Pre-Arrival Information
Accessing your Unity Login:
Your unity id's are created the minute your status changes to "ACCEPTED" in the Graduate School database. Your unity login consists of maximum 8 letters:
First letter of First name + First letter of Middle name + Six initial letters of Last name.
For eg: My name is Piyush Vimal Agarwal so my unity id would be pvagarwa.
Unity ID : pvagarva
Password : Your default password is your Student ID no.
Now if you don't have a middle name, check out the other combinations at http://www.ncsu.edu/it/rulesregs/services.html
To test if your ID has been enabled:
Goto NCSU-Webmail and try logging in with your unity id/password. The email servers follow the IMAP protocol so you can configure your favorite email client to fetch mail from NCSU webmail. The instructions for doing this are available here
Telnet/SSH/FTP:
Once your unity id is working you can telnet or SSH into Unity servers at login.ncsu.edu or ssh.ncsu.edu, once logged in you can use pine to check your unity email. For doing FTP, the server is ftp.ncsu.edu
If you want to know more about the Unity system refer to the Unity tutorials in the Useful links section.
Registering courses:
You can register courses as soon as you have got your unity id/password working. The only other thing that you will require is the PIN for that semester. The PIN is a 4-digit no. alloted to you by you dept. for that semester. If you havent received this PIN you can obtain it by mailing the Graduate Secretary for your dept. The Graduate Secretary's email id can be found in the Staff directory of your department's website.
Once you have received the PIN, now go to http://www.ncsu.edu/reg_records. Now click on the TRACS Link, then enter your Unity ID/password. Now click on the Registration link and enter your PIN no. Now you will get a form in which you can search for the courses being offered and also you can register for the courses by using "Add" button.
For eg: Enter ECE 570 001 and click on ADD, then you will be registered for the course, suppose if the message says "section closed" it means that the course is full and you need to select another section or another course.
Note: Registering courses before arriving itself is highly recommended as by the time you arrive you may find that the courses you want to take are already filled up and no seats are available. You can always drop courses after arriving here if you change your mind.
Health related issues:
You must have received a medical-record form sent by the university. It is really important that you complete this form carefully otherwise you might end up taking doses here which would incur additional costs. Undergo a complete medical check-up, including eye and dental examinations. Ensure that you have taken all necessary immunizations as stipulated in the immunization record that the university mails out to you. It is advisable to get MMR and Hepatitis B immunization shots in India as they are very costly here. Remember to bring the medical certification or endorsed proof of your completed immunization. This document is important since without it you might not be able to sign up for courses. If you make any cancellations/mistakes/white-ink on the medical-record form sent by NC State make sure you get the doctors signature next to it again. Health insurance is mandatory at NCSU. You cannot enroll for classes unless you are covered by a health insurance policy. But do bring medication for common ailments like Crocin, Asprin, Vicks, Iodex, cough syrup, anti-vomiting, multivitamins, antacids, eyedrops, eardrops, medicines for stomach aches, headaches, antibiotics for skin diseases and cough etc, as they can be very expensive here (and your insurance policy will not cover for medicines costing < 20$ due to co-pay ...so you end up paying for them in case you need them after coming here). Also, be sure to get the prescription for all the medicines that you get along with you otherwise you might have problems with customs. 1-2 spare eyeglasses/contact lenses (about 20-50 per pair) if you have glasses.