₦airaland Forum

I am so sorry I am posting my transcript late. I did my interview 22nd of May, 2018.

Vo: Good Morning
Me: Good Morning; I have a little cough please bear with me.
Vo: No problem
Vo: What do you want to do in the US
Me: I am going to Florida State University to study PhD in educational leadership and administration with a special focus on improving the quality of basic education in developing countries: beginning with Nigeria.
Vo: what's your background
Me: I have bachelor's degree in educational management at AAUA and masters degree in educational management at University of Ibadan.

Vo: when did you finish your masters degree
Me: 2016

Vo: what have you been doing since then?

Me: I worked for an NGO then later got a job at.... And I told her my job description.

Vo: do you know the name of your advisor?
Me: Yes, Dr... Stammered several times. I had 24 messages with this my advisor with Skype call and I almost forgot her name. I later mentioned her name.

Vo: what will this course do for you
Me: Over 10.5 million children are out of school in Nigeria and I hope to bring up strategies, techniques and methods to increase the access to basic education. I will also be part of a project done in Nigeria sponsored by United States agency for international development. I stammered when I wanted to mention the name of the project. In fact, that was why I was given full tuition wavier and stipend.
I also look forward to being a professor and a consultant of educational leadership and administration with a special focus on improving basic education in developing countries.

VO: Who will pay the remaining bill on your i20($7k plus) ?

Me: My brother. He works as software quality assurance engineer at...

Vo: Can I have his bank statement?

Me: sure!

Vo: when did your brother go to the US?

Me:Please , I don't know

Vo: I am afraid your brother is in Georgia

Me: I kept quiet

Vo:who is he?

Me: My step brother, the same father but not the same mother.

Vo: ok

Vo: have you traveled out before?

Me: Yes, I went to Dubai for a conference

Vo: are you married?

Me: No

Vo: do you have children?

Me: No

Vo: Pick up your visa. I didn't hear anything again.


My latest profile is summarized below:

> Undergraduate CGPA: 4.1/5


> Masters degree CGPA: 5.8/7-- best graduating result.

> Two conferences attended

> Two publications

> One paper accepted for publication

> Four online statement of accomplishments

> One conference paper

> One workshop attended

> Two professional qualifications

> GRE scores: 297 ( 148- verbal and 149- quantitative) and Analytical writing is 3.5

> New GRE scores: 296 ( 144- verbal and 152- quantitative) and Analytical writing is 3.5

> TOEFL: 87

> Few years of teaching experience.


> Currently working as Education and Policy Officer at a school of security

> Currently the head of content development for an NGO



@ Femi321, @Lagosismyhome and others I appreciate you so much. Femi321, I remember your contributions when I posted my profile here. I appreciate!

Hi everyone,
Just a quick question. Please I could not find program level or educational level on the ds160 when I was filling it. They only asked for course of study and I wrote my course:" Educational Management". is that OK? I have submitted and booked a date though.

[quote author=Sorelee post=67183583][/quote]Thanks so much for the information. I appreciate! @Lagosismyhome... Thanks too.

@Lagosismyhome. does that mean I need to tell him to DHL it?

your response sounds like recommendation though not a "must"

Naughtyvirgin:
Just curious ma'am, there's a need to know, it's more or less an additional knowledge for me.

I read through a post here whereby it was stated that the SOA has to be an original copy and not scanned when going for an interview. But since his bro resides in the States, how would he get the SOA , by mail or still scanned?
Pardon me for being inquisitive

I actually got the scanned copy and it was approved by the school. However, I don't know maybe the scanned copy will be accepted during interview.

Hi
I was given an in-and-out of state tuition wavier together with a monthly stipend in Florida State University for a PhD program. However, the international center of the school asked for a statement of account with at least $8000. I quickly informed my elder brother who resides in the US, he is very ready to sponsor my education, to send his statement of account. He sent it 17th April, 2018 with a balance of over $10,000 from Wells Fargo bank. I have been issued my I-20 and I intend to go for visa interview by ending of May, 2018. I would like to confirm if I would need to collect the recent statement of account since the one I collected will be more than 1 month by time I go for interview by ending of May.
Thanks in anticipation!

Hi lagos NIV,

I was given an in-and-out of state tuition wavier together with a monthly stipend in Florida State University for a PhD program. However, the international center of the school asked for a statement of account with at least $8000. I quickly informed my elder brother who resides in the US, he is very ready to sponsor my education, to send his statement of account. He sent it 17th April, 2018 with a balance of over $10,000 from Wells Fargo bank. I have been issued my I-20 and I intend to go for visa interview by ending of May, 2018. I would like to confirm if I would need to collect the recent statement of account since the one I collected will be more than 1 month by time I go for interview by ending of May.

