Yevgor

"Plus 40-50K is what they advertise, realistically it's $7k tuition per quarter + living expenses. Even if you don't get aid right away, working part time is always an option." I take it berkeley only offered you a tuition waiver, no stipend? Then it makes more sense, especially if you are not sure about pursuing a PhD eventually.

In case you don't realize how good berkeley is, here's a link for you: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/07/20_ratings.shtml kaluram: you must really like things like "industry connection" and "location" if you value them at 40-50K per year (cause reputation-wise there is no difference). Anyway, good luck.

No, it's not true. You CAN get full financial aid at Berkekely (and most other public schools, I believe), and everything can be covered. What they referred to on the website, I guess, is that foreign student [who do not get fin aid] should expect to pay full non-resident tuition, even if they live in California for several years.

I think you can take 10,000 IN CASH. As for the direct wire, it should be unlimited.

Dimas, This is for most part true. For the past several years, the public university system in California has experienced budgetary cuts, and Berkeley was also affected. However, in 2006 the state government is planning to significantly increase funding for UC , Berkeley including. It's also importnant to realize that Berkeley has depended on increased tuition and alumni donations to meet the bugetary cuts, so on balance the system has not suffered as much as the extend of public financial woes could indicate. There is also some talk that non-Californians may have some extraordinary difficulties in gaining admision (with funding) for UCBs graduate programs. I suspect this is not really the case, judging by the large number of out-of-staters and internationals studying for doctoral degrees at Berkeley. Although mine is just an anecdotal example, it's worth mentioning because , and 1) this year I got into a doctoral program with USD 25,000/4 years stipend and 2) I am an international student. The point is, as long as your application is solid and you can prove to the adcom there is a fit between your interests and their focus, don't let the public nature of UCB deter you from applying.

I noticed you had mentioned "880" in Math- this is clearly impossible if you mean regular GRE. Also, 550 and 880 don't sum to 1350. If you meant 550 and 800, I think you are fine, your verbal score should be adequate even for strongest engineering programs.

to Brown: not necessarily. I had a situation exactly the way you described a couple of years ago (e.g., got into a couple of schools, accepted one offer, got a visa, then in the middle of the summer had to pull out, for family reasons). This year I was admitted again (to a different school though), and in the embasy I didn't have any problems. The officer did ask me why I had another F-1 visa stamped, but after a very short explanation he was ok.

I got my i-20 stapled to the last page of my passport as well, and it was not in a sealed envelope. I don't think you should worry about it.

not sure what the procedures are for Venezuela... Here in Switzerland I submitted my passport on Wednesday, and was told immediately that I would be getting my pasport with a visa by mail some time next week.

from my experience: i got 2 mistakes (both somewhere in the middle). still I managed to get 800.

I think you chances of getting good financial assistance at UCB are resonable. It's a well-balanced university that does not emphasize just a few areas at the expense of other fields, so I suspect they will be eager to attract promising students from various backgrounds (mine is in health economics). You may make more enquiries regarding your field at this website:http://www.livejournal.com/community/applyingtograd - it's very humanities-oriented!

From my own experience: being an international applicant, this year I got Berkeley graduate fellowship (valid for the duration of the program). It includes tuition waiver, payment of registration fees, stipend of 23 K/year, medical+dental, and no obligation to do TAs/RAs for the first 2 years. Mind you, I am not even a science/engineering type! It's true that the money is more dificult to come by for internationals at UCs, but there is always hope...

Actually I just realized there is a similar thread down there. I wanted to delete my above post, but couldn't find the way to do it :hmm:

My university says they are usually mailed out within 7 working days of receiving background documents. Well, they received mine almost a month ago, and I still have not got the form. I am hesitant to ask them about its status now (they say it's better not to, unless there is a specific problem), but I am just worried it may have been lost on its way to Europe...

US News doesn't rank world universities. Also, I think such a broad-based ranking should not be a very significant factor on the graduate level- much more important is a respective program's reputation. For what it's worth, however, here are the links to the Time's recent ranking of univerisites worldwide: http://www.thes.co.uk/worldrankings/ http://w3.uniroma1.it/soccap/eng-deprankings.htm