jaybiz007:


To start with, congratulations on your offers sis. You worked for it and yes, you deserve it! If all what you stated above represent the true situation of things, then UVA should be your choice.

Oga scholastica16, no vex sey I shook my mouth for wetin no concern me oo . Her success story is too sweet to ignore.

PS: I'm still hoping 'faithing' on funding.

Vex ke? I am fully with you. This conversation will help enlighten others. I want the whole house to join in.

Drhopeful,

I have a confession to make: I was about to encourage you to take the UVA offer but I felt it was not my place etc. so I chickened out and asked who I was kidding.

I go to quora.com a lot to read posts by people either undergoing a PhD or even Professors that mentor PhDs and all of them came to the same conclusion: NEVER GO WHERE YOU ARE TOLERATED ONLY WHERE YOU ARE CELEBRATED.

I know it is a cliché but I caught their drift and the moment you spoke about how excited the UVA POI was in having you on his team (never mind the Fellowship and RA) I was already leaning towards them. The only thing that made me bite my tongue or in this context (delete what I had typed) is that you had mentioned I-20 and SEVIS. At that point, I was like it is already gone.

One thing I have noticed about you is that you are really set out for research. Trust me, I am not flattering. You know your stuff very well and I am sure you were able to convince admission panels the same way you have me sold. I am not just saying this because of now - The fact had not escaped me since I started reading your posts but that you even took some considerations like Nastydamus' GRE score into your application decision is mind-blowing I tell you.

There is nothing much to add except to say I fully support your decision. Someone on quora said he took a PhD offer in Harvard over UCLA or so and he regretted it despite the reputation of Harvard. He said their engineering programs suck cheese and that they couldn't handle some courses well so on occasion he was sent to MIT to learn those courses. He ended his post by advising people pushing towards graduate study to be careful about getting swooned by big name schools.

Nice @UPitt and 'their loss' @Carnegie even if you wouldn't have gone there. I know what it feels like to wait for a decision just because you invested time and money into it.

BTW, it rained in Lagos so my Sunday is cooler than it is for guys in Eket and PH. Which brings me to my second question (that you do not need to respond to LOL). Do you work for ExxonMobil? You just spent 300k like it was cowries and I know you said you had to commute from Akwa-Ibom to PH to write your GRE. Apart from Akpabio and his minions, the only people who spend cash like that in that State work for ExxonMobil.

See, I wrote my own long-speech to show you that I appreciated yours.

Edit: there is an almost sure-fire route towards getting a green card with a PhD (and Trump won't touch it because he cannot afford another L with respect to his executive orders or policies). To add to that, someone over there made me understand that PhDs are more valued than MBA holders. There are 2 other guys who work with Fortune 500 companies (one deactivated his account) and they said same. The other guy still on NL has an account that begins with an uppercase 't'. I don't want to type his account name here but he has a lot of enemies on the visa thread. Lol

jaybiz007:


To start with, congratulations on your offers sis. You worked for it and yes, you deserve it! If all what you stated above represent the true situation of things, then UVA should be your choice.

Oga scholastica16, no vex sey I shook my mouth for wetin no concern me oo . Her success story is too sweet to ignore.

PS: I'm still hoping 'faithing' on funding.

wetin go bring @scholastica16 dey VEX for dis matter

well you no go vex too cuz i wan ask you 1 question........how old you be?

cuz me sef dey dance to her success tone

There's this lady that graduated from my dept last fall.
She got admitted for PhD at Georgia tech,Duke and UTK. She told me she's accepting UTK cos in those big schools, your supervisor might be too busy to have time for you.
I think grad school should be more about your relationship with your advisor. Personally,I am learning a lot of research skills right now, designing and testing experiments. I think that's what one needs to survive a PhD program.

.

@drhopeful, I think you are making the right decision. Having a Professor that actively recruited you and want you in his/her research team is a no-brainer compared to the alternative. The fact that you are looking at a career in research -that cannot be said of all PhD candidates-even makes it more important. Also, since you have not heard from your POI in Upenn, I suspect it is not guaranteed that you will get the opportunity to work with her. You might have to go through the hassle of securing a supervisor once you get there.

Finally, Please be quick to decline other offers you are not going to accept, quite a number of people are on waitlists hoping for a chance. One only need to read Gradcafe to see touching stories. Admission this season has been brutal, especially for international students.

@Scholastica16
abumeinben
OluDare01
onyenze123
revenant

Thanks for the advice.

@DrHopeful. Your decision is astonishing, I am both surprised and impressed. Like Scholastica.16 said, I felt you were settled on UPenn after the i20 and SEVIS fee payment.

Discussions (and analysis) like the ones above further enlighten us.

