₦airaland Forum

@ gongo aso: U r too funny. Thanks. I go follow your advice, it seems straight forward. I also have a US visitors visa at the moment and did my undergrad in the UK yet I'm in Nigeria to get a students visa. I think that proves I have no intention of running away from Nigeria.

No vex. You're right. I should have been more specific. I'll let y'all know the outcome of my interview which is in Abuja next week.

Mehn. U dey fear me. He isn't my uncle uncle. Just one of those close family friends that I call uncle. He was a guest at my graduation if that helps and I only had three guests including my mum. All this talk of affidavit to me seems a bit much and as u said they didn't ask u for it. My mum' been paying all our overseas fees for years and the guy just wanted to do something nice and its seemingly turning into a nightmare. The best I can do is take the graduation pictures, take my mum' statement as well as his and hope it goes well. But I honestly dont think they'll ask for proof that we are blood relatives. If they do I'll say we aren't and show them my mum's statement instead.

By the way congrats to God pikin. I just read the post about your interview and it was funny as hell. You know I've never actually met anyone who was asked for their financial documents. So when r u jetting off to University of Florida? That's a very solid school especially for engineering.

@ OjaP: Why can't you just use your university transcript as it appears? The US embassy never asked you to translate your results.

If it stated family funds I'd certainly use my parents but it states my uncle's name which is not the same surname as mine. And you know we didn't start using birth certificates in Nigeria till fairly recently~ 40+ yrs. All in all I will pray about it and I reckon I'll get the visa. If they stress about my uncle I'll just show them my mum's statement and hopefully in 3 weeks I'll be in yankee.

@ God Pikin: Thanks for your words of encouragement but how do I prove my relationship to my uncle though?

@ chiazogom: Yeah I had the exact same issue. Just try explorer, if that still doesn't work then call the vfs guys since they are the ones who manage the website and not the embassy. I wish you the best.

I had the same problem. If you use internet explorer you should be okay. Can someone please answer my query about three posts ago.

Hey guys, great thread. I am in a bit of a unique situation. I've been to the US several times and currently have a visitor's visa so I am not a stranger to the US embassy at all. This is my problem: My uncle promised to sponsor my Masters degree program wherever if I made a 2:1 as an undergrad which I did. So I put my uncle down as my sponsor and this is reflected on my I-20. I have all the neccessary documents from him. However I read on this thread that if the sponsor is not the parent it is potentially problematic. I otherwise have all my documents in tact, good GRE scores etc. I was exempted from TOEFL from all schools I applied to because I did my undergrad in the UK. I also have my parents' statement and a letter from them saying that if my uncle's offer of sponsorship is not sufficient they r willing and able to sponsor me. I should have just put my parents' as my sonsor in the first place. Another issue is that all my siblings r currently studying in the US with F-1 visas and I gather from this thread that this could be an issue. Do u think the embassy officials will give me a tough time over these two issues or am I overthinking this whole visa process? Thanks.

WTF? This guy is damn near crazy. He assaulted his wife as though she was a farm animal and is now asking to be awarded N10bn in damages. If this was Law & Order SVU Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson would have his highness locked up by now.

SHILPA.IYR:
Hey, I have applied to univ of alberta, I send them the application on october for fall sem 2010,

However,I havnt recieved any news or updates yet!!!!

My course id chemical engg, Anybody who has recieved status updates from U of A

It's getting pretty late mate. Better call em up tomorrow. Some schools assume you're no longer interested if you don't check the status of your application from time to time (e.g. Texas A & M).

SEFAGO:
Grad schools want research potential and good grades. That's why they are more interested in academic superstars than practical people.

True that. My bad.

SEFAGO:
I was just looking through facebook, and I noticed how several people I knw who worked hard to attend top schools in the US (Like not US citizens who did not have to be the best of the best like most international students), and I noticed all work for investment banks now lol especially Goldman Sachs. Its funny because I nearly went that route junior year. I had done the networking, the extracurricular, and all the right things then I bailed out. Infact one of my classmates, he works for a major IB, put a lot of pressure on me because he said that my GPA+science major+being a minority would make me an easy shoe-in. I actually dont regret it because I doubt I would have loved it.  

