Having recently returned back to school after an 8mo internship in SF on a J1, your write-up sounds pretty much spot on! I'll make sure this gets added to our school's collection of documentation that gets sent out to co-ops going to SF/NY/etc. each term.
A couple of things worth mentioning, though:
- Rent at $1k/mo for rent is (now) hard to find unless you're living in a living room or a slum. Prices for my friends ranged from $1300(decent place w/ 2+ roomates) - $2000+(nice studio)
- We all had pretty decent experience staying in a student hotel/hostel upon immediately arriving in SF rather than relying on an airbnb or related. Places like the Herbert Hotel (http://theherberthotel.com/) are ~$1100/mo (can't confirm weekly/nightly rate) and are a great place to settle at first, but you shouldn't bank on staying there for long. Bonus: you've got a "hotel" booked once you arrive in SF (customs loves to hear this).
- As soon as you get to SF, join the ~"bay area interns group" on Facebook, invite the entire (2K+) group out for dinner wit hone post, and instantly meet 15+ new friends at once. It's definitely the best collection of smart, talented, cool kids I've ever come across and everyone is working on something cool (usually outside of work, too).
Most importantly: someone PLEASE build a better product for visa sponsor companies (Intrax for me, CIEE/local rep for you) to streamline the J1 (and other visas, I'm sure) application process. I have never had a more frustrating experience going back and forth via email with so many different people at my sponsor company, having to upload identification and documents, print/fill out/scan/send forms, and bug them for the status of my visa application. The application fee was something my host company paid for without hesitation and would have paid more for to streamline. I've looked into this problem and would have built it myself if it weren't for the bureaucratic requirements req'd by the US gov't (which are fair, just hard to MVP) - ping me if you are interested in solving this problem :)
Thanks, I'll add some of these notes later. I was also pinged about UWaterloo's unofficial guide earlier today and it's listed in links, overall good stuff about living and practicalities.
I know that J1 process is relatively simple compared to other visa types but it still takes a lot of time. I originally wrote this guide as I couldn't find a good resource and I was the first student from my school to get the J1 for a startup internship.
A couple of things worth mentioning, though:
- Rent at $1k/mo for rent is (now) hard to find unless you're living in a living room or a slum. Prices for my friends ranged from $1300(decent place w/ 2+ roomates) - $2000+(nice studio)
- We all had pretty decent experience staying in a student hotel/hostel upon immediately arriving in SF rather than relying on an airbnb or related. Places like the Herbert Hotel (http://theherberthotel.com/) are ~$1100/mo (can't confirm weekly/nightly rate) and are a great place to settle at first, but you shouldn't bank on staying there for long. Bonus: you've got a "hotel" booked once you arrive in SF (customs loves to hear this).
- As soon as you get to SF, join the ~"bay area interns group" on Facebook, invite the entire (2K+) group out for dinner wit hone post, and instantly meet 15+ new friends at once. It's definitely the best collection of smart, talented, cool kids I've ever come across and everyone is working on something cool (usually outside of work, too).
- Here's another great write up (targeted at UWaterloo co-ops, but still applicable): http://stephenholiday.com/Unofficial-Waterloo-USA-Intern-Gui...
Most importantly: someone PLEASE build a better product for visa sponsor companies (Intrax for me, CIEE/local rep for you) to streamline the J1 (and other visas, I'm sure) application process. I have never had a more frustrating experience going back and forth via email with so many different people at my sponsor company, having to upload identification and documents, print/fill out/scan/send forms, and bug them for the status of my visa application. The application fee was something my host company paid for without hesitation and would have paid more for to streamline. I've looked into this problem and would have built it myself if it weren't for the bureaucratic requirements req'd by the US gov't (which are fair, just hard to MVP) - ping me if you are interested in solving this problem :)