Google Voice and it's uses for USMLE

Did it ever happen that try what you may, your mobile service provider’s voice-mail just refuses to get set-up??!!

I experienced that and I am thankful that it happened, else I would not have stumbled upon Google Voice. The only unfortunate part was that I really did not realized the potential of it until late in the interview season, to be frank towards the end.

So before I go into the details let me explain the reason why this post is here. The first thing that most of us do when our plane lands in the States is to hunt for a USA mobile service provider. Once that is done, it becomes the mode of contact for you and almost everyone else you get in touch with. But have you ever thought that once you are done with your electives, and it’s time to come back how will they contact you or vice versa? I do agree WhatsApp is a wise alternative, but it is generally registered on your home country number, which I do not think you will share with all of them except for the residents or your colleagues. Here is where Google Voice comes to the rescue.

So once you have finalized a decent USA mobile service provider and have the sim in hand, it is the ideal time to set up your Google Voice account. The different options for buying a sim are mentioned in my other post here. Registering for Google Voice is pretty simple and straightforward and the link is here. Once registered, there is an option to opt for a Google Voice mobile number, where you get pretty cool phone numbers to choose from to be frank. My number for example is +1-916-936-3451 (+1-916-93NEIL1). You can try various combinations and options to get a cool one for yourself. Once you have finished fiddling around to get a number, I would recommend you share this number with all your colleagues instead of the USA service provider’s number. The reason being, should anyone call you it automatically gets forwarded to your USA service provider’s number and, supposing you are unable to answer your phone when they call, Voice offers a voicemail service which even transcribes the voicemail to text which you can read when you do check your phone.

The advantage of Google Voice is that it does not lapse like the number that you get from your service provider should you not recharge it for 2-3 months. I mean once you  are back in your home country, why will you want to recharge your US number and not even use it? So even though your US number will be disconnected, should people message or call your Google voice number you will still receive the messages or calls on Voice or Hangouts, whichever is convenient for you. Last but not the least you can also call and send messages (SMS) from your Google Voice number as long as you have a working internet connection.

Hope this post helps future USMLE aspirants who can make complete use of this simple but potentially amazing offering from Google.

Disclaimer – I am not being paid anything by Google for this :P

Finances in the States

Regarding finances the general notion or idea is that we take maybe say around $1000 cash in hand and $1000 in cards as I mentioned in my earlier post which you can find here. Now the problem with carrying $1000 in hand or in the luggage is that you have the eternally worried about getting mugged, if not that, then where to keep the money and last but not the least remembering these places and trust me it is no small joke. I almost lost $200 in a day, thanks to my awesome super secret hiding spot, that my mind so conveniently kept it a secret even from me. Thankfully one rainy day I remembered where it was, retrieved the money and became $200 richer. My advice in this post would be to open an account in Bank of America [BOA] (since this is the easiest and most accessible bank all over the States). Easiest in the sense that this is the ONLY BANK that I know off that does not require an address proof to open an account in the States. The steps to be followed when you go to open an account would be as follows

1. Carry 2 forms of ID (a) Passport containing a valid visa (b) Driver’s license or election card from your home country. Please note that it should be in ENGLISH for it to be valid. 

1. Money to open the account- Either your entire cash-in-hand or $100-$200

The features of the account are that the minimum balance should be $300 if not mistaken, or you will be charged a monthly fee which I think is around $ 5-10. Now BOA is kind enough to give you a grace period of 2 months to build your balance to the target minimum balance of say $300. This 2 months period is generally the time by which you would be done with your electives or interviews and can close the account, withdraw the money and return home for no additional cost to you.The advantages that I felt of having an BOA account were as follows

• The card that they give has your photo on it, along with your name and hence you can use it as an ID proof instead of whipping out your passport every single time.

• The bank statement that you get has your name and the address that you staying at and you can use it as address proof in various places.

• The staff are really courteous and sweet and generally answer all queries

• You can withdraw the needed amount, when and where you want without having an additional transaction fee of $2 should one use their countries' foreign currency cards. This I think was the MAIN reason I opened the account. Saved me the need to roam around with wads of cash in my pocket :P

I may be wrong in some things and they might change the rules later. But I used the bank and was very happy with my experience and hence the post. Pardon the grammar, was half asleep when I typed this out.