Anyhoo, I think I am digressing way too much but I have this major question:

Did the GRE help anyone at all in this cycle because it did not for me?

There was also a time I really wanted to do investment banking. It wasn't until my friend (now at Harvard) who really, really wanted to be an investment banker did an internship there and complained about it everyday that I changed my mind. In the UK all you need to be an investment banker with the likes of Goldman Sachs or a consultant at Deloitte et al is a 2:1, decent A levels, answer their application questions in certain ways (which can be found on a certain website) and pass the SLH math tests and you're in for an interview at least. Cambridge/Oxford give an edge but everyone has a chance unlike in the US (From what I perceive).

Yeah, I feel with the GRE once you have above average math and verbal scores relative to the department you're applying to it doesn't count for much else (it's just used as a screening tool to keep departmental GRE averages high). Important thing is to work hard during undergrad to get a stellar GPA of 3.7 or above (or a first class), good research experience with a renowned professor and a few publications. I had absolutely no knowledge of any of this when I was in my final year of university. Frankly I used to think the US educational system was similar to or inferior to the UK's system where a 2:1 (even a 2:2 for some) is generally all you need to open doors to the best schools. Cambridge and Ocxford may specifically ask for 68% and above but otherwise 2:1= ticket.

What grad schools miss however is that the grade does not an engineer make. I know several engineers with 2:2's who will wipe clean the asses of those with a 1st anyday in industry.

Issue resolved. Appointment booked. Thanks all

DASLEEKY:
HELLO HOUSE, FINALLY SETTLED FOR TUESDAY, JULY 13TH,  WELL I WORK, AND WILL BE BREAK BY THAT PERIOD,  PLS I WANT TO ASK,  MY SCH IS IN MINNESOTA,  and my I-20 says that I AM majoring in "Applied Math". the prog is actually "Financial Mathematics" or better still "Master of Financial Mathematics"?
   but  the sch has this on the programs website:

"Please don't worry about this -- it is correct. Not all major titles are part of the SEVIS system and so sometimes we must assign the closest name possible to your actual major that is a SEVIS choice, in order to issue your I-20."


How much of a big deal in this @ interview,  plus my available funds is 39k while total cost is 30kplus on the I-20,  this shud be ok
@Seadog, many thanks and wishing u the best oh as your date draws nearer and nearer
people do let me know what ya think

Please how did you resolve the issue? I am getting the exact same message now. Sad thing is that I had already booked an appointment but embassy emailed me ans said I had to cancel and re-book since my case type said renewal when it is actually "regular".

Okay. Well naturally I'd expect the schools listed to have much better graduating profiles than a student from London South Bank (God forgive me). I will also expect Harvard students to do much better than someone at a third tier university in the States. Speaking of Harvard, my cousin who currently attends told me that they rarely ever give grades lower than a B-. This makes the outside world think all the students are doing okay at the very least but the Harvard folks would know your'e doing rather badly if you have a B-.

SEFAGO:
Also 80% of the grades in the UK are first class and second class upper which makes it difficult to get less than that.

Infact I usually respect Nigerian first class students (In terms of intelligence) ten times more than a UK first class or a US summa cumlaude or magna cumlaude though I do sometimes doubt the quality of there education.

Woo. Chill on that  80% figure SEFAGO. Where did you hear that? In my mechanical engineering graduating class only about 44% of us graduating had a 1st or 2:1 and that was an exceptional class (the year before me had an even lower percent - like 38% or so and only one first class). That 80% figure is waaaaay out there. There are a lot of useless degrees in this world like Furniture and Desk Design whereby you can sleep and party all year long and still get a first class. Take statistics with a grain of salt besides the actual figure is more like 56% nationwide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_undergraduate_degree_classification) and doesn't consider those who drop out (at least 20% of my mechanical engineering class dropped out in the first or second year).

These figures I've given you are still quite high compared to back in the day but the UK engineering degrees (at reputable institutions) are not a walk in the park. With regards to your friend who went to Imperial, maybe he became more serious and maybe the guy in unilag slacked off. I barely got the A level grades I needed to attend my uni but came out close to the top. People make progress.

