₦airaland Forum

There are few things, i regret but one of them is not going to do engineering as an undergrad. All the international students, I know,  all go into finance or consulting. A lot got jobs at google but i think it was also consulting.

Ehn , omo na USC, or some ivy league school you dey?  because google no dey even smell our side at all, na so so oil and gas companies dey reach our place.

So do oil companies discriminate in hiring foreigners?

Not all, some of them take only permanent residents (green card holders) or US citizens but majority of oil companies would take anybody, it just differs from state to state or from major to major, if you go to Texas, i have lotttts of friends working for oil company. I was at my school's career fair the other day and only 4 out of the 84 companies that came only hire H1-B's. If to say i be Engineering student for Caltech or Carnegie Mellon, no company for talk that kind nonsense

In all, I will advise you to pursue your dreams. You might just land the perfect job you desire. A man's gift maketh room for him.

omo, my dream is to start my own consulting company but before that, i want to work on wall street and gain a lot of experience in finance.
In the long run, my desire is to be a public policy maker for naija in education. I would also love to be a principal or an administrator of some primary school in some rural area in naija where education is desperately needed like Ebonyi or Yobe so i can give poor kids a free world class education so that they end up at Dartmouth, Brown or Cornell. But like most people in that article posted earlier, i wanted to go make tons of money first in the private sector so i can take care of my family then when i am set i can go become a public servant. I am still young sha, so i still lots of time.

Disguy,
Thank you o jare, now you see why i am always advocating an ivy league background. If this guy had not gone INSEAD or Ecole Polytechnique, Ecole National supiere (some of the best engineering schools in Europe), and INSEAD (one of the best business schools in the world), THERE IS NO WAY HE WOULD HAVE WORKED FOR MCKINSEY.
I told my finance teacher who goes to wall street every year and has lots of friends over there that i wanted to work at wall street and she told me that those companies are heavily biased towards target schools (read: ivy league) and for someone like me who wants to own his hedge fund and doesn't want to be like the average naija guy who works for an oil company, that was bad news.

Heard about this naija girl, she got an offer at Well fargo, and she got it repealed (in their information technology department). Poor girl, considering the fact she is an international student. She managed the impossible and got a job in America, got it repealed, b4 she even did the struggle for work visa.

To make matters worse, the US Senate, planned to make provisions (i dont know if they ever did)    - wanted to make sure investment banks receiving bailout funds  could never hire foreigners, because "it doesn't make sense to hire foreigners, when the banks can hire Americans, the one who are financing the bailout" Immediately I heard that one, I knew all was over

I feel sorry for the girl, nowadays getting a job in yanki is incredibly tough especially if you are not a science (read: engineering) major. I wish i had studied engineering at times, i could probably have been working in the oil industry in Texas by now  .

By the way, the resolution passed long ago, companies who take TARP funds cannot hire H1-B's. So sad.

omo, sefago, that is the most depressing thing i've ever read. Goldmann also needs to read this stuff. My main aim was to go make lots of money in finance first as a CFA before ending up in public service in naija (in the education sector) or becoming a secondary school teacher or principal (this are my biggest passion right now), now it seems that i would just go get my CPA instead of going into finance then and stick with accounting or start my own business, cheiya .

i didn't see any nigerian names in the cast or crew. weird. i'm still waiting for a feature film on this man's life and jamie fox better not even think of playing him

The guy who played him on broadway looked very impressive.

wow, so quickly.

There is a new production of Fela in the USA. Fela is being immortalized on broadway.


http://www.felaonbroadway.com/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA_g2rFaJHw&feature=fvw

http://naijablog..com/2008/08/fela-musical-by-bill-t-jones.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/theater/06fela.html?ex=1218686400&en=da659b2601425b36&ei=5070&emc=eta1

yes I know, i initially wanted to leave nairaland because it was beginnning to affect my studies a lot (I failed my Ordinary differential exams because i could not stop looking at nairaland) and I waste time on it when i have papers to write for school. I also have a thesis to write which i need to graduate. but i found out i am addicted

Also, i have an incessant fear of the internet, I feel what i post here will one day come to haunt me, I dont know if thats true. So, I try to modify controversial posts. And in addition, I dont want people knowing too much about me, which i have indicated on my posts.

This is one of the reasons i decided not to join facebook because it was so addictive, now nairaland don hook me. What a shame.

Far more than columbia's IEOR program (industrial engineering/operations research) which is also very very hard to get into.

I wanted to apply to that program at columbia but i missed the deadline. This program is one year and it is different from there mathematical finance program which is two years (the one i applied to that rejected me). I spoke the head of the dept. ( i can't remember who it was , i think it was the world renowned Emanuel Derman or Smirnov) but they told me they only take engineers.

Ouants build most of the models used in bulge-bracket/Boutique I-banks which would be used in derivative pricing. They are less famous than the Investment bankers, and earn far less. They are the ones with the brains though and are usually in the back office.

My guy this was one of reasons i decided to 'fashi' being a quant even though i got admission to some other school. I realized that the investment boys make the cash and that "quants" hardly ever make partner at the firm. So i am like why would i want to kill myself for 2 years while boys who have a lesser degree are make more cash than i am? i just decided that doing something else that would pay better would be worth it.

A typical Nigerian who will insult others based on differences of opinion and when such insults are responded to in kind he/she will begin to complain and claim to be the aggrieved. The unwarranted insults by idiots like you have made a lot of good posters leave this section of the forum and it is strange that you do not even know why many have left.

As regards your statement that you used to respect me I must state here and now that I do not need idiots like you to respect me, just stick to the issues raised on the forum.

