Capitas7:
Good day house. Congratulations to everyone who has got their visa approved recently. I have these suggestions and questions:

1. I am observing that most applicants prefer other organizations apart from WES. I would advise that anyone confirms with their prospective school first, if they accept evaluation from the preferred organization. My school precisely advised me to use WES then, and I believe there were reasons. I know this issue has been treated here a number of times, but this is my contribution: If you're an OAU graduate, to verify your status to WES, you'll visit Rm 204, Senate building extension, ans you'll be paying N2500 for the verification. You can send someone who has your full names to help.

2. As it's been said many times, one needs to prepare for the expensive initial living and administrative cost. Checking up the cost of a pair of jeans (N15.000 on conversion), I had to resort to buying as many wears, foodstuffs, toiletries (lol), even pen and notebooks before the day of flight. I'd advise everyone takes time to attend to these issues early while we're here. It's like a stitch in time...

3. I've been having this sleepless nights because of my health insurance fee. My school's default insurance is $2,995. How do I explain to my sponsor that he has to cough out a whooping N1m+ after scholarship? I've tried checking the third party insurance offers, and seen good bargains in the range $600-$2000 with the option of payment in installments, but my friend in the US is advising me to be careful so as not to be scammed.

My main question is: what plans do the schools have in cases where there's a delay? I've contacted the school on this as a new student, but haven't received any reply after many days. Thank you all as I await help.

Nice write up

On the issue of Insurance ..... a friend has similar issues where the school was billing by default $1,500 per semester for Insurance . I saw a post here by Femi321 with this comment ; What the Hell? $1300? wow, you have money to throw around. Anyway you can use http://www.InternationalStudentInsurance.com but you will have to check the requirements for health insurance in your school first to be sure it meets any of the plans.

So I sent the link to a friend , he was able to get a quote for $300 for insurance , using the school requirement for insurance such as ensuring the quote covered Repatriation insurance coverage of XX amount and Evacuation insurance coverage of at least XX. He took that quote to the school and they accepted it . The $300 insurance then replaced the default nonsense of $1,500

it appears most schools chosen provders such as insurance or shipping are out to exploit international student , same comment I have for eshipglobal.com who charging Nigerian students to ship i20 at over $100 with DHL but when you go to DHL direct it is less than half . That exploitation but let me not digress

Ndawe:
Visa approved this morning at Walter Carrington. Will post transcript later. I'm so exhausted but good exhausted sha

Oya time for some needed sleep/ rest and make sure you eat ooo

Congrats , God bless your new journey

@Texrem and any one that can help with a mock exam I'll be very grateful
Please I need your help guys.

I'm new on this thread just 4 days now and I was deny visa last week.... please @TExrem how do I contact you?
Anyone that can help also please how do I make contact?

Thanks dear, amen oh. I wish I was going back to bed but I had to go straight to the office

LagosismyHome:


Oya time for some needed sleep/ rest and make sure you eat ooo

Congrats , God bless your new journey

LagosismyHome:


Nice write up

On the issue of Insurance ..... a friend has similar issues where the school was billing by default $1,500 per semester for Insurance . I saw a post here by Femi321 with this comment ; What the Hell? $1300? wow, you have money to throw around. Anyway you can use http://www.InternationalStudentInsurance.com but you will have to check the requirements for health insurance in your school first to be sure it meets any of the plans.

So I sent the link to a friend , he was able to get a quote for $300 for insurance , using the school requirement for insurance such as ensuring the quote covered Repatriation insurance coverage of XX amount and Evacuation insurance coverage of at least XX. He took that quote to the school and they accepted it . The $300 insurance then replaced the default nonsense of $1,500

it appears most schools chosen provders such as insurance or shipping are out to exploit international student , same comment I have for eshipglobal.com who charging Nigerian students to ship i20 at over $100 with DHL but when you go to DHL direct it is less than half . That exploitation but let me not digress

@Lagosismyhome. Responsive and quick as always. I really appreciate. "default nonsense" really cracked me up. I'll follow the link, and I believe this will help a lot of us here too. I'll be hopeful the school would accept it.

