I am reposting this. I wrote it for the current 1st semester students.


1. To get the visa in the USA or in MX? You will hear both. If you can get it in the USA, do so. If they give you a hassle, do it here. My visa procedure in Dallas was smooth. The only “obstacle” was that they wanted the frontal pictures to be dead straight, not a few degrees off. Also, they wanted an “original” award letter, not an e-mailed copy. When they had what they wanted, they were happy. People have experienced differences in requested pics. Just to be safe, take 7 fronts, and 7 sides. Take everything else they want, and you should be fine. If you do it in MX, the school will do it for you. However, as nice and helpful as the migration staff is at UAG, only one speaks English… a little ironic. Anyway, also remember that they are employees of UAG, not the MX government, so if they ask for anything, or if there is a problem, do not get angry with them; they are only there to help you.

2. To fly or drive? I have heard a lot of bad talk about the border at Laredo. I know some to be true, so I did not pass there. I went into Eagle’s Pass. It was smaller, but I had no info on it, good or bad. The advantage to driving is that you can bring your own car (cheaper than the cars here) and bring more with you. Register your car online for the permit http://www.banjercito.com.mx/site/tramiteitv_ing.jsp It will cost you about $30 and needs to be done with a major credit card (other options of payment are available, but will cost a larger % based on car year). Have extra copies of title, etc. Also have valid insurance. They will not ask for it, but if you are in any sort of accident, you need it for legality. http://www.mexicanautoinsurance.com is one good place where you can buy it online. If you are bringing stuff with you, make a list of items with serials for expensive and electronic items. This is not required, but will help you across the border. The people at the border are “people.” If you make their job easier, they may nicer. When you get to the border, they will look at your documents and car, but not much else. They will tell you where to go from there. You will drive into the country about another 20 miles or so. There, you will go inside and get the actual sticker to put on your windshield and become legal to go father. When you leave the building, you have a choice to drive out without declaring anything, or to go to declaration. I recommend declaring, showing the list, telling them why you have what you have. They will likely just ask to see one or two items on the list. My experience at the border was a good one. They were very professional and polite. If you bring a car, you may want to have an apartment or house with gated parking. I know of one stolen stereo, and have heard of several plates stolen (go to Home Depot and buy one-way screws, like used in some public restroom stalls. They screw on, but the screwdriver cannot take them off). Finally, a good MX road map can be found at Barnes & Nobles. One of the two they sell is nice because it shows gas stations on the map. Oh, and the gas here is not bad. It comes in two flavors, green (87 octane) and red (92 octane). I do not know if it is ‘motor’ octane or ‘research’ octane, or the average of both like in the USA (R+M/2). Either way, they are both good. The 92 red costs about $2.75 a gallon (but sold by the liter). *[Reasearch octane is the comparison of a fuel to 100% "octane" in the form of 2, 2, 4 trimethylpentane (a branched chain form of octane, not a straight chain) on a special engine at 600 RPM. Motor octane is measured at 900 rpm. Generally a 95 mototor octane is the same as a 105 reseach octane, and the USA will rate it at 100 (R+M/2)... in case you were really curious].

3. What telephone to use? Some love Vonage, etc. I opted for the Verizon North America plan. T-mobile is about $1.67 to roam here, Cingular offers a plan, but their website did not reflect that last time I looked, and their coverage here is terrible. If you live across the street on Palermo (like my neighbor), you actually have to go outside to get calls. The down side to an international phone is that anyone here that wants to call you with a local phone much dial the international number an it a fortune for them. Your calls to MX and in your minutes. You can also get a local phone (prepay is usually most logical) and get a long distance card, but you still pay for the minutes. If you have a home phone, all calls to cell phones are charges, so you might as well use a local or international cell to call other local cell phones.

