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Travel › Re: Canadian Student Visa Thread Part 13 by cuspy(m): 8:10pm On Aug 11, 2017

Phocusjosh:
I got IGES.
UMGF decision is march 2018

OK. Did you secure a supervisor?

Travel › Re: Canadian Student Visa Thread Part 13 by cuspy(m): 6:59pm On Aug 11, 2017

Phocusjosh:
Got 152 in quantitative, 147 in verbal and 3.5 in analytical writing

Did you get the IGSES or the UMGF funding?

Travel › Re: Canadian Student Visa Thread Part 13 by cuspy(m): 6:31am On Aug 11, 2017

Osemigho, I sent you a PM. Please kindly reply soon. Thanks.

Travel › Re: Canadian Student Visa Thread Part 13 by cuspy(m): 10:42pm On Aug 07, 2017*

DatechMan:
I think you have pretty good chances.
Note that you are not likely going to get any form of funding/scholarship. Also note that some schools don't favour international students when it comes to M. Eng.
Do your research very well. Aim and shoot.

Why is (s)he not likely to get any form of funding? UOttawa doesn't fund international students or they don't fund Master's programs?

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 12 by cuspy(m): 8:18pm On Aug 02, 2017

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 12 by cuspy(m): 8:17pm On Aug 02, 2017*

ponpon:
Visa approved. Transcript loading.... And yes I later got funding

Congrats man. Drop transcript plus the funding gist abeg.

Edit:
Just read your transcript. Congrats again, boss.

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 12 by cuspy(m): 6:17pm On Jul 20, 2017

charliejose:
Thanks a whole lot for the response. God bless you.
On the case of not being able to understand my dialect, it's not our fault o. Both parents are from different ethnicities and Dad was hardly around to speak it to us.

You welcome. Lol, Dads are never around. Why na?

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 12 by cuspy(m): 6:11pm On Jul 20, 2017

Fortunate4real:
is it possible for a graduate with bsc economics to get a direct PhD program or Msc/phd ( 5 years) in US,

i know of some friends in other field of study who got direct phd for 5 years but i have no knowledge about Economics.

please if possible, which of the schools?

Yes, it is possible but it depends on the calibre of the school. PhD programs are highly quantitative and requires substantial knowledge in Upper Level Mathematical courses such as Real analysis, Linear Algebra, Advanced Calculus (Calculus 3), Advanced Probability Methods and sometimes Point Set Topology.

So most times these courses are stated as prerequisites for top programs in Economics. Given the structure of the Nigerian education, a Bsc holder in Economics barely takes any of these upper level courses. This means by default, it is difficult for a Nigerian to get into a top program in Economics except;
1.) He minored some of these courses (especially Real Analysi, Linear Algebra and Calculus 3) from the Mathematics department while in school or was taught these topics in his "Mathematics for Economics" (which is unlikely).
2.) He has taken a Master's degree in Economics, Mathematics, Statistics or other Mathematical related fields. There's a good chance he will treat these topics directly or indirectly during the course of the program.
3.) He has taken standalone online courses in these areas and the school has no reservation for online courses. These online courses are freaking expensive and most, not all, of these schools frown at it. So he should confirm with the school before deciding on this option.

Alternatively, he could check lower ranked schools. The Mathematical requirement for such schools are usually not pinged upon "Upper Level Mathematics" as it is for top schools. Calculus 1&2, one or two courses in Statistics, Econometrics 1 & 2 is what is usually required for these schools and by virtue of one's undergraduate degree in Economics, one must have satisfied these requirements as a Nigerian. So with a high quantitative score in GRE, you are good to go.

For top schools however, a 170 quantitative score can never substitute prior knowledge in the aforementioned courses. This I think is what Gunther6 has always been trying to pass across to "direct PhD" hopefuls coming from Nigeria.

My candid advice to your friend is to;

1.) Get a school that can fund him for his Master's in the US or

2.) To get into a funded PhD program in the lower ranked (Tier 2) schools and then transfer to a top school after pedagogy year.

A little caveat comes with option 2, he should ensure that whatever school he picks will issue him a Master's degree after pedagogy year. With this Master's degree and transcript, he can then proceed to a top rated school.