Thanks in anticipation!

femi312:
Hmmm, yeah I agree its not how far but how well.

I absolutely agree with you guys! However, there is no point spending over 150k on exams and not trying my "grace, but not luck". If the stuff doesn't work, no big deal! I will surely try again. Remember, Success is not impossible and success is also not of high likelihood. In all, I appreciate you guys!

femi312:
All the best, just make sure the schools are not one building schools as we refer to them here.

I would love to send the name of schools to you, but I would love to do that privately.

femi312:
In as much as you made a very good point, admission committee also understand that not all aspect of a student application will be good. They understand some students might be deficient in some aspects, that's why they consider all application holistically. Same admission contacts have also adviced potential students in the past to explain any sort of deficiency. You also need to understand that I am different from you, you are different from me and he is different from us. What works for me or you might not work for him. If he feels other aspects of his application are excellent, nothing is stopping him from giving it a trial, and if it doesn't work, he still has your advice to follow.

Thanks for this! I am actually applying to four schools and I got good responses from most of them. I don't have anything to lose. If I don't get in this year, I will retake TOEfl and GRE next year and apply again next year. Two applications submitted and two to go!

Ph. d in educational reforms at the university of Arkansas

My latest profile is summarized below:

Undergraduate CGPA: 4.1/5

Masters degree CGPA: 5.8/7-- best graduating result. 


Two conferences attended

Two publications

One paper accepted for publication


Four online statement of accomplishments

One conference paper

One workshop attended

Two professional qualifications

GRE scores: 297 ( 148 verbal and 149 quantitative) and Analytical writing is 3.5

New GRE scores: 296 ( 144 verbal and 152 quantitative) 


TOEFL: 87


Few years of teaching experience.

Currently working as Education and Policy Officer in a security school. I got promoted of recent.


Currently the head of content development in an NGO

Recommendation letter from 1 prof, 1 associate prof( my Master's degree advisor and H. O. D.) and 1 senior lecturer.

I got this message from a Grad Coordinator; please learn from it.
Dear Sir,

 

Thank you for your kind words.

 

All application processes are competitive. I can’t predict your chances. Those depends on the size, the depth, and the quality level of this year’s applicant pool.

Next year’s pool may be better, same, or worse. There is no predicting that. Despite lower than desired GRE scores, we have admitted applicants who showed evidence of clear and consistent promise

that gave us confidence they would be successful and that therefore funding them would be a good investment. I can recall as an example, an international student who had an undergraduate degree from the top university

in her country, a master’s in education research methods from another good university there, showed that she had significant quantitative methodology skills (statistics, econometrics), had a very good TOEFL score, showed unambiguous indications of strong motivation and hard work  etc. In short, there was more than enough there in the file to act as counterweight to the disappointing GRE score. We look at the overall file of each applicant because we have had some applicants with high scores and very good grades who failed within a year. There is more to a good meal than just the spices. I cannot predict what would happen if you applied this year. All I can say is that success is not impossible

and that success is not of a high likelihood. If you wait a year, you would have the opportunity to conduct a systematic and thorough GRE and even TOEFL preparation to improve your scores. I understand the financial challenges of that on a typical Nigerian salary. An application now costs money too, so you must decide whether the risk/reward ratio is satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

 

Look again through the program and read the course descriptions. What preparation, skills, and abilities would you need to be successful? What do you have other than the GRE that would convince you if you were on an admissions committee and saw that file in a box with fifty other files? Admissions means choosing a few out of the many.

 

We will give your file the same careful review whether we receive it this year, next year, or even two years in a row.

Fenix:
Okay so here's the thing... Administrative processing is not the same for everyone and there are a variety of situations that can trigger your application being put in AP. My situation is very different from yours. 9 years ago I used to work in the US under a work visa.

I was interviewed on the 11th of August. After the interview, I was told that I would have to undergo further AP. On the 16th I checked my status and saw that the visa had been issued.

I was placed in AP so they could verify that I had indeed been under a work visa.

What questions were you asked, if you don't mind me asking?

please which school are you going? and what's your profile like?

Fenix:
Bro, we are in this together. I am also going for my second masters degree. The first I had was in finance and now I am going for a masters in education policy. Totally different fields.

Here is what I think. It is up to you to decide what you feel is best for you, not the VO. You should really think whether another masters will truly get you where you want to be. Perhaps going for a PhD straight is the better option. In the end though, it is up to you. Whatever decision you make, follow through fiercely. You have a scholarship of $20,000. Fight for that. Apply again.

I pray that it ends up well with you bro. God bless!

Mr fenix, which school are you considering for masters degree in educational policy?