4. Internet? You have cable and you have DSL. Many have TV and so just get the cable internet. Most do, and I think it is faster. I have DSL. Telmex is actually impressive. Their DSL service here is better than what I have with SBC in Dallas. Their customer service actually has an English department, too J

5. Bills. Phone bills are every month and comparable to US cost. Water is about every other month and should be cheap. I will know as soon as they buy some brains and stop trying to charge me for the water of previous tenants. Electricity here is every other month, and it is cheap! Much cheaper than other parts of Mexico and cheaper than the USA. All bills must be paid in cash (no checks or credit cards). You can pay them at OXXO (like a 7-11 here) and Gigante (a large supermarket chain) as long as you do so a few days before they are due. By-the-way, the water tanks here that most have on the roof should be cleaned every month or so… also, the old white ones are compressed Asbestos! About $150 will buy you a new plastic one J

6. Postal service.Not great. Incoming mail from the US is 10 to 40 days. Outgoing is overnight by FedEx or DHL only if you want it there the same month. You do not buy stamps at 7-11 or the local store. You buy them at the post office… Where is the post office! I asked this for a month after I was here! See two post away from thise where I give its address. FedEx and DHL only offer next day. There is not 2-day ground. Do not expect to send or receive more than just letters unless you want to pay a lot of postage. A letter to the USA to send checks to your bank will cost you $25. Mine arrived the next day, however a few did not, and were delayed by customs (US customs). You can go the FedEX, or you can have the off-campus book copy center send and receive packages for a small fee. I have heard that DHL will cone to you, and schedule time to deliver when you are home. I do not know personally. According to a DHL driver, packages should be declared at less than $50 USD to avoid taxation. The package he delivered was worth $75, was $80 to ship, and $79 in taxes. Be careful. Other than your financial aid check, have most stuff sent home to US or Puerto Rico with another student to be mailed for you from there.

7. Your Check. If you read old post here, you hear this and that about delays regarding how long it took to get their check. The official rule is two weeks after class starts. I do not know of anyone who did not get theirs on time. Problems can happen, but that is anywhere. You biggest problem is back in the USA. If you mail it back, about 6 of 200 students I know had their held by customs. I have heard that some request 2 checks so that neither exceeds $10,000 USD. Officially, you cannot send money with FexEx, etc, and anything over $10,000 undeclared is a gray area even though it will be written from a US bank and sent to a US bank. The other thing is that with one check, the US banks can, and most will, hold the funds for up to 20 days just because they can. So do not count on it being there for you very soon.

8. First week. Bring extra money. You many not know, but you will have to pay for immigration here, and for you migration pictures. Add $100 to your first week funds.

9. Police, bribes, etc. We have all heard of the stories. There are bad cops everywhere, including the USA. There are, however, even more good cops. You may run into a bad one; I have not, and I drove all the way from Dallas to GDL. I saw them at the border (do wear your seat belt. A friend got stopped at soon as he crossed the border for not having his on), a federal road check (if you drive, be prepared for this, but do not let it scare you… it is common to have a random road block in some areas), and other places. On even turned around after I stopped along the side to rest and stretch; he was polite and only wanted to know if I needed help. I do not want to paint a false sense of security, but my first-hand experience has all been good so far. One note, the police in some cities, such as San Luis and GDL will run their overheads (flashing bar lights) at night. At fist you may see one in the mirror and think they are after you, but not likely. If thy want you, they will signal, Otherwise, just drive as normal. Be careful as some signal lights do not have yellow. Some will flash the green before turning red. Others will flash yellow/red as caution. If in doubt, be careful until you know.

10. Books. They are cheaper in the USA than in Mexico (as are diagnostic kits). However, you will not need not use all the books on the sheet of recommenced titles. You can also buy complete ‘copies’ of books here off-campus very cheap… by the page cheap. You can also buy all you need at a picnic that will be a week after orientation. The bad news is it will be before you get your FA check, so bring extra money with you so you can get all the bargains. Also, the first semester only has one class, genetics, that is on-line, so you have to buy all the class notes that the teachers write. They are important. Some are being put online by students at http://www.uagmed.com Some you can buy at the picnic, but be careful because some teachers change them often.

11. Spanish class. You will be asked to take a test of your Spanish proficiency (English if you are from Puerto Rico). The class will cost $140. It is a good class, but is on Saturday morning, so the attendance has not been very good. Also, it was at the main campus, away from most of us. If moved to the medical campus, it may do better. Although is ‘mandatory,’ it is not part of the med program, so do not worry about it too much. However, if you need Spanish, it is a cheap and good way to learn a lot of good and useful Spanish. To take the test, and find out how you did on the placement, you will need to go to the building north of the library, also NW of the big green one with FA and migration in it. You will go to level 1 (not the ground floor, but up the stairs one level). Results are in the office south from the stairs. Testing in on the right side of the west hall.


