₦airaland Forum

It won't matter very much if you have a great score in the GRE and if the rest of your application looks good. Good work experience can also help to enhance your chances. I know someone with a 2.2 who qualified for admission to a top 20 business school so don't worry too much about it.

BTW, most schools require you to have at least a 250 on the TOEFL to qualify for admission.

You could also do something relating to the recent bank consolidation program.

Getting your F1 visa is 50% luck but its also 50% preparation. Some things can enhance your chances of getting a visa. One is the school you're going to. Someone going to Harvard for instance is 1000% more likely to get a visa than someone who gets admitted to a community college somewhere. Second is finances. If you cannot clearly show that you have the money (and by this i mean you or your parents, not your sister's friend's uncle's stepbrother) for your education, your chances also diminish. If you have a scholarship it helps your chances as well. The third factor is you as an individual. How intelligently do you answer questions? Be prepared to answer questions like why did you pick the school you're going to? Why that course of study? What is your goal after school? (And please don't say you want to remain in the US to work. Even if that is your intention, tell them you intend to come back and work in Nigeria). One other thing, if you've travelled before, especially to the US, you are more likely to get a visa. Hope this helps.

You don't need either one. All you need is your undergraduate transcript.

Hey guys, cud u please elab on what u mean by "good application", in terms of
1. Academic Qualification (1st class, 2-2,e tc)
2. Standardized Test Scores.
3. Essay(s)
4. E.t.c.

Thanks!!!

Academic qualification: A GPA of 2.8 on a scale of 4. You may get it without that but the rest of your application has to be stellar.

Standardized test scores: In the GMAT, at least a 600/800 for less competitive schools and 660/800 for good schools. On the GRE, i would say at least 1300/1600 but some less competitive schools could give you a scholarship with a lower score than that. SAT, definitely at least 1300/1600 because scholarships are rarer for undergrads.

Essays: Interesting very well written essays. Check out http://www.usastudyinfo.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=2.

Others: Great recommendations. That is very important. A lot of people want their MD at work or the VC of their school to write their recommendations. The problem is that usually those people don't know you very well so they write you a template recommendation. In actual fact it doesn't really matter if the recommendation is written by your peer at work or a junior lecturer, the most important thing is that the person knows you personally and can say very nice things about you.

Consultant! a 1460 in the GRE!

i bow o! I had a 1430 and i was giving myself a pat on the back until i saw this indian geniuses with a 1500 and 1550!

The verbal section blew my teeth out!

I had actually been hoping for a higher score but like you all said, the verbal in GRE is something else. You learn tons of words only to see a whole new set in the exam! Anyway, the best strategy really is the flashcards. Also if you can lay your hands on the Kaplan Test Prep CD, it has really nice word games that you can play and that will make memorizing the synonyms enjoyable for you. All the best.

Ha! I am sorely tempted to send this to my bank manager, except he would probably charge me for the time he spends reading it!.

David,

Your story touches me very much. It also underscores a very important point. Money is important in this world (anyone who has ever suffered for lack of it can tell you that), it is also important to the church because without it we would not be able to do the work of evangelism commanded by Jesus. Where then do we draw the line? Your story explains it perfectly. Where the pursuit of money requires you to carry out actions that contradict the word of God.

Ok, I will take deep breaths. Uhhh, Ahhh, Uhhh, Ahhh

That's a good boy

On a separate note, thanks for advertising my site.

That would be moi _{although i started the thread so is that allowed?}

Nairalanders, Help Me Thank Zahymaka O!

He just helped me redesign my website www.usastudyinfo.com for virtually nothing. If you've ever visited my site and you go to it now, you will see that the difference is clear. Who says Nigerians are not good? Nairaland is truly a place to meet good people.

Wow! A reply after so long! I tried that and the fruit still sank to the bottom. Thanks anyway.

Ngozi Okonjo Iweala
Charles Soludo
Pat Utomi
etc

These are professionals; professionals in what they do. They would make a very good cabinet, but would end up as 'bad' heads of state.

How do you know that? Are we saying that the only way to be a good president is to be bad at what you do professionally? Nobody starts out in life professionally as a politician. Obasanjo became the President first out of the Army, and then out of farming. How did any of these professions qualify or prepare him to be a good President?

Let's stop encouraging the riff raffs in this country who have turned politics into a meal ticket and besides politics cannot succeed in life (that is why they never want to leave) and let's vote for people who have proved themselves capable in what has already been committed to them.

@cosultant,what career changes have you made?

I started working in a bank after i got my BSc. Left to work for Arthur Andersen, didn't like it, went back to banking, ended up in Accenture (business consulting), got an MBA, now doing Human Capital Consulting. Final destination is a PhD in some education related field - possibly educational management. Goal is to own several schools in Nigeria, sometime in the future.