Thanks a lot ma'am

Extra!ordinary gist

LagosismyHome:


This ETSU be like say it gives funding to almost all students regardless of their GRE score (jokes) .. what could be more good news than that , for you to have more good news AGAIN ?? na wa

Visa approved this morning at Walter Carrington and the process was a bit tedious, I tire to stand. Also, the Nigerian staff at the embassy are so RUDE & NASTY; I just can't deal. Anyways, I got to the embassy just before 6.30am and my appointment was for 7.30am. The biometric checks and all that pre-interview stuff took a while (see crowd ehn) and it was quite stuffy because the A.C was having issues. So I was directed to window 2 and interviewed by who seemed to be a "new guy" because his supervisor was with him and kinda giving him instructions but they were both very pleasant and we had a few laughs. Here goes:

VO: Good morning and how are you today?
Me: I'm great, thanks and yourself?
VO: I'm fine, thanks for asking; can I have your documents please?
VO: Looks through my passport & I-20 and goes "I see you're going to study in the US, where and what are you going for?"
Me: I'm going for my doctorate in Environmental Sciences with a concentration in Environmental Chemistry at Tennessee Technological University (it was a mouthful sha)
VO: What do you do?
Me: I work as a QHSE Officer (I also said this in full) at Bleep Limited.
VO: How long have you worked there?
Me: Two and a half years.
VO: Okay, so how many schools did you apply to?
Me: I applied to 4 schools and received admission into 3 with two of them being funded offers.
VO: That's great, so why Tennessee Tech?
Me: I needed a school that offered this degree as an interdisciplinary program and will have me take courses across various fields of environmental studies such as Environmental chemistry, env biology, env agriculture, env policy etc; it's a fully loaded program really. I'd also been in contact with Prof. Tammy Boles who as excited as I am to be a part of her on-going research. I was also awarded a full tuition waiver and a generous monthly stipend by the university.
VO: Oh wow, congratulations.
Me: Thanks very much
VO: So who will be funding your studies and what do your parents do?
Me: I was awarded a full tuition waiver and a generous monthly stipend by the university; it's stated in my I20 and both my parents are civil servants.
VO: Oh Okay, nice, then he types for a while and stops to inform me that they've been having network issues.

He consults with his supervisor who was behind him all the while and hands him my passport.
So the supervisor faces me:
Him: Ah, I see you applied to Tennessee Tech; my daughter applied there also (at this point I knew it was sealed, signed and waiting to be delivered
Me: Oh really, that's nice. So I also engaged him in a conversation about his daughter and he asked me about my previous studies in the UK and we chatted for about 3 mins while waiting for their network to come back up.
Him: Brings out white paper and circles and says the sweet words "your visa has been approved". Have a lovely time in Tennessee and he returns my documents.

I noticed a few things which are not different from what others have been saying here:
1)Please practice and practice but DON'T CRAM. A couple of peeps gave very rehearsed responses, you didn't need to be a VO sef to know.
2)Make sure your facts are straight and go with the mindset that you're going to have a "nice chat" with the VO (they're humans)
3)Those hustlers can sell water to a well. You don't need them, prepare your documents from home and pay no attention to them.
4)Be in your own zone and don't let the plenty blue papers flying around distabillize you because it can, trust me.
5)Please study past transcripts here.
5)God rewards hardwork.


Oludare01; See you soon

I remember those times when I had to post my ds 160 here to seek advice on how to fill ....lagosismyhome almost killed me .DEETUS crucified me,THANKS TO DEETUS,TEXREM, LAGOSISMYHOME AND ALL THAT MADE THIS DREAM COME TRUE ... REP ETSU SPRING 2017...