SEFAGO:
i have always wondered why ChemE always has so many firsts in Nigeria? I remember in secondary school all the best students wanted to study ChemE.

My secondary school in Nigeria was the same. A lot of the best and brightest opted for chemical engineering in places like Imperial, Cambridge, Loughborough, MIT and Stanford. The others (like me) did mostly mechanical engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering and to a lesser extent non-science related degrees like economics and business management. I think the reason for the high subscription to chemical engineering at the time we were choosing our undergrad programs was due to this belief that chemical engineering gives easy access and is very relevant to the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry which is one of the most lucrative industries in Nigeria (for now). The funny thing is chemical engineering really relates more to the downstream sector (refining etc) which is not what most people are aiming for. That said you can still get into the upsream sector fairly easily with a chemical engineering degree (2:1 is the requirement in the UK) as well as with a mechanical, civil, geology background etc. But I've heard from a lot of people that those with a petroleum engineering background are paid a bit more for the same job (don't know how true that is).

So in summary, it could be that those who opt to study chemical engineering are generally brighter, have more foresight and are career driven/motivated from the onset which let's them perform their best in school hence the first class degrees. It could also just be that chemical engineering is easier than say mechanical engineering (I've had this argument too many times in the past and don't want to go back down that road).

That said I think examinations worldwide are easier these days than they were in my father's time. He had all  A's for his London GCE's (further math, math, english, physics and chemistry). For his WASCE he had 5 A1's (math, chemistry, geography, biology and physics ) and 3 A2's - now called B2's - (further math, french and english) and won several national level competitions (this was in the sixties and seventies) yet he didn't get a first class in his civil engineering class from Unilag (he did have the best result that year however at 69%). These days I read about first class results up and down Nigeria and the UK (me I only got a 2:1 so I shouldn't even be talking). Perhaps we have just become smarter with time or maybe it's easier for us because we don't have to use all those archaic tables they were forced to use in the time before calculators.

In a not completely unrelated matter have you heard of Robert Lee Satcher Jr. The guy has a BS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT plus a medical degree from Harvard. He is now an astronaut for NASA. Talk about brains!

SEFAGO:
Interesting article on H1Bs but from 2 years ago:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/washington/01visa.html?_r=1

Thanks for the article SEFAGO.

Yeah the US visa thing and green card is a real problem. Unless you marry an American, win the visa lottery or are an Indian/Chinese programmer/software engineer it is really tough and takes years. It seems America makes it easier for illegal immigrants to become citizens than for people who have worked very hard to get there. That said my friend who graduated in December or so got a job as a computer programmer in March with excellent, excellent pay and his employer has already filed for him.
I have actually done some research into this and I noticed that some industries (such as the oil service industry and especially the software/computing industry) are quite generous with granting H1B visas to their worker. I really believe if you are the best at what you do in America the sky is the limit.
But yeah in the UK if you get a job after graduation there are a series of visas that all but guarantee you'll become a citizen so long as you remain employed. Also I don't think you have to stay with the same company in the UK as you do under the H1B scheme.

I can't speak for the state of the UK at the moment since I left in October last year first for Washington DC then to Nigeria for NYSC express (heading back to USA next month hopefully). I do know that a lot of my friends with good grades from good universities are still trying to find jobs after graduating a year ago. But since you have a job that is not your problem.

The reason for my general dislike of the UK isn't something I can easily place a finger on. But I will try my best to give reasons for my dislike of the country.

I really dont like the UK for a lot of reasons. I have visited the USA (mostly Washington DC but also Texas, Tennessee and NYC) at least once every single year since 1988 (when I was 2 years) and love it. I've never had that feeling from the UK The main reason why I don't like the UK is based on my year of working there. It appears to me that in the UK, unless you are in Investment Banking or perhaps with an oil company in Aberdeen there is almost always a low glass ceiling especially if you're an engineer and even moreso if your'e a foreigner. I don't perceive this to be the case in the US as evidenced by several of my relatives over there who have done good. I really think the US rewards you based on your ability more than the UK does. Also in the UK you are taxed like hell when you start making a decent wage. That's why health care is free along with many other things. You also generally get a considerably lower wage than your US counterpart in the same job at the same company even though the cost of living is higher in the UK.

