First of all, CONGRATULATIONS for securing the admission and funding offers from UCF. If you have already got your Visa, again Congrats. If not yet, best of luck with the Visa interview. We would like to discuss a few major concerns that you might need to think about at this moment. Situations might be different for different persons, but we believe this will give you a head start. And you are always welcome to ask your queries to any of the members of our BSA Family through our Facebook group or direct message.
Accommodation: The first question everyone thinks about before coming here is "Where will I stay there?". On-campus housing is available at UCF but the cost is not that reasonable for us. You can get the rates by visiting this link. It shows the costs per semester which could be different in Fall, Spring, or Summer. There are a lot of Off-campus houses too which have stops for UCF shuttles. UCF shuttles are to support students, faculty, or staff members in their everyday roaming in or around UCF. You can look into the details of UCF shuttles and their routes by following this link. But, the problem is, the Off-campus houses with or without shuttles are not so affordable too based on our funding. In such a scenario, the international students from Bangladesh, as well as other countries, need to share apartments to adjust the living costs accordingly. Although it is still possible to find a separate apartment of your own at a low cost if you leave the shuttle requirements and can manage to find a house a bit far from UCF, most of us prefer to stay in the way mentioned before. Some of the communities where most of the Bangladeshi people live are Knights Landing, Waterford Landing Condominium, Tivoli Apartments, etc. This is not a complete list and you can find the available apartment or house using several websites like www.apartments.com or www.zillow.com. The important part is if you want to move in with some other person, we always prefer to be with someone Bangladeshi (might be different based on personal interest). In that case, it is not an easy task to find an available room within this time. You might need to follow the Facebook group posts and also create your own post mentioning the requirements. You can also knock the BSA members personally to know if there is any availability in their community. Sometimes you will be able to manage a room for yourself, and sometimes you might need to think about taking the whole apartment with some other person who is coming at the same semester. To apply for an apartment, you might need to pay application fees, security deposits, and advanced rent. You might need to manage a guarantor for this purpose as well. The situation will almost be the same if you are coming alone, or with your spouse and/or children. Feel free to communicate, and start searching for accommodation as soon as you are confirmed that you are coming to UCF.
Transportation: The transportation system here is not that good here. You will find public buses named "Lynx" but they will come after a certain time and you can not always rely on them. That's why we always prefer having a personal car here and most of the cases we buy old cars to serve our purpose. You can use Uber or Lyft anytime if you need to roam around but that might not be that much cost-effective. So, from the first day of your arrival, you might rely on someone to give you a ride. If you personally know somebody here, you can ask their help, but if you don't know anyone, don't worry - we're here. If you need a ride from the airport to your apartment, please fill up the "Ride request form" which is available on our website. You are supposed to be contacted within a short time. If not, please don't forget to reach out to the current BSA committee. After reaching your apartment, if you need any ride for grocery shopping or anything, don't hesitate to ask.
Scam: Do not think that the peoples around here are angels (although there are many). Starting from the Airport, in each and every place, you might face the wrong peoples. Do not trust peoples blindly. You might face these peoples at the Airport who might try to take you outside the Airport in the name of helping. Do not do something if you are not sure about it. You will start receiving scam calls the day after you activate your SIM. If you become confused about anything, do not hesitate to share.
Bank Account and Finance: You will be able to open a bank account as soon as you are here. But if you want to have a credit card, in almost all cases, you need to have an SSN (exception BofA). If you are coming as a TA/RA, you'll be able to get an SSN soon. But if you are coming with a Fellowship, then you might need to wait for a while to get that. Do not start taking multiple credit cards as soon as you have the chance. Take your decisions accordingly and always do not forget to consult with someone you trust.
Buying Car: As mentioned above, you might need to buy a car to have your own comfort of moving here and there. If you are a family person, you might need it sooner. You can try looking for used cars through Facebook Marketplace as well as Craigslist (less preferable). The people around you will help you to get this. You will also find various detailed blog posts about the process of buying a used car. If you think about buying a car soon, you may consider bringing some more money while coming.
Mobile phone: You might have a SIM card given by default from UCF. You can consider switching to a better operator with a better offer. The cost-efficient way of doing so is to form a family and take the family plan offer from those operators. The signal band in Bangladesh might not be the same as here in the US, and so, the mobile device you are bringing might not perform the best with the mobile operators here. You can get an opportunity to buy new devices at a discounted price if you promise to be with an operator for a certain amount of time.
These might not be all that you want to know. We will try to update things from time to time. Feel free to contact us whenever you need to regarding any matter. You'll definitely find someone at your side. In return, do not forget to stretch your helping hand to someone in need.