I hope this helps?
**pardon any typo, no time to proof read**

8 Likes

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 12 by cuspy(m): 9:48pm On Jul 19, 2017

charliejose:
Hello ma'am. I'd like to ask if it's possible to get my local government of origin certificate at a liaison office in current state where I live. I've never been to my state of origin neither do I understand my dialect and it's very far from where I am. Or is it possible to use my state of origin certificate in Lue of the local government's for my passport application? I've already registered for the GRE, and this frightens me. Thanks in anticipation.

Yes, you can get your local government certificate at your state's liaison office anywhere. I had mine but I didn't take it along with me when I wanted to get a passport so I sharply went to my state's liaison office near by and I got another in less than 2hrs.

This one that you don't understand your dialect, na gobe oo. grin

. Just kidding tho. They will ask you a few questions to ensure you're from the state but all those ones na wash, they're just after your money. When you pay, you get it easily.

3 Likes 1 Share

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 12 by cuspy(m): 2:53pm On Jul 14, 2017

I hereby call for a census! And Electronic go be Jega grin

Fall 2017 approval rate seems greater than 2016 oo.

Well, wetin concern me? cheesy

3 Likes

Travel › Re: Canadian Student Visa Thread Part 12 by cuspy(m): 9:56pm On Jul 04, 2017

Osemigho:
Not compulsory but it's good if you have. Some already have projects they want you to work on, some are willing to develop a proposal with you, while others will enjoy reading a good proposal.

Personally, I didn't have at the beginning(July/August 2016) of my search and emails, got some supervisors, mainly "supervisor A and supervisor C.

Supervisor C had a funding proposal she applied for and was willing to take me in and fund me with it. Her department needed a general and non-proposal kind of sop with the full support of atleast a faculty member. Midway through the application, her proposal was refused and she sent me a "sorry I can't find you again email".

supervisor A school need more than a strong proposal. She supported me in drafting one in September-November 2016. I used the proposal to search for more supervisors in December 2016 (including my current "supervisor B" at University of Calgary).

The full gist supervisor A and B below.

While I was struggling to develop a proposal on infrastructure for supervisor A, after she sent me numerous papers on it, the inspiration for my proposal on waste came during my discussion with my undergraduate thesis supervisor.

I sent an email to supervisor A that "although I am going through the papers she sent, I notice ... about waste and would like to know what she thinks about it". Supervisor A replied that new topic is very interesting and I should focus on that. She sent more papers, I replied with SOP with a proposal paragraph. she commented twice and I edited. third comment was "this is good and should fly".

I adjusted the proposal to remove supervisor A details and school, and I attached it to a "searching for a supervisor for a proposed topic" email to supervisor B. Supervisor B commented "interested, and will like to know what graduate level you are interested in, Master/Phd".

Fastfoward, Supervisor A's school refuse me admission, supervisor B's school accepted me with 2 years scholarship. I am still waiting for visa.

So, If you are going for fall 2018, I will advise you start sending a well drafted personalized email, while developing or if you are finding it difficult to develop a good proposal. Good luck.

Sorry for the long post.

Really? You got supervisors without a proposal? Please how did you do it? What was the content of your mail? I have been hunting for supervisors for a while now. The techinque Ive been using goes thus; I read one of their papers and suggests a way it can be extendes to prove another similar concept. I've been doing that for a while now but to no avail. Did you ask for materials in your mail to supervisor A? I'll like to know the content of the mail to supervisor A, if you don't mind. It's unfortunate that her school rejected you in the end but she helped you develop a strong propsal.

1 Like

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 5:33pm On Jul 04, 2017

cuspy:
ElDeeVee Congrats on your admit.

If you don't mind, what is the name of your school?
Were you admitted to BGSU and were you given a GA position there too?

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 5:15pm On Jul 04, 2017

freudianslip:
with what I'm seeing online, I doubt if you could get something of that range (290-350k) to Indianapolis.

Bros, since ur approval on June 20, you no gree share ur transcript with us... e no good o

Lol @bold.

This is what Lagosismyhome refers to as world people grin

. How did you sharply find out he/she didn't share transcript plus the date of approval? grin

6 Likes

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 9:02pm On Jul 03, 2017

ElDeeVee Congrats on your admit.

If you don't mind, what is the name of your school?
Were you admitted to BGSU and were you given a GA position there too?

