)
http://www.amazon.com: Amazon, new & useds
http://www.alibris.com: used books
http://www.half.com: used books