Aside from the job aspect I feel the UK is way too close to Nigeria for comfort (nothing against Nigeria - I love it - but when I leave somewhere I like to know I've left it), the weather is genuinely depresssing. My family friend who graduated with a 1st class degree in chemical engineering from Cambridge in 2003 got a job at HSBC and was making six figures in no time. Last year in the midst of the economic downturn he quit his job and went to the US to do an MBA and to get work over there just cos he didn't see a future for himself in the UK. I have another friend at Goldman Sachs who is desperate to move to Nigeria or the US and several friends with ambitions to migrate to America. There are several cases like these of people making a relatively good living in the UK being fed up with the country. That said, a lot of my friends love it. I wouldn't mind a company transferring me to the UK to work for a few years but I wouldn't want my career to be anchored in the UK.

I assume you are going into a high tech area. Ask yourself where most of the greatest innovations of the last three decades have come from and you'll find it's the USA. The innovations made by the Brits often have no appeal until Americans inject life into it. For example the internet was founded/invented by a Brit working at CERN but it took Americans to make it a truly world wide web.  I want to be among such innovative people and hope it rubs off on me so I can take some of that innovative and entrepreneural spirit back to Nigeria. The UK is shifting more and more towards a purely service based economy. They don't focus on technology as much as they used to and that is worrying to me. In fact as soon as I started working at this fortune 500 multinational as a mechanical engineer, all the assembly plants where outsourced. All the workers except the business/marketting/HR people and engineers were relieved of their duties. The UK doesn't manufacture cars anymore and it'll only be a matter of time before engineers are also outsourced except the UK wakes up and takes charge of it's future.


The one thing I really liked and miss about the UK is their chicken and chip shops . Also the customer service in the UK is one of the best I've ever experienced. They are a friendly and caring bunch in spite of the bad weather. Don't be intimidated by their accent if you choose to go there. It makes even the dumbest person appear brilliant (in my opinion)

Speak to other people you know in the UK before you make any rash decisions.

Is it GRE related or UK education related? You can email me using bebure@hotmail.co.uk

SEFAGO:
Hey bebure- I need to ask you questions- do you have gchat?

No I don't. Sorry. I can't imagine what you'll want to ask me that you don't already know though.

I am reviving this thread dammit. Other people still need it. Looks like Seun deleted the last few posts.

Fido:
Please is there any school that can take me without GRE and TOEFL, actually English is my first languauge,  But i'm nigeria and presently in nigeria. I am applying to UNT and UH now, 
Please guys i need guideline on what to do, i want to be there this fall 2010, 

thanks ,

To answer your question Fido: NO. No half-assed school in America will accept you without the GRE or MCAT or GMAT depending on what you are studying (engineering, english, physics etc- GRE, medicine- MCAT, law- LSAT). As for TOEFL, I didn''t have to do it because I did my undergrad in the UK. If you have studied in Nigeria all your life you'll most likely need to take TOEFL as well. There are some exceptions though with regards to TOEFL- If your GRE Verbal score is above Texas A&M University waives your TOEFL- but it's rare.
Even if you did find a school to admit you without GRE you would have an uphill battle in securing an F-1 visa except se your name na Tokunbo (better Tokunbo oh, no be say your mama born you for Togo). I hope I've helped you.

Wow! I never knew soo many Nigerians were interested in getting an MBA. But is there really any need to denigrate aspiring petroleum engineers? I'm starting an MS in Petroleum Engineering this year but I want to do an MBA after getting four to six years experience in the oil service industry so I can set up a firm that is truly competitive on a global scale. If I don't get into the likes of Harvard, Wharton, Sloan, Kellog et al I wont even bother wasting my money. I've compromised my education too much already because of cost e.g. passing up on UCL for a less expensive university.
SEFAGO you seem to be on any and every board regarding higher education LOL. I'm pretty sure I read some comments - a lot of comments - you made on collegeconfidential a while ago about the superiority of US universities over those in the UK (btw I agree with you- US beats the UK hands down).