Capitas7:
Good day house. Congratulations to everyone who has got their visa approved recently. I have these suggestions and questions:

2. As it's been said many times, one needs to prepare for the expensive initial living and administrative cost. Checking up the cost of a pair of jeans (N15.000 on conversion), I had to resort to buying as many wears, foodstuffs, toiletries (lol), even pen and notebooks before the day of flight. I'd advise everyone takes time to attend to these issues early while we're here. It's like a stitch in time...

Great suggestion. Please more of such advice, particularly for first time travelers like some of us will be greatly welcome. Unfortunately the life in US As a Student thread, where I think such would be addressed is no longer active.

LagosismyHome:


Oya time for some needed sleep/ rest and make sure you eat ooo

Congrats , God bless your new journey

You can't over emphasize that mehn... Haven't slept the way I did yesterday in about 3 months now.

olarich30:
at last my VISA was approved yesterday morning and my interview was scheduled for 8;15 am

i was first denied on the 22nd of june 2017 , i applied to full sail university for master's in game design . i just had to sum of courage and i reapplied , it was GOD's favor all the way and my VISA was approved by a young white woman in her thirties i suppose at window 5 .

the interview

Vo..... Good morning

Me ...... GOOD morning

Vo...... pass your documents please

me...... i gave her my passport , I20 and sevis receipt

Vo........ why are you going to the US

me........ i am going to purse my master's degree in game design at Full sail university in florida

Vo....... what do you do for a living and tell me your duties at your place of work

me............ i am a data administrator and a game design at bet9ja and KC gaming , i maintain and manage our virtual casino games server , i troubleshoot when the server has a problem so the virtual games will easily be accessible to players and i also write the codes for our virtual casino games and i do graphic design for the virtual casino games .

I remember you dude, the bet9ja guy.. am so so happy for you.. at last you got it. Big congrats to you man

I beg o... University of Houston Victoria students... Help this young man coming to your place o... I need on ground contact... Accommodation and advices... Pls contact ASAP... please

lalahhh:
May I have you number pls . I need to talk to you

pm maybe?

Jason3206:
@Texrem and any one that can help with a mock exam I'll be very grateful
Please I need your help guys.

I'm new on this thread just 4 days now and I was deny visa last week.... please @TExrem how do I contact you?
Anyone that can help also please how do I make contact?

Send me a PM

Anyone in Upper Iowa University here or anyone going to Upper Iowa University? Make e no be like say na only me waka come.

Good day house, I will appreciate your advise and suggestions on this cogent issue bothering me.
I applied to a school in the US about 2months ago, I got a mail from them on Monday that admission decision will be reached in 3-5 weeks time. My concern now is that the fall semester that I applied for will start by sept 11. This suggest to me that if admitted, I will likely get a response from them by mid august, will still have to pay for sevis fee and also book for visa appointment. Do you think it is feasible for me to meet up with the sept 11 deadline cos I have to be in the US before the start of d semester.

Chiezzh:
I remember those times when I had to post my ds 160 here to seek advice on how to fill ....lagosismyhome almost killed me .DEETUS crucified me,THANKS TO DEETUS,TEXREM, LAGOSISMYHOME AND ALL THAT MADE THIS DREAM COME TRUE ... REP ETSU SPRING 2017...

So this is your moniker Chidozie, i quickly knew it was you due to your choice of font and your write up (Lagosismyhome will always say "World people" very funny

Dollypiizu:
Glory be to God
Visa approved this morning at Lagos Consulate 7am batch.
Transcript below..

V.O: good morning, How are you
Me: I'm fine, how was your weekend?
V.O: it was fine and yours?
Me: Good( I pass my documents to him, I-20 and passport)
V.O: why Texas A&M university- kingsville
Me: I chose Tamuk bcoz my dept offers a concentration in drugs and Substance abuse within their MS Criminology program and I am particularly interested in that area coz it's identified as a threat to global security
V.O: what other school did u apply to and name them
Me: Tamuk and University of Missouri
V.O: why chose Tamuk over Missouri
Me: I had a good relationship with Dr xyz who has an ongoing research in drug and substance abis and he was quite impressed with my statement of purpose and Gpa thereby making him to agree to let me join his research team upon arrival.
V.O: what did you study in your undergraduate and when did you finish?
Me: Sociology and Anthropology. Sept 2015
V.O Your visa is approved. Pick it up in 3 business days at the circled locations. Enjoy the rest of your day.

