Common Ground Newsletter
Common Ground Newsletter
Issue 1: May 2013
Contents: | Things to Do | Welcome | Activate Your User Name | Make It Official: Admission | VISA Reminder: International Students | Who Is My Advisor? | Important Dates | Helpful Links |
Things to Do: May
1. Welcome to Common Ground!
Common Ground is the official newsletter for incoming electrical and computer engineering graduate students. This newsletter will serve as a resource for keeping you informed about a variety of topics and tasks to complete before you begin autumn semester at Ohio State. Each month through July we will send you this newsletter, so keep an eye out. Common Ground will have a lot of helpful information as you prepare to join us here at Ohio State.
We look forward to meeting you!
Patricia Toothman, PhD Program
Coordinator
& Beth Bucher, MS Program
Coordinator
Electrical and Computer Engineering
ecegrad@ece.osu.edu
2. Activate Your User Name
First things first, all students planning to attend OSU must activate their OSU username. This is one of the most important things you need to do as soon as you accept your admission. Your OSU user name will be a combination of your last name and a number. You will often see this referred to as your OSU name.# (also known as your "dot" number). Your OSU username will be used across the university for a variety of reasons, including: forms, registering for classes, accessing various areas of the OSU website and much more. This same username is also your OSU e-mail address (name.#@osu.edu). Your OSU email address is how the university and the department will contact you for official university business. Start getting in the habit of checking your OSU e-mail (http://buckeyemail.osu.edu/) now so you don’t miss out on important information over the summer.
To activate your username, click the following link and follow
the instructions: Activate OSU
Username
Problems activating your OSU username? Contact 8help@osu.edu for assistance.
3. Make It Official: Admission
If you are receiving this newsletter, then you have been recommended for admission to the Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Program for Autumn 2013, but that’s only the beginning. Your next step is to accept your admission by following the link provided below. Once you log in, you should see the option to accept your admission. It’s important that you accept your admission as soon as possible because this is how a registration appointment will be created for you so that you may enroll in classes for Autumn semester. If you don’t accept your admission officially, then you could run into some trouble when it comes time to schedule classes. We will cover the registration process in the June issue of Common Ground, so it is important to complete your official admission acceptance before then.
4. Visa Reminder for International Students
It is important to apply for a visa to study in the United States as soon as you can. Depending on your home country, it may take anywhere from one to three months to get your visa processed. As soon as you have your I-20 information in hand, start preparing to get a visa. If you have any questions regarding your I-20 or what you should be doing please feel free to contact the Office of International Affairs at iss@aio.osu.edu.
5. Who Is My Advisor?
Great question!
- If you are considering the MS non-thesis option, your faculty advisor is Prof. Steven Bibyk.
- If you are considering the MS thesis option, you can review ECE faculty and their research areas on the ECE website. After you have been attending classes for a few weeks, you can begin to contact faculty to see if their research focus is a good match for your interests.
- For PhD students, your faculty advisor is the faculty member who extended the financial aid offer to you.
- If you do not have a faculty advisor, please plan to find a faculty advisor by the end of the second semester of enrollment in the ECE graduate program.
5. Important Dates
- ECE Department Orientation: Tuesday, August 13, 2013, from 9 am to 12 pm. RSVP online here.
- Graduate School Orientation: Monday, August 19, 2013, from 9:15 am to 12:30 pm
- Office of International Affairs Check-In: Sign up for dates between July 29 and August 16, 2013. After check-in, you will be eligible to enroll in courses.
- Office of International Affairs Orientation: Friday, August 16, 2013
5. Helpful Links
- The Ohio State University
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
- ECE department Faculty and Research Page
- College of Engineering
- BuckeyeLink
- Buckeye Mail (OSU e-mail)
- Office of the University Registrar
- Office of Financial Services (Bursar's Office)
- IEEE Graduate Student Body
- Office of International Affairs (OIA)
- Office of Information Technology (OIT)
- The Ohio State University Graduate School
- University Residences and Dining Services
- Off-Campus Student Services
- Family Housing
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