My parents shipped me off to Science class in SS1 - no questions asked. By SS2 i knew that Physics and Chemistry were not for me. Unfortunately i didn't fit into Arts class ( i didn't like government) or commercial class (hated commerce) either, so i created my own class - social science and ended up being the only "Science" student in my school who didn't do Physics and Chemistry in SSCE. Since i wasn't sure yet what i wanted to do with the rest of my life and Medicine was now out of the way (my Dad was really sad to know that) i decided on a nice ambiguous course that i could do almost anything with - Economics. Turned out to be an excellent decision because I've been able to make several career changes with that foundation.

Did you apply for it? Which scholarship foundation was that?
Were you expecting to win it?
Was the entire process transparent?
Would it have jeopardized your chances of the MBA, if you hadn't won it?

Lastly, how did you feel?

How do you feel now after the accomplishment.
Is it paying off?

Too many questions,

Hmm, many questions alright but i'll try and answer them. I got the scholarship directly from the school. Emory's business school automatically considers all their applicants for scholarships based on the strength of their applications. I had a pretty strong application and a high GMAT score so yes, i was expecting to get a scholarship. The process of course, is entirely transparent. No be naija now.
As for my chances without the scholarship, i say NADA coz 45,000 dollars aint a small amount of money and my father is a retired civil servant so there is no way i could have paid the fee, hence i was definitely elated to get it. The ROI is even better - i got one of the best paying jobs in my graduating class.

After my MBA, i got a $20,000 scholarship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW). It was to fund my PhD at Harvard's Graduate School of Education but i had to suspend that to focus on my family.

The bottom line is get a very good score in the GMAT or the GRE, put together a strong application and you stand a good chance of getting a scholarship - in the US anyway. The UK is not as easy coz most organizations that give scholarships to school in the UK require you to return to Naija afterwards. The Ford Foundation also gives out scholarships and you can get the application in Nigeria. Check out my website www.usastudyinfo.com. It has a lot of information that you will find useful and links to scholarship sites. All the best.

I would give the money to the Fountain of Life Church food kitchen to be used in feeding the poor.

I was just talking about this with my parents yesterday.
Well first I'll build my grandmother and grandfather a big house, then I 'll open a big business.  Once my business gets big I'll build a complexes (arpartments) and a big school.  I will put all the orphanages and beggars that be under the bridge and stuff in there.  Cause it seems to me like the disabled people in Nigeria don't get to do anything because people look down on them.  I will give them free education and open business for them to work  because after school in Nigeria there seems to be no jobs

All that with $50,000?!

lol, @ consultant,
take another look at the list of players and you'll see that they are not football players (except taribo) then you'll get the joke.

lol@myself. Thanks for clarifying.

I did my MBA at Emory University, Atlanta on a full scholarship - $45,000.

At the risk of sounding ignorant, i think i'm out of touch here. I thought we didn't qualify for the world cup?

This guy is either a big joker or a big fool. Either way, please let's get back to discussing politics. Do you think the third term ammendment will pass in the Senate? All human beings may answer.

Is an online typing job even logical? If they are going to send the material that you will type to you online then won't it already be typed?

Does she have the following of Chinwe Ejiofor (who I also adore)?

Do you mean Chiwetel Ejiofor? He's just acted along side Denzel Washington in "Inside Man".

Checkmate anyone!What I would give to watch it over again.

I still think that's the best soap opera that Nigeria has ever produced.

Seun,

Stop hyperventilating!

I'm not in any way promoting masochism, in fact i would never teach my children that way because my dad and i still have issues till date. It was meant to be a joke but i have to admit, i do owe my academic success to him. Despite his faults, i appreciate the way he took time to teach us when we were younger.

@consultant, minesweeper is a push-over.

Really? How many seconds does it take you to complete the expert level?

Sorry Daddy doesn't want his pics on the internet. That's half of him holding Lizzy over the computer

For our SSCE, that was when we showed the stuff. I did my Maths paper without a calculator and had an A1. I also had an A1 in F Maths.

Hmm Zahymaka,

That's some accomplishment there, i'm proud of you. _{sorry i get excited when people do well academically.}. What are you studying now? Anything Math related?

I'm like,  "do u remember when u beat me and my hand swoll up? He'll say "yeah, u were slacking on "compund interest".

That sounds like my father beating the pythagoras theorem into me, and i was still in primary school then! I can't complain now though, because i owe my academic success to him.
Let's have more comments please.

I see you are wasting no time -- teaching her to type and such

More like she's disturbung us when we try to work . thanks for the compliments.

Why is it important

I'm still waiting for someone to answer my question.