The grace of God actually worked for me coz the guy was strictest among the VOs available this morning. Pray and have faith in God, the. You'll be surprised at the extent you can go.

A very big thank you to @mathsquanta @icool @topdee who too there time out of a busy schedule to help me with mock interviews, may God bless you all and to all still awaiting approval. Read the transcripts on here, prepare yours, practice them don't cram and pray. You will definitely get it.
#letsgoTEAMFALL2017

Please I need some to help me with the interview mock sections

blacnewton:


Send me a PM

Please how do i send you a direct PM?
I'm new here and I don't know how this thing works.....

Temitope746:
same usual doc

Please which of the documents

Chiezzh:
I remember those times when I had to post my ds 160 here to seek advice on how to fill ....lagosismyhome almost killed me .DEETUS crucified me,THANKS TO DEETUS,TEXREM, LAGOSISMYHOME AND ALL THAT MADE THIS DREAM COME TRUE ... REP ETSU SPRING 2017...

Ah oh! I already forgotten! How are you my little friend?

Ndawe:
Visa approved this morning at Walter Carrington and the process was a bit tedious, I tire to stand. Also, the Nigerian staff at the embassy are so RUDE & NASTY; I just can't deal. Anyways, I got to the embassy just before 6.30am and my appointment was for 7.30am. The biometric checks and all that pre-interview stuff took a while (see crowd ehn) and it was quite stuffy because the A.C was having issues. So I was directed to window 2 and interviewed by who seemed to be a "new guy" because his supervisor was with him and kinda giving him instructions but they were both very pleasant and we had a few laughs. Here goes:

VO: Good morning and how are you today?
Me: I'm great, thanks and yourself?
VO: I'm fine, thanks for asking; can I have your documents please?
VO: Looks through my passport & I-20 and goes "I see you're going to study in the US, where and what are you going for?"
Me: I'm going for my doctorate in Environmental Sciences with a concentration in Environmental Chemistry at Tennessee Technological University (it was a mouthful sha)
VO: What do you do?
Me: I work as a QHSE Officer (I also said this in full) at Bleep Limited.
VO: How long have you worked there?
Me: Two and a half years.
VO: Okay, so how many schools did you apply to?
Me: I applied to 4 schools and received admission into 3 with two of them being funded offers.
VO: That's great, so why Tennessee Tech?
Me: I needed a school that offered this degree as an interdisciplinary program and will have me take courses across various fields of environmental studies such as Environmental chemistry, env biology, env agriculture, env policy etc; it's a fully loaded program really. I'd also been in contact with Prof. Tammy Boles who as excited as I am to be a part of her on-going research. I was also awarded a full tuition waiver and a generous monthly stipend by the university.
VO: Oh wow, congratulations.
Me: Thanks very much
VO: So who will be funding your studies and what do your parents do?
Me: I was awarded a full tuition waiver and a generous monthly stipend by the university; it's stated in my I20 and both my parents are civil servants.
VO: Oh Okay, nice, then he types for a while and stops to inform me that they've been having network issues.

He consults with his supervisor who was behind him all the while and hands him my passport.
So the supervisor faces me:
Him: Ah, I see you applied to Tennessee Tech; my daughter applied there also (at this point I knew it was sealed, signed and waiting to be delivered
Me: Oh really, that's nice. So I also engaged him in a conversation about his daughter and he asked me about my previous studies in the UK and we chatted for about 3 mins while waiting for their network to come back up.
Him: Brings out white paper and circles and says the sweet words "your visa has been approved". Have a lovely time in Tennessee and he returns my documents.