1 Like

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 10:49pm On Jun 27, 2017

shayhune:

I need mock interview for boarding the plane. Can you help out

cc princeGee23

Lol. This man is high on something grin

1 Like

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 9:49pm On Jun 26, 2017

shayhune:
Visa re-approved today 26/06/2017 12am batch. Transcript reloading. All Glory to God

Are you feeling fine?

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 7:19pm On Jun 02, 2017

Walspring:
Lol... But who want to lead when there are people who will stab those who will lead at the back.

Make God do the revolution for us and that's what we are waiting for

Lol.

Abi o. Amen.

Travel › Re: Canadian Student Visa Thread Part 12 by cuspy(m): 8:16pm On Jun 01, 2017

dapoddon:
I just wanna thank God and all the wonderful folks on this thread.

Timeline:
Online application: 20th April. (upfront medicals)
Biometrics :21st April
Original passport request :23rd May
Passport submission : 26th May
Approval update 31st May.

M.A Economics, U of Manitoba.

Major shout-out to Thesoj for his consistent service to this thread.

To all hopefuls, June is gonna be a great month already. May is signing out with huge testimonies.

God bless us all and may all of our dreams come through.

Congrats bro. I am a prospective applicant for MA Economics too. Can you give me an idea of your profile (gpa, test scores)? Was your admit course based or thesis based? If thesis, did you get a supervisor before applying?

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 5:06pm On Jun 01, 2017

Sweeny:
This is good. Very well analyzed dear. But on a serious note, I just wish the right things will be done by CBN and the Federal Government of course. The whole thing is taking a bad toll on us students.

Yes o. We cannot afford to postpone our visa or application fee today because the exchange rate is high because it could get higher or, if we're lucky, lower the next day.

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 5:03pm On Jun 01, 2017

Walspring:
Wonderful but CBN or FG don scam am no be small and that's why you see them looting in Naira and convert it to dollar since no policy checkmate source of getting dollar.

One of the biggest scam from CBN and FG so far.

I wish and pray they take all the money to heaven or hell fire where it is useless for them and they wont even have time to spend it

Exactly o. Only God or some massive revolution against the government can save us.

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 4:58pm On Jun 01, 2017

joeluv:
George Washington University DC and yes I did get the global initiative fellowship which comes with a $16k a year scholarship.

Ok. Congrats! I'm applying for Economics too. For fall 2018 tho.

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 6:03am On Jun 01, 2017

joeluv:
Please oo. I got my I-20 and my major is stated as business/managerial economics. While am going for Applied economics. Is this generalization the norm? Like will this cause confusion in the embassy.

Hello. Please what school did you apply to for Applied Economics? and were you funded?

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 9:16pm On May 31, 2017

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 6:45am On May 31, 2017*

Sweeny:
Come to think of it, I guess we've all accepted the 64k visa app fee? What about the Visa Officer who promised to get back to us?
Cc Lagosismyhome, Walspring et al

Nigeria is current operating a floating exchange rate policy. This means that the demand and supply of a foreign currency (dollar in this case) would determine the price of such foreign currency. The US embassy has absolutely nothing to do with the price a dollar would change for. All the US embassy does is to set its price in dollars and the current exchange rate would apply. You guys should decimate that erroneous notion that the official price of a dollar is #375, or #325, or #305 or whatever. Presently, there is no official price for a dollar in Nigeria as the exchange rate is floating. The CBN only made a special allowance for a concessionary rates which applies for PTA, Tuition abroad, Exports and some SMEs. This concessionary rate is what I believe nairalanders misconstrued as the 'official rate'. So, kindly disavow that notion.

In the near future however, if government pumps more dollars into the economy, I believe it would dampen the shortage of dollars in the economy which is solely responsible for the high dollar price. If this is done, the price of dollar would come down and consequently the visa fee. Remember, the cost of visa fee is fixed in dollars meaning that fluctuation in the exchange rate is what is responsible for the change in cost of visa fee in Naira. Pumping more dollar into the economy is only a temporary fix, the long-run fix is to diversify the economy such that export would be on a large scale. By so doing, there would be a natural influx of foreign currencies (dollar inclusive) through trade which would eliminate the scarity of dollar thus reducing it's price as well as strengthening the Naira.

