Like I said all cases are different, I was just pointing out to somebody who replied and said saying internship is a red flag, because it has worked for a lot of people that I know personally. All fingers are not equal and what worked for me might not work for him/her . Besides from the look of things I think this person just posted a summary of the transcript . The answers seemed a bit dry but you posted some important points I hope they can learn from

fairheart:


What is the cost of attendance for this program?
Like others have said, one cannot really know all the reasons a visa was refused, although some applicants' cases are obvious and can be perceived if they articulate how the interview went. The current embassu section, I think, is not willing to put any applicants on "administrative processing." At least, so far, I haven't seen anyone placed on AP for bank statement verification. What does this mean? During the short period of interview, VO assess whether your tuition is too high (unreasonable for some programs, and if no scholarship or GA) or "affordable" (VO might feel this cost is not bad for this degree).
I want to say that these consulars look at things and make judgement--based on applicants' program COA, program, age, background, and chiefly, response to interview questions. This is why I always emphasise on not selecting a very expensive school if GA or scholarship will not be available. This is my opinion; I am not a VO!

Likewise, one of the things I make sure applicants don't do during mock interview is start a response to questions, such as why this school the way you did. Where is personalisation and talking like a student that you are? "I chose the University of Illinois because..."

@Buksss. You said you and your roommates said the same thing Peacock1234 said to Why this school, and you all got approved? When did you get your visa? Did he really need to say the same thing?

If I were to say something about his response to why that school, I would tell you it didn't go well. He simply left off benefit of courses, research interest, working with a faculty member, and then straight to internship--the last reason there can be? Internship is available in Nigeria too. Is this the only reason a student would want to go to the US to spend $30-something thousand (I assume this is your COA). MSF at the University of Illinois has some very hot concentrations, but you did not talk about that. I think the VO was not convinced that you're a credible student, hence your refusal. A few things work together to earn that credibility during the short interview.
Situation changes, so you can still get your visa.

My point still remains, you do not know the exact reason for refusal, you just have an opinion. And I’m not saying it should work for the person, I just gave a valid point to prove your point wrong because you sounded so sure. But bless your soul. Love and light �

Loloking:


You’re right I might probably be wrong but again the fact you and your roommates got it doesn’t mean it will work for everyone. Every vo is different. I still think why this school was the reason for the denial. I am not a guru but i started reading nairaland from part 12 and with what I have read and answers to give, what works for A might not work for B.or maybe funding was also an issue. Like I said I am no guru so maybe fairheart can give an insight.

Public service internships do not come with post employment opportunities because state governments agencies cannot file for you . But I like how you replied the person in question .

Ftos:


The place you were asked: Why did you pick the school is the major question. Your starting doesn't really look perfect. Other things you Said might be good in your own hearing but might not be perfect too. Maybe you should do mock interviews with people next time. You will surely get it by the grace of God.
Lest I forget! You should have avoided saying internship. Internship means you are working and most internships come with possibility of post study employment. Even though, they have, you should have avoided it for the sake of a "NON IMMIGRANT VISA". So, that you don't make them to suspect you. But at latter end, you shall have it, by the grace of God.

Well you’re actually very wrong . I am currently a student of one of those schools and my reason for coming here was the internship , my roommate and most of my friends gave the same exact reason and we’re all granted visas. I benefited a lot from this platform before coming here and I posted my transcript here about a year ago. Something else which we do not know might have gone wrong. Before that let us not discourage people by jumping to unknown conclusions. God bless ❤️

Loloking:



This is why someone asked that you share your transcript but you have already assumed your interview Had no faults, your response to why this school is the reason for your denial. Internship screams you are going to work. The Vo’s are more concerned if you will come back after school. But you went saying they offer internship and worse you had no funding I presume. I pray you get a date to another appointment but you have to prepare more by sleeping on nairaland and see how the gurus have helped with answers. Goodluck

Hey.... good morning guys just finished my interview and I learnt a lot from this platform :
Visa approved in Lagos embassy this morning
VO: good morning
Me : hi good morning
VO: can you pls tell me why you’re going to the US ?
Me: for my masters in public health with environmental health at university of Illinois at Springfield
VO: how did you hear about the school ?
Me: I did some research with educationusa and google
VO: how many schools did you apply to ?
Me : I considered two schools but I eventually decided not apply to just UIS
VO: why?
Me : they have a graduate public service program that would provide me with two years work experience alongside my degree
VO: who is sponsoring you ?
Me: my dad
V0: what does he do
Me : owns his own company and I carefully explained what they did
VO: have you been out of Nigeria before
Me : yes , South Africa , Dubai and US
VO: then he asked what year I was in the US and how long (2014 for two months)
VO: are you married ?
Me : no
VO : any kids
Me : no
VO: when do you resume ?
Me : 13 January 2020
VO: can you tell me what you plan to do with this degree long term upon graduating ?
Me: I plan to come back to Nigeria and take exams to be a certified environmental health officer , the international exposure and the internship would look really good on my resume and also on the long run I would really love to work with ngos to bring awareness to mental health and depression in Nigeria
VO; why public health with conc. In env health ?
Me: I chose this course after my internship at Nigerian breweries I worked in the health safety and risk Dept , I took serious interest and when I got bacj to school , because of my undergrad course I had to speak with a health physics professor who advised me to take electives like energy and environment , environmental physics to make the transition easy
VO: what’s your undergrad ?
Me : physics
( made me wait for then longest one minute of my life )
VO; okay I’ll be approving your visa , do you have your 40k with you ?
Me : yes
Hands me my passport and directs me to where I paid
( I just want to say a big thank you to everyone , I was a silent reader from thread one and I leant a lot , my best advise for anybody is Be confident . Just talk to yourself to calm down for 5 mins and you’ll Be good .
For those asking ;
I wrote gre , Got 300
Fees were about 35000 :
No scholarship

08127650399.. pls somebody should kindly add me to the group . Thank you

Davidkking:

Omo texrem sef no dey reply mail oo......cuz someone explain to me how to go about it let me direct my uncle in US on how to pay.....me sef wan pay

You can go to fmjfees.com , fill in your 1-901 form , when you do that . There’s a coupon you’ll print . Your uncle can either pay by mail (this takes about 5 days ) or courier , or he can take the coupon to western union with the money and transaction would be received immediately. Instructions on how to pay would be on the coupon . Go to fmjfees.com to register first

Brown2Green:


Apparently everyone can get on campus job upon arrival so that's no big deal. You have a little impression to create if you have a mail from the professor stating intention to engage you upon arrival.

That being said, you were denied for B1 is of no bearing with your F1 as long as you didn't mess up your stay in the US.

For your fees , you better have your dad or mom funding you.
Because coming up with uncle or aunty is not ideal especially as the sum is this high.

I did say anyone going to the embassy without funding should be going with an IVY school. That way the VO is eased at issuing Visa.

Get the IVY or get the Funding.

What's the return on Investment of a maters in public health back in Nigeria with a deficit of $35,000 from a school that is not an IVY?
That's basically how the VO might weigh it.

Thank you so much.

Good evening house ! I’ve just recently joined and I got admission for my masters in public health at UIS . The school mostly offer graduate assistant and there’s a graduate public internship one that I applied for also . Now the problem is , you get employed after having an on-campus interview ...so on my I-20 there’s no mention of this.. I’m getting a little scared cause of all this funding funding talk (background story : I’ve been issued b1/b2 twice before , got denied last time ) so the tuition on the i-20 is about 22,000, total fees are like 35k . Is this like a red flag ? Like is the tuition too much , I got SOA to support it though.