New Student Information
Email Unity ID
You will receive your student ID and unity ID in an email during the admission process. Google Apps @ NC State is the official university email and calendaring system. This is the email account to which all official university communications are sent. Your email address is in this format: yourUnityID@ncsu.edu. Official NC State email is always sent to your ncsu.edu email account.
More about your Unity Credentials and your first password or changing passwords is found here at the Office of Information Technology.
Class Registration
Fall students will be able to register for courses during orientation using MyPack Portal. Please take a few minutes to review Chemistry Graduate Course Offerings. To help you create an appropriate schedule, the faculty from each division have put together a First Year Courses and Registration Guidelines page. The idea is that you will use the guidelines to help you with your course registration early so you can also go ahead and sign up for the labs you will teach. Note that you will receive an electronic tuition bill via your NC State email as soon as you register for classes, but you’re only responsible for the fees listed on the bill. Make sure you pay the fees by the due date that appears on your bill otherwise the Registrar will cancel your schedule.
Housing
Moving to a new place is often hectic and confusing. To make things a little easier see below for helpful links to aid you in your relocation. Our current grads are also a great resource to help you find a good place to live, or finding a roommate. Feel free to contact them directly (group-chemgrads@ncsu.edu). The NC State Chemistry page on facebook is also a great resource to help you connect with other students.
New Student Employee Information
If you haven’t already, you will receive an email to your NC State email regarding e-signing your new TA/RA contract. See the online instructions for viewing your new contract. If you received a fellowship, the office handling your fellowship (i.e. the Graduate School) will contact you with relevant information. That is separate from anything sent by the Chemistry Department.
New contracts begin in August, so New Grad Orientation is scheduled before that date. Please plan to arrive for Orientation in order to be here for the start date on your contract. Arriving a couple of days prior to Orientation is the best idea. To ensure that you get paid on time, you’ll need to get your I-9 form processed within the first three days of your employment start date.
International student employees must also check in with the Office of International Services prior to your meetings and to validate your I-20 and become active in the NC State system. Be sure to bring your passport, visa, a print-out of your I-94, and your I-20.
- Automated I-94 Process
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has begun a new I-94 process. International students and scholars may not be issued a paper I-94 when entering the US. International students and scholars will need to print their I-94 themselves by visiting the CBP I-94 Retrieval web page. More information about the new I-94 process and which ports of entry will stop issuing paper I-94s can be found on the CBP FAQ page.
In addition, you will need to meet with the Foreign Tax Specialist team. They will help you understand how US state and federal taxes will apply to you, as well as help you complete the needed tax documentation. Schedule an online appointment or contact them directly at ietquestions@ncsu.edu. Not completing your new-hire documents in a timely fashion will cause delays in your pay. Periodically check the OIS Home Page for recent updates.
SPEAK Tests – International Students ONLY
Select International students will take the SPEAK Test. You will receive a confirmation of your SPEAK Test registration to your NC State email with additional information about the test.
Witherspoon Graduate Student Lounge
Please visit Dabney 321 for a space reserved for Chemistry Graduate Students and Postdocs. You may also reserve the space for personal use for a maximum two hour block. Contact the Chemistry Graduate Office to make a reservation, chemgradoffice@ncsu.edu.We have a reservation calendar that is available, but we still need to ask the Graduate Program Coordinator to make a reservation. We wanted the calendar shared so that we can spend less time going back and forth to find out if/when the room is available. Contact the Grad Office if you are having issues adding the Google Calendar.There are a few other rules to make sure our lounge is available to everyone.
- Two hour maximum time reservation
- Booking is available for the current semester only
- Graduate students and postdocs are the only people allowed to use the lounge (no PIs or NTTs)
- If the room is not reserved, multiple parties can use the room at the same time
You are invited to use this space for lunch breaks, the down time between teaching for Centennial Campus students, practice talks (without PIs), phone/Skype interviews, grading (without the professor), writing, study groups etc. If there are any questions/concerns/issues please feel free to reach out to the CGSA President or Vice President.
Transportation/Parking
The NC State Transportation site contains complete information on parking and transportation for students. Because you will be on TA/RA, you will be able to purchase a payroll deducted parking permit through Employee Self Service via the NC State MyPack Portal as soon your new-hire paperwork clears. We recommend that you do not purchase a parking permit from the general pool of permits available directly from the NC State Transportation site.
If you do not drive and will use public transportation, you may use NC State’s Wolfline free of charge and sign up for a GoPass, which is a free student pass sponsored by NC State that allows you to use the Raleigh Capital Area Transit (CAT) buses as well as Triangle Transit (TT) buses free of charge. You will land at a login page for GoPass.