Thanks @all.

Bros it has always been like this o. This time last year, na ontop gradcafe I dey sleep

Time2Smile:
@drhopeful, I think you are making the right decision. Having a Professor that actively recruited you and want you in his/her research team is a no-brainer compared to the alternative. The fact that you are looking at a career in research -that cannot be said of all PhD candidates-even makes it more important. Also, since you have not heard from your POI in Upenn, I suspect it is not guaranteed that you will get the opportunity to work with her. You might have to go through the hassle of securing a supervisor once you get there.

Finally, Please be quick to decline other offers you are not going to accept, quite a number of people are on waitlists hoping for a chance. One only need to read Gradcafe to see touching stories. Admission this season has been brutal, especially for international students.

Thanks Scholastica16. I am so flattered. Working in ExxonMobil or being Akpabio's minion has no role to play when someone is passionate about school (at least for me). For e.g. During NYSC, I spent all my meager corper money applying to schools for MSc (IPS, UK, US) which included registration for GRE and TOEFL and subscribing to expensive internet service at the time. I never had enough left to eat sef. In the end, I had IPS and two international offers of admission. I had to start hustling for scholarship. IPS was funded but we still had to pay 100k for registration/acceptance. I hustled and paid by the deadline given and guess what, the next day I got scholarship to go to U.K. Omo, I forgot about the 100k I dashed IPS, packed my bags and chased the plane to the UK. For me, it's always about the end game! BTW, I am from a poor very low class family.

American PhD will earn me much more than N300k

Oh! And I know that moniker that starts with capital 't'. It ends with small 's'.

Time2Smile:
@drhopeful, I think you are making the right decision. Having a Professor that actively recruited you and want you in his/her research team is a no-brainer compared to the alternative. The fact that you are looking at a career in research -that cannot be said of all PhD candidates-even makes it more important. Also, since you have not heard from your POI in Upenn, I suspect it is not guaranteed that you will get the opportunity to work with her. You might have to go through the hassle of securing a supervisor once you get there.

Finally, Please be quick to decline other offers you are not going to accept, quite a number of people are on waitlists hoping for a chance. One only need to read Gradcafe to see touching stories. Admission this season has been brutal, especially for international students.

Thanks and Cool down na. I go resign tomorrow

OluDare01:
Bros it has always been like this o. This time last year, na ontop gradcafe I dey sleep

Na there me too dey sleep since January. Na just recently, I begin relax small. It's quite addictive. I can't still leave it alone.

Scholastica16:
Drhopeful,

The other guy still on NL has an account that begins with an uppercase 't'. I don't want to type his account name here but he has a lot of enemies on the visa thread. Lol

uncle slimmy's best friend.

drhopeful:
Thanks Scholastica16. I am so flattered. Working in ExxonMobil or being Akpabio's minion has no role to play when someone is passionate about school (at least for me). For e.g. During NYSC, I spent all my meager corper money applying to schools for MSc (IPS, UK, US) which included registration for GRE and TOEFL and subscribing to expensive internet service at the time. I never had enough left to eat sef. In the end, I had IPS and two international offers of admission. I had to start hustling for scholarship. IPS was funded but we still had to pay 100k for registration/acceptance. I hustled and paid by the deadline given and guess what, the next day I got scholarship to go to U.K. Omo, I forgot about the 100k I dashed IPS, packed my bags and chased the plane to the UK. For me, it's always about the end game! BTW, I am from a poor very low class family.

American PhD will earn me much more than N300k

Oh! And I know that moniker that starts with capital 't'. It ends with small 's'.

Hi! First off, congrats on those offers! I can totally relate to your story here, passion counts for a lot in frustrating endeavors like applying to US grad schools from 'Africa'.

I'd also like to chip in a word while you decide which offer to choose (how many so far sef?), sorry I stopped counting after two.

Grad school admissions, esp in the US, is so laid back, that makes it easier to choose which to eventually attend. If you're considering the I-20 and SEVIS fees, you could email the second prof, and tell him about it. You would love to attend, but their decision came late, you already started processing the first, and you'll really like to attend.

Ask him, Is there something y'all could work out?

Further, you could table out the pros and cons for each school, based on advisors, program requirements, living conditions, campus culture and fit. This would help to make an informed choice.

At the end of the day, we all are winging it, and I believe going to God could help you make the best choice.

