·Summer
F-1 Visa
Information for International Students- Docs Due March 30
·Textbook
Availability
at Summer Orientation
·E-Books
Warning
·Summer
Housing
Summer Registration: Priority
deadline June 1
Summer Registration forms are now available on
the FAST TRAIN
website at http://fasttrain.gmu.edu/current-students/register/Please complete the
registration AND
planning sheets, then email them to Afsaneh at [log in to unmask]You must
send forms to the [log in to unmask]PLEASE
DO NOT SEND TO ANY OTHER EMAIL ADDRESS.Complete planning sheets
(including term
planned for all students) must be included in order for you to
be registered.
We will have the ability to register students in
the system
starting March 12; registration is completed on a first
come-first served
basis. Please be patient with us because we receive a high
volume of forms. Afsaneh
will send you a confirmation email
when you have been registered. It is your responsibility
to check your
course schedule in Patriot Web to ensure accuracy.
Summer Testing
Information for ESL and
Elementary Students
Summer
testing
information is currently posted at http://fasttrain.gmu.edu/summer/summer-calendar/We
have dates for paper exams, however Reading for Virginia
Educators (RVE) and
Praxis II computer dates for Elementary Education students are
not available
yet.
First year ESL and Elementary
Education
students should plan to complete the Virginia Communication
and Literacy
Assessment (VCLA) this summer. Second year Elementary
Education students should
plan to complete both the RVE and Praxis II exam. Please see separate email
from Stacy Wilson
regarding the RVE for second year Elementary students.
You will need to sign up for
exams you wish to
complete this summer PRIOR
to coming
to Fairfax campus.We
recommend signing
up early because testing sites reach capacity quickly. We will
provide
transportation to the sites indicated on the website. If you
choose to test on
another date and/or location, you will be responsible for
arranging your own
transportation.
Provisional students who need
to take Praxis I
this summer should visit www.ets.orgto
schedule an exam as soon as possible. Unfortunately we do not
provide
transportation to Praxis I testing. If you have any questions
regarding close
test sites, please contact Stacy Wilson at [log in to unmask]You
must submit passing Praxis I scores by the end of summer or
you will not be
able to register for additional course work.
Summer F-1 Visa
Information for International
Students – Documents due March 30
This
is a gentle reminder
to International students who require an F-1 Visa to attend
the summer program.
You must submit the following documentation for I-20
processing to Stacy by
March 30:
ØPhotocopy
of the
identification page of your passport
ØFinancial statement dated
within the past six months showing you have sufficient
funds (at least$6,724.00
USD) to cover academic and
living expenses associated with attending the FAST TRAIN
Summer Program.
Please
send the
above items to Stacy Wilson no later than March 30, 2012. Failure to submit
documentation by this
deadline will delay I20 processing. This could result in you
not being able to
receive a Visa in time for the summer program.
Documents may be submitted
electronically to [log in to unmask]; faxed to 703-993-5771; or
mailed to FAST
TRAIN Programs; 4400 University Drive, MS 1E8; Fairfax, VA
22030.
All documents will be
submitted to the Office
of International Programs and Services for I-20 generation,
with an estimated
processing by April 15. FAST TRAIN will send your I-20 form
with an estimated
delivery to international students by May 1. Students
are responsible for scheduling an interview with their U.S.
Embassy. This
process can take several weeks; students should verify
timelines with their
embassy.
Textbook Availability at
Summer Orientation
FAST
TRAIN will
pick up pre-ordered textbooks from the Mason bookstore for
students who make
prior arrangements.They
will be
available during Summer Orientation on June 24. In order to be
eligible for
this service, you must do the following:
1. When ordering your books,
indicate you are
a FAST TRAIN student and the books will be picked up on the
Fairfax campus.
2. Send a copy of your
textbook receipt to [log in to unmask] to confirm your order
3. Attend Summer
Orientation to get your
books. Unfortunately we cannot pick up books for students who
are not orientation
due to storage concerns.
E-Books:
For
some courses,
the Mason Bookstore offers an option to rent E-books. We do
not recommend this option for summer courses. If you
purchase a summer
E-book, you will lose access to it before you finish all
summer assignments
(which are due as late as March 15).Therefore
all students should PURCHASE (not rent) a book or e-book for
summer courses.
Summer Housing
This
year housing
arrangements will be made through the FAST TRAIN Office. We
are setting up a
secure website students will use to reserve and pay for
housing.Housing will
be $29 per night or about $1,000
USD for five weeks.Once
everything is
finalized, hopefully by the end of March, we will email the
listserv with more
information on how to reserve housing.
General
Housing
Information
-Two
housing
options are available: Apartment style and Dorm style.
Students in apartment
style accommodations have their own bedroom and share
kitchen/bath space.Students
in dorm style accommodations are
placed with another FAST TRAIN student. Housing reservations
are made on a
first-come, first-served basis. We will try to place everyone
in apartment
style housing, but if room is not available, priority will be
given to students
staying longer than 30 days.
-Campus housing is only open
to FAST TRAIN students
enrolled in the summer program; housing is only available
while you are taking
classes. Unfortunately we cannot offer housing to spouses,
significant others,
children or pets.Housing
facilities are
single-sex; there are no co-ed living options on campus.
-We recommend all students
stay in on-campus
housing due to the intensive nature of the program (and
Northern Virginia
traffic). You will have responsibilities outside of class
instruction time that
can require on campus resources like the library and group
work.In our
experience, students who stay
on-campus have a better rate of success and a bit less stress.
--
Stacy Wilson
Assistant Coordinator, FAST TRAIN Programs
College of Education and Human Development
4400 University Drive, MS 1E8
Fairfax, VA 22030
Office: 703-993-3173
Fax: 703-993-5771
http://fasttrain.gmu.edu/