I noticed a few things which are not different from what others have been saying here:
1)Please practice and practice but DON'T CRAM. A couple of peeps gave very rehearsed responses, you didn't need to be a VO sef to know.
2)Make sure your facts are straight and go with the mindset that you're going to have a "nice chat" with the VO (they're humans)
3)Those hustlers can sell water to a well. You don't need them, prepare your documents from home and pay no attention to them.
4)Be in your own zone and don't let the plenty blue papers flying around distabillize you because it can, trust me.
5)Please study past transcripts here.
5)God rewards hardwork.


Oludare01; See you soon

Please, which documents was asked during Biometric, when you guys were on queue?

Mitchely:

Great suggestion. Please more of such advice, particularly for first time travelers like some of us will be greatly welcome. Unfortunately the life in US As a Student thread, where I think such would be addressed is no longer active.

Yes, we need a lot of such before the thread is flooded with Spring applicants seeking help. I have been reading through that thread you mentioned too, but exchange rates are not the same again (lol) and as you said, it's not active.

Congratulations @olarich30 and @Ndawe. Beautiful transcripts, less of traditional answers. All the best to other Fall and prospective Spring applicants.

Thank you so much

Capitas7:


Yes, we need a lot of such before the thread is flooded with Spring applicants seeking help. I have been reading through that thread you mentioned too, but exchange rates are not the same again (lol) and as you said, it's not active.

Congratulations @olarich30 and @Ndawe. Beautiful transcripts, less of traditional answers. All the best to other Fall and prospective Spring applicants.

TheGreat342:


Please, which documents was asked during Biometric, when you guys were on queue?

Have you filled your DS-160 form yet as this info you seek is there? Anyways as a student, ensure to have your Sevis fee recepit and I-20 in addition to confirmation of DS-160 Submission, appointment confirmation and of course international passport

Hi everyone, please is it now mandatory to upload your passport while filling the ds160 form? Or is the usual taking your passport along with you on the interview day. Thanks.

BloodyMitch:
Hi everyone, please is it now mandatory to upload your passport while filling the ds160 form? Or is the usual taking your passport along with you on the interview day. Thanks.

Its mandatory and compulsory to do that if you dont want to be sent back. Having successfully uploaded your passport still go along with a copy. All the best.

Ndawe, welcome to tech!
What a coincidence! This time last year,I got my visa approved

Capitas7:
Good day house. Congratulations to everyone who has got their visa approved recently. I have these suggestions and questions:

1. I am observing that most applicants prefer other organizations apart from WES. I would advise that anyone confirms with their prospective school first, if they accept evaluation from the preferred organization. My school precisely advised me to use WES then, and I believe there were reasons. I know this issue has been treated here a number of times, but this is my contribution: If you're an OAU graduate, to verify your status to WES, you'll visit Rm 204, Senate building extension, ans you'll be paying N2500 for the verification. You can send someone who has your full names to help.

2. As it's been said many times, one needs to prepare for the expensive initial living and administrative cost. Checking up the cost of a pair of jeans (N15.000 on conversion), I had to resort to buying as many wears, foodstuffs, toiletries (lol), even pen and notebooks before the day of flight. I'd advise everyone takes time to attend to these issues early while we're here. It's like a stitch in time...

3. I've been having this sleepless nights because of my health insurance fee. My school's default insurance is $2,995. How do I explain to my sponsor that he has to cough out a whooping N1m+ after scholarship? I've tried checking the third party insurance offers, and seen good bargains in the range $600-$2000 with the option of payment in installments, but my friend in the US is advising me to be careful so as not to be scammed.

My main question is: what plans do the schools have in cases where there's a delay? I've contacted the school on this as a new student, but haven't received any reply after many days. Thank you all as I await help.

Have you checked if your school accepts external insurance policies as long as it meets certain requirements firstly? Usually, that is much cheaper as you've probably already seen. ISOA is cheap and okay..There are other ones too. Do your research and post what you see here.

And for the jeans, buy your stuff from Nigeria if you can, at least till you get fully settled except you want Walmart Faded glory jeans