But what do I know? I am no VO. I only used my little knowledge of Economics to analyze the whole thing and I hope you understand it.

5 Likes

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 9:29pm On May 22, 2017

Hello,

What was your profile like; test scores and GPA? Did you have a Masters before applying? Were courses in Real Analysis, Calculus 3 and Advanced Probability Theory prerequisites for your school? I'm also a prospective Economics applicant, would be glad if you kindly share.

Congrats on your admit and approved visa.

sirelawrence:
Hello everyone.
I want to appreciate you all for your assistance all through my Visa application process. I had my interview today, to God be the glory my visa was issued.
At first the way the VO were just denying people visa right before my eyes almost made me start shaking, but i kept myself strong and was just praying for favour.
He asked me wht my purpose in the US was for and i told him i want to go study for my PhD in Economics. He askedother questions especially about my previous studies.
He checked my I-20 form and saw that i was on full scholarship so he didn't ask me anything about financial statement.
Above all i bless God for favour and i also pray that we all will get our heart desires.

If anyone of you got admission to University of Mississippi do let me know.
#The University of Mississippi #Fall2017 #Travel plan next @sirelawrence

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 7:50am On May 16, 2017

Hi guys!

After approaching a grad coord with my profile, he replied the following. Should I be optimistic or this sort of email is usually given by grad coords to make everyone apply?

"Dear Cuspy,

All these credentials line up with what we are looking for in general terms. I would love to see an application from you so we could formally consider the possibility of bringing you into the Ph.D. program. The application cycle comes next winter. Please let me know if you have any questions as it approaches."

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 8:48pm On Apr 25, 2017*

I did not mean dropping out due to bad performance. I'm actually trying to figure if it's possible to get into a lower ranked PhD programme, do well and then use the transcript and certificate obtained after the first two years to apply to another higher ranked programme.

Edited*** Thanks for your responses. Just read through all your comments on the issue, I think I got what you were trying to say. Thanks again.

imperiouxx:
The two bold up don't go together. Why you 'dropped out' from the previous PhD program will call for questioning by the 'top ranked' PhD program. If you dropped out because of bad performance, that's a good reason for the adcom to reject your application when selecting prospective PhD students. Your dropping out is a bad business for the first program, the second program would have learned. My suggestion is for you to apply to programs with different varieties of strength. PhD selection is very competitive, you know this already.

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 8:44pm On Apr 25, 2017

Thanks for the responses @Analytics @imperiouxx @Mayflowa

Travel › Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 11 by cuspy(m): 9:53pm On Apr 24, 2017

Hello guys!

Is there any disadvantage of dropping out of a PhD programme after obtaining a masters degree after the first two years and then procceding to get into another top-ranked PhD programme?

Education › Re: How To Achieve High Scores On The GRE by cuspy(m): 9:54pm On Mar 27, 2017

RexCheeng:
Recently took the GRE.

Big kudos to those who constantly via this thread, sew into our lives. (pun intended)
I am equally honored to add my little quota to the existing plethora of information on this thread.

The GRE isn't a test of intelligence (as they say at the beginning of most texts), it is a test of how well you can take the GRE (Cliche right?).

#Selah

Congratulations bro.

Education › Re: How To Achieve High Scores On The GRE by cuspy(m): 6:33pm On Mar 18, 2017

shayhune:
And that's how I got a mail from my grad cord yesterday that I had been awarded tuition waiver and graduate assistantship blablabla.... All glory to God.

Undergrad course and GPA: Computer science - 3.63/5.0
GRE (Verbal and Quant scores): 309 (152V, 157Q, 4.0AWA)
TOEFL scores: 96 (26R,19L,23S,28W)
Work Experience: 1yr as a graduate teaching assistant during NYSC
Papers Published: None
Number of schools applied to : 1 (Bowling Green State University)
Program: MSc Computer Science
Date of application and decision date: Applied Nov 24. Got admission Jan 12, got funding decision March 17.

For those expecting decisions, you'll get a positive one soon.

Congratulations.

Education › Re: How To Achieve High Scores On The GRE by cuspy(m): 12:04am On Mar 07, 2017

fredoricko:
3rd decision; 3rd admit
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Ms Electrical Engineering
315/108/4.04

Congrats man.

Did you get my last email?

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