12. There are many things here to know. Gym? Apartments? Etc. However, these are the most important. As far as the school, it has good and bad points, as does any school. It will be an adventure. Some of the good things you will get at UAG that you will not get in the USA are: more hands-on gross anatomy with more real cadavers, real hands-on clinic experience from the first semester, and more information about the patients than you would have in the USA. The Mexican government does not stand in the way of medical students learning by having piles of excessive regulations; you are free to learn almost anything you want to know here. The ‘difficult’ is that you need to learn Spanish to work well here, not perfectly, but make a real effort. The classes (except 2) are in English, but this is Mexico, thus you are living in a Spanish-speaking city. This is a good thing, too, because by learning and being able to communicate in English and Spanish, you will be very valuable as a doctor, not only here, but in the USA in your career. Finally, the bad is that the anatomy labs lack proper ventilation to want to be in them long enough to learn all they offer, one or two classes taught by a certain teacher are in a form of English that only he understands… (it is barely English, he uses words that do not exist in any known language), the large class starting in fall ’05 was scheduled without a lunch break on some days, and the cafeteria food is not very healthy. Otherwise, I have no serious complaints yet. I would assume I could find complaints in any school, not just here. If you want to be a good doctor, this is your opportunity. Make the best of it, and enjoy it here J

One more thing… your classes will be in the same area as the Latin students. When they give you a room number for your class, there are more than one area where you may find that number. Remember that if you have not had a tour, the international classes are on the north side. Classrooms for first semester should be ground floor, north of the cafeteria.

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"You do not truly understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother." Albert Einstein

This is an edited copy-and-paste from Sandborns Insurance. I did not write it, but it is good info.


Banjercito Schedule for Banjercito Offices at the Following Ports of Entry:

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"You do not truly understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother." Albert Einstein

Some common places you may need to find.

· The telephone company, Telmex. Either to pay a bill, or to obtain a phone directory to find many other places. Simply go south on Juan Palomar y Arias. Go through the glorieta. Telmex is a few streets farther on the right. It is before Av. Vallarta.

· Home Depot has much that you cannot find anywhere else. From Patria (south of Vallarta) go south until Manuel J. Clouthier diagonally crosses Patria. Just before it crosses, there will be a Pemex on the left. At Manuel J. Clouthier, turn left (almost like a u-turn). Home Depot will be just meters on your right.

· Sandi Book Store has many things the campus book store does not, and they speak English. Instead of turning off Patria to go past Home Depot (on the left), stay on Patria a few more blocks. Then turn left on Av. Tepeyac. Go until you cross Av. Del Nino Obero. Sandi will be about 2 streets further, on the left, at 718 Tepeyec.

· The post office. The nearest one is on Juan Manuel. From ICB, go to Av. Mexico. Go east. Keep going until you cross Av. Chapultepec. When you cross it, Av. Mexico changes its name to Juan Manuel. The post office is on the left immediately (1486 or 1496 or something close) after crossing Chapultepic. It is very easy to miss. Go to a side street to park. They are open M - F from 0800 to 1500. The gate in front is for all their delivery bicycles.

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"You do not truly understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother." Albert Einstein

mation acgt... very helpful for us planning to go very soon, not in august though but saves a lot of time searching for this!

Once again a very useful post. Thanks acgtacgtacgt

My check was seized by the US customs and they told me the way to avoid this problem was to sign the check, write "for deposit only with the account number and bank name on the back of ther check. Students were endorsing checks and sending them back, in a way this check can be cashed by anyone and be considered as good as cash. By the way, my check was released a couple of weeks later after I wrote this long letter explaining what had happened.

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Moderator - UAG Forum

Thanks UagDoc. I always have done that with all my checks, but I did not know that would also calm customs. Now I have learned something

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"You do not truly understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother." Albert Einstein

Now I love ackackack as much as the next guy, (which is not very much) BUT I have the best information available.

RELAX. RELAX. RELAX.

Everything will work out fine.

For most of you, your parents can dump money into your current account and you can use ATMs. (I have a Mexican account and don't use it much.)

Get advice from friendly, smart people like ackackack, but don't fret over it.

You will probably have a little culture shock, but only if you have no spanish and have never vacationed in a foreign country.

IT WILL ALL WORK OUT.

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information uagdoc! . Now, I know how to do that since I was a little worried about it. thanks

thanks acg. your post was very informative!