Cheers!

tescoman90:


wetin go bring @scholastica16 dey VEX for dis matter

well you no go vex too cuz i wan ask you 1 question........how old you be?

cuz me sef dey dance to her success tone

How old I be? Really

Sbrainy:
@dr hopeful congrats

@scholastica16, I pray everything works for your good

Pls I will like to ask, this April 15, is it that all U.S schools must complete their admission decision by then? What about those waiting for decision on TA or GA or research assistantship? do dey all get responses by the April 15

No, there's no blanket deadline for grad school admissions. You could enter when the dept feels you're ready to come in. It depends on each school, (and most times, each department's deadline). You can only contact the grad admissions coord and wait it out, till you get a decision.

For me, it's always about the end game!
American PhD will earn me much more than N300k

That's right, Eyes on the prize!

[s]I think I even spent more, Almost all free test score slots for both TOEFL and GRE were wasted! Na condition cause am.[/s]

[quote author=happyday post=55418860]

No, there's no blanket deadline for grad school admissions. You could enter when the dept feels you're ready to come in. It depends on each school, (and most times, each department's deadline). You can only contact the grad admissions coord and wait it out, till you get a decision.[/quote

Thanks a lot, this was needed.

happyday:


Hi! First off, congrats on those offers! I can totally relate to your story here, passion counts for a lot in frustrating endeavors like applying to US grad schools from 'Africa'.

I'd also like to chip in a word while you decide which offer to choose (how many so far sef?), sorry I stopped counting after two.

Grad school admissions, esp in the US, is so laid back, that makes it easier to choose which to eventually attend. If you're considering the I-20 and SEVIS fees, you could email the second prof, and tell him about it. You would love to attend, but their decision came late, you already started processing the first, and you'll really like to attend.

Ask him, Is there something y'all could work out?

Further, you could table out the pros and cons for each school, based on advisors, program requirements, living conditions, campus culture and fit. This would help to make an informed choice.

At the end of the day, we all are winging it, and I believe going to God could help you make the best choice.

Cheers!

Thanks happyday. Yes, I spoke to the second Prof after I received their Offer. In fact, he gave me heads up the day before. Actually, he wants me to work with him more than I want to and gave me a crowning speech including how to resign the Penn State offer if I decided to accept theirs. I had told him about the Penn State offer when I received it. He did ask me how much everything amounted to, I just thought that was BTW.

Greetings house. In no particular order, special shout-out to: Danjaninja, SirRiddy, Scholastica16, ponpon, Time2Smile, happyday, icool. My imagination now attaches faces to these monikers
I have been silently following this thread for weeks. From page 1 to here, I'm amazed by the amount of information on GRE and Grad school application on this thread and must applaud the efforts of all contributors.
I planned to share my full experience after my GRE (May, 11th) but couldn't resist joining the conversation.

Now, to the woman of the moment, drhopeful, congrats on your offers and most importantly, on your recent decision regarding UVA vs pennstate. Seriously, It's a tough call and I am glad you are being pragmatic about it. I have learnt a great lesson from the comments on your decision: Don't wait for permission to do what you think is best

@Scholastica16. Man, thanks for all the help you've given on this thread. I pray you soon get in this drhopeful-like fix.

drhopeful:
Thanks happyday. Yes, I spoke to the second Prof after I received their Offer. In fact, he gave me heads up the day before. Actually, he wants me to work with him more than I want to and gave me a crowning speech including how to resign the Penn State offer if I decided to accept theirs. I had told him about the Penn State offer when I received it. He did ask me how much everything amounted to, I just thought that was BTW.

Oh, I see. Sorry for having to be in this sort of dilemma. Kinda hurts in a good way!

Kindly do and come to Trumpland...

mfarad:
Greetings house. In no particular order, special shout-out to: Danjaninja, SirRiddy, Scholastica16, ponpon, Time2Smile, happyday, icool. My imagination now attaches faces to these monikers
I have been silently following this thread for weeks. From page 1 to here, I'm amazed by the amount of information on GRE and Grad school application on this thread and must applaud the efforts of all contributors.
I planned to share my full experience after my GRE (May, 11th) but couldn't resist joining the conversation.

Now, to the woman of the moment, drhopeful, congrats on your offers and most importantly, on your recent decision regarding UVA vs pennstate. Seriously, It's a tough call and I am glad you are being pragmatic about it. I have learnt a great lesson from the comments on your decision: Don't wait for permission to do what you think is best

@Scholastica16. Man, thanks for all the help you've given on this thread. I pray you soon get in this drhopeful-like fix.

Hello! Thanks for reaching out. Hope the prep is going smoothly. Btw, what else do you have going on apart from preparing for the test? I suppose you're applying for Spring??

mfarad:
Greetings house. In no particular order, special shout-out to: Danjaninja, SirRiddy, Scholastica16, ponpon, Time2Smile, happyday, icool. My imagination now attaches faces to these monikers
I have been silently following this thread for weeks. From page 1 to here, I'm amazed by the amount of information on GRE and Grad school application on this thread and must applaud the efforts of all contributors.
I planned to share my full experience after my GRE (May, 11th) but couldn't resist joining the conversation.