This is just silly. If I were IBB the only thing I'll be running for is my life. How can someone who destroyed a country for 8 years, institutionalised corruption and committed crimes against humanity have the audacity to run for president. In a normal civilised society this guy would either be behind bars, or would be living a sedcluded life where he can't enjoy his ill-gotten wealth. But here, baboon politicians (Gbenga Daniel comes to mind - I wonder what Ayodele Awojobi would think of him now) are busy championing him as the best thing since sliced bread. But we know he isn't the best thing since sliced bread because we've had this dictator before and the only thing he is is the worst thing since a rotten tuna sandwich. God forbid.

This is a load of crap. I have been in Nigeria for exactly one month and there hasn't been a flicker of light since I got back. And for two months before.

SEFAGO:
Anyways guys just came back from some soul searching discussions- I am technically done with my cycle- I would not be putting concrete info, but this is how my cycle went:

100% naija Boy
GRE: 1490/1600 (790 math 700 V)
GRE subject test: 910/990 (99+ percentile  )
College GPA: Graduating with honors (Around high second class upper/close to first class equivalent)
Class Rank in Department: Probably in the lower part of the class (The top 4 students in my departments will be attending Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, Washington University Med school. The middle pack consist of a couple of guys going to Goldman Sachs/Mckinsey/Bain and Citigroup as well as lower schools like Columbia and then me , olodo group). Dont let grade inflation deceive you- a lot of people in my college where phenomenal especially in my department, and this comes from a very talented science student.

Research: Actually very average (around a year). Worled on several projects though.

Schools applied to: This is going to be hard. I would start with the easiest.

Accepted: Yale (PhD), MPhil Chem Engineering Cambridge Uni (20,000 pounds  ), ETH Zurich+ (Some insignificant British schools)
Rejected: Harvard (Interviewed then rejected- these guys have so much money, man they are like a corporation , I stayed in their hotel- made sure I ate all the free food there, trust bush naija boy) + 12 other schools (Lots of Ivies and other top privates- all in engineering)

Did not like New Haven much, the people where nothing like the people in my undergrad. Not as social as I wanted. I did like the academic culture though- it was brilliant. All the professors seem excited at the work they were doing. I met so many oxford/harvard/MIT people though, in the department I was applying to. Also they seemed to have a high opinion of my undergrad like the snobs at cough cough the big H which rubbed my ego a bit. Got  interviewed by a Nobel laureate too. I felt a bit intimidated but stood my ground during the interview. There was like no black male in all the three departments I got interviewed at. They have like 2 Nigerians come to the whole of Yale Grad school each year anyways, so makes sense.

All in all I did not get into where I wanted.

If you got into Yale for a PhD in Chemical Engineering and Cambridge for an MPhil in Chemical Engineering and you are part of the "olodo group" then I'm guessing everyone above you had a 3.9 to 4.0 GPA and 1550 and above in GRE with two or more years of research done under some nobel prize winning chemistry professor.
Not many schools in the world are better than Yale or Cambridge in anything so you have a lot to be proud of. You must have worked really hard to get there. Looks like you applied to almost 15 schools in the U.S. That must have cost a fortune- but at least you got into Yale which more than makes up for any rejections. Have you decided between Yale and Cambridge?
I'm just happy my folks don't know you. They'd be giving me a very hard time right now if they saw your stats. They still haven't stopped busting my nuts over my two cousins who got into Harvard last year. Congratulations.

To everyone who has contributed to this thread thank you. Your advice has been of significant value to me. I will visit this thread from time to time in case anyone needs help regarding the GRE exam, converting British/Nigerian degrees to GPA and other grad school admission stuff such as statement of purpose.

I have been admitted to study petroleum engineering in Louisiana. Still waiting to hear from some other schools but this school has some solid industry links (especially with oil services companies like schlumberger) so I am more than happy to attend it. Plus its not too expensive.

My Stats: GPA:~ 3.5 or Second Class Upper (64%) in Mechanical Engineering; GRE: 760 Q; 550 V; 5.0 AWA; One year work experience as a mechanical engineer & One year materials research (structural adhesives) all completed in England.

Superbrain:
Hey guys,

Got my first admit today- Phd Chemical Engineering. Expecting to hear from the department next week about financial aid offers.

Congratulations Superbrain!!! What school accepted you?