For those of you lucky enough to be moving to a new city/State/country to embark on your MBA I wanted to share my key checklist for your reference.
Checklist for Offer:
- Finalise verification process, i.e. how your b school will check all the details you provided in your application (be warned!) - it involved a lot of prompting from me (my status is still a mystery) as well as a request to defer my employment check (until I resigned)
- Complete Medical Report form - to be eligible to use b school's medical facilities and (I think) enrol in classes
- Create headshot - used in school photobook (seen by all your classmates)
- Resign from job, return cell/keys/pass/laptop etc.
- Summer academic preparation - take diagnostic tests (if applicable) and bone up on any weaknesses. Not loving Calculus right now and way behind on micro-economics but I'm sure it will be fine...
- Read unofficial student guide - past and current Sloan students put together a really helpful instruction manual for newbies, which I've referred to time and time again
- Complete incoming student survey - also used to select electives and tracks (if applicable) so requires some planning
Accommodation:
- Decide location and agree 'must haves'/'desirables' - this could be a whole post in itself(!) as it took a whole week in Boston to find somewhere that worked and was still available at the end of the day. Be flexible!
- Get pay-as-you-go phone - saved a fortune in US calls to realtors during that week (see above)
- Take out renters insurance
- Agree UK 'farewell tour' dates - complicated for me since I don't live in my home country and needed to say farewell to family, friends etc.
- Hotel for first night in US - we arrived at 8pm local time, it was great to have a cooked breakfast the next day before we moved into our new home!
Finance:
- Send in Graduate Loan Application Form - think this is a standard requirement for US students to be eligible to apply for financial aid
- Open bank account in US (I went with MIT's Federal Credit Union for the time being)
- Create a cost of living budget - useful to plan when cash is needed if you don't hold a lot of US Dollars...
- Unwind investments and convert to USD - worth thinking about if your college fund is invested in equities and the global economy has gone to pot!
- Get UK/US tax advice - again, complicated for me given I don't live in my home country and had(have) no idea if I'll stay in the US post-graduation
- Submit final receipts for local health insurance cover (before it expires) - I managed to get most of my vaccinations free!
- Look into social security scheme in UK (or your home country) - worth considering as you'll be out of the workforce for two years
Legal:
- Research visa application process, obtain I-20 certificate, go to US Embassy - self-explanatory and most b schools will help you with this, but obviously very important to be ready in time (note to Round 3 applicants!)
- Check out visa and immunisation requirements for my dog - this was actually more complicated than the human visa process!
Travel and Healthcare:
- Research flight options and book - keep in mind there may be restrictions on your visa about when you're allowed to enter the US (30 days prior to registration day in my case)
- Research cargo options for my dog, obtain Health Certificate, update passport etc. - more complicated when conducted in your non-native tongue!
- Arrange furniture transportation to US, complete insurance form, US Customs forms etc. - worth paying your haulier to handle in my opinion
- Sell car
and arrange hire car for last few weeks- Compare student medical health plans and enrol, check translations (problem for me as my kids' medical records are in Greek)
- Check life insurance and critical illness cover - hopefully not a major issue for most of you but when you have kids...
- Check which immunisations (MMR, Hepatitis B, Varicella, Meningococcal Polysaccharide) are required - it turned out I wasn't properly immunised against several diseases; useful to know!
So it was a bit of a random order but I hope it helps to get a few ideas in your heads when you've got an offer (or offers!) on the table.
Please check out the original post here https://topdogmba.com/2015/08/20/ticket-to-ride/ and my blog site for more advice and tips https://topdogmba.com/