Now, to the woman of the moment, drhopeful, congrats on your offers and most importantly, on your recent decision regarding UVA vs pennstate. Seriously, It's a tough call and I am glad you are being pragmatic about it. I have learnt a great lesson from the comments on your decision: Don't wait for permission to do what you think is best

@Scholastica16. Man, thanks for all the help you've given on this thread. I pray you soon get in this drhopeful-like fix.

I personal dont see it as a tough call, if you are given admission into a top school with full funding for your PhD program and then you don't know your supervisor yet, I think there is a problem. When are you going to build rapport with him or her? when are you going to develop research plan?. If I were her, I will go with U of Virginia, reason because she had already developed a relationship with that advisor which is what PhD is all about.

drhopeful:
I might sound crazy but after 2 sleepless nights of thorough contemplation, I think I will have to resign the Penn State appointment.

Sorry for my long speech this hot Sunday afternoon!

Tough decision to make. Obviously you have thoroughly weighed all your options and decided on the best! Quite nice and enlightening. Wish you all the best!!!

revenant:


I personal dont see it as a tough call, if you are given admission into a top school with full funding for your PhD program and then you don't know your supervisor yet, I think there is a problem. When are you going to build rapport with him or her? when are you going to develop research plan?. If I were her, I will go with U of Virginia, reason because she had already developed a relationship with that advisor which is what PhD is all about.

Well, by default, US PhD offers almost always come with 'full' funding, so that shouldn't be a differentiating factor to choose between two similar offers. Also, there's absolutely no problem with not knowing your advisor prior to enrolling. Creating a rapport with your advisor before you start is the exception, not the norm. Most schools will let you free style for a semester, so you can talk to profs, check their labs, and decide which one to work in for the next 4 + years. Cos they believe it's a decision that pretty much affects a bunch of things down the line. So, that too, isn't a clear cut yardstick to accept or deny.

revenant:


I personal dont see it as a tough call, if you are given admission into a top school with full funding for your PhD program and then you don't know your supervisor yet, I think there is a problem. When are you going to build rapport with him or her? when are you going to develop research plan?. If I were her, I will go with U of Virginia, reason because she had already developed a relationship with that advisor which is what PhD is all about.

It's not necessarily a problem. There is more than enough time to develop a rapport with your supervisor...

happyday:


Well, by default, US PhD offers almost always come with 'full' funding, so that shouldn't be a differentiating factor to choose between two similar offers. Also, there's absolutely no problem with not knowing your advisor prior to enrolling. Creating a rapport with your advisor before you start is the exception, not the norm. Most schools will let you free style for a semester, so you can talk to profs, check their labs, and decide which one to work in for the next 4 + years. Cos they believe it's a decision that pretty much affects a bunch of things down the line. So, that too, isn't a clear cut yardstick to accept or deny.

That is why I use the word "I" refering to myself. And what if you don't find any of them interesting to work with at the end of the day.

happyday:


Hello! Thanks for reaching out. Hope the prep is going smoothly. Btw, what else do you have going on apart from preparing for the test? I suppose you're applying for Spring??

You're welcome man. I work (NYSC) as a lecturer assistant in a higher institution. Semester exams are almost over, so I have a lot of time to myself before test date. For Fall 2017, I applied to PI (Abu Dhabi) and KFUPM. Didn't have necessary info till I stumbled on this thread. Will prolly apply to US schools for Fall 2018.

As for test prep, took an early powerprep test this week: V159 Q152. I know I have to double down on some quant concepts (I have Brent's videos- the one popularly referred to as Magoosh). I also struggled with the AWA part. Please assist me with the plan you once mentioned some pages back.

revenant:


That is why I use the word "I" refering to myself. And what if you don't find any of them interesting to work with at the end of the day.

Then, you pack your bags and drop out. Lol. That's why schools ask that you mention those profs whose research work interest you in the SoP.

DMainMan:
Guys, can you advise me on where to go;
University of Utah in USA or University of Alberta, Canada if granted full funding in both?

Canada anyday...more job opportunities and less stringent conditions...but then the decision is yours

Hello! Are you applying to a business school? Why did you insist on the GMAT?

miella:

Yes I did but my score was not that good. Though, I got an offer recently despite the low score but I'm planning towards fall 2018 now (I'm working on some stuff and not yet through with it). I might likely write GRE also maybe I can get a better offer towards fall 2018.

babyfaceafrica:
Canada anyday...more job opportunities and less stringent conditions...but then the decision is yours

thanks