AFAM, YOU ARE A VERY VERY VERY STUPID IDIOT. OLOSHI OLORIBURUKU.

Credible news source to you just as some of the so called financial services consultants have gone bankrupt. What parameters do you use to determine or establish credibility of anything?

THIS BUTTRESSES THE FACT THAT YOU ARE AN ABSOLUTE IDIOT. How the heck is a magazine like "the economist" a financial services consultant? OLODO RABATA. I don't blame you, you are just a product of the system (the Nigerian educational system).

But physics/computer science Phds comprise a large majority of the quants on wall street, if not you need like a double masters or a grad degree in financial engineering. I used to think princeton's ORFE program was the best.

Princeton does not have a business school (they have an econs. dept.) but they have a quant program under the name of MSF (masters of science in finance). This is a strict quant program thought by people from the econs, math and computer sci. programs.

For one, I thought US universities don't accept people from Nigeria straight out of university for PhD programs (They are usually expected to do a masters first) graduate because of the standard of nigeria's tertiary education, It being below that of other academically rigorous countries, For example, Like India (IITs) and China (Tsinghua and Peking University) schools which are not facilities/Research wise equivalent to MIT, but are at par academically have students flooding the PhD programs of top schools after there bachelors. However this is not the case especially if you attend premier universities like UI, University of Lagos and OAU, and have a high GPA because then these top schools would assume you are one of the best in Nigeria, and they would try there best to take you.

My friend came from OAU and came directly to do a PhD in chemical engineering, so it is still possible.

why Abuja of all places? They will recover a bunch if they do set up check points in Lagos.

adex, you are right jare.

yeah, i want to study a masters at berkeley because there program is the best (just ahead of Cornell's).

Columbia is more expensive than columbia though.

Right now, "quants" are being blamed for causing the meltdown but you are right about the physics thing, when i went to Morgan Stanley i met an indian guy working there who did a PhD in physics and i was kind of surprised.

do you know where i could get the song on the web? The one on youtube is not that clear.

nex:
Bialegend, ignorance in its pure form is not really harmful. It is when a little intelligence is brought into the mix that makes people like you very, very dangerous.


Please download a map of the Biafran war path and even you will giggle when you see how far they went. Most of their so called invasions were just strips of roads they passed through. I'm sure when you become more informed, you will change your ID from Bialegend to Biafable.

ha ha ha haha

eldee
I LOVE "THAT FUJI THING" A LOTTTTTTTTT.

ha ha ha ha ha, where is ocelot2006, the nigerian army cheerleader, he should come check out this topic. he he he he.

ikole all day, everyday.

grafikdon:
1. Saw a homeless oyibo man doing 'Babi All-ah' outside JFK what a morale 'booster'

2. While on a field trip to the Bronx zoo, a gorilla came close to the glass partition right in front of me and gaped at me for a few seconds. One of my oyibo classmates said (loud enough for people in Afghanistan to hear) the gorilla was thinking '' Hey (insert my name), what are ya doing out there? Come and join me, my brother''. To cut the long story short, I was called a monkey's brother.

3. I saw serious mounds of raw poop in the subway. . .

Chineke God of Saudi Arabia!!!! Na shock upon shock o- - - even 'area boys' for Manhattan fleeced the daylight out of me. They charged me $17.00 and put me in a yellow cab, telling me it was the fare to Queens. Little did I know they just played me for a sucker, because you don't pay no yellow cab in advance, you gotta pay what the meter reads at the end of ya journey. . .

What the heck,  did you slap the oyinbo boy.

poster,
your story was funny.

mama gee
Princeton (just like Caltech) does not have a business school but it has an economics department though.

Have you considered the great minds that you would meet in an Ivy league MBA? The decision makers of tomorrow
Forget about the profs think about your classmates these are the brightest students all over the world. They have an average of 720 in their GMAT. A congregation of champions. In  your class you would meet the CFO and managers at big corporations, Guys with 10years experience at Hedge funds and Private Equity, Top government and brilliant personalities even future presidents of the US and other western countries
Thats enough to kill for.

I have a friend Burak he had a perfect SAT 1600, He had a GMAT score of 790    . These are the kind of guys you rub minds with

dayokannu
Thanks jare, i remember when i wanted to be a "quant" (financial engineer) and i wanted to apply Cal (Berkeley), i checked out the profile of some the students in the program, omo , my guy i panicked, i just decided not to apply again as it would be a gross waste of time.

[quote author=don_ciccio link=topic=192402.msg4514483#msg4514483 date=1252540890]Guys/consultants i need your directive and advice. I wish to apply for a masters course in oil and gas in a university in ukraine. Tho i've HND (upper credit) Chemical Engr'ng. and presently running a masters prgm in project mgt in a nigerian university hoping to round up by April 2010.
With my HND can i be considered for Ukrainian MSc pgm in oil and gas? Also, what is required of me?[/quote]My guy go to yanki. There are great schools for oil and gas like;

The Colorado school of mines http://www.mines.edu/graduate_admissions
Texas A&M University at College station http://admissions.tamu.edu/international/gettingin/waysAdmitted/grad.aspx
The university of texas at Austin http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/admissions/programs.html
University of oklahoma at Norman http://gradweb.ou.edu/
University of Tulsa http://www.utulsa.edu/academics/colleges/Graduate-School/Admission.aspx

Even if you don't have the money, you can apply for something called a graduate assistantship. This allows you to work for a professor as a research assistant or teaching assistant while they pay off a significant part of your tuition. If the school doesn't have an assistantship for you then don't go there as not all schools have funding. It is also better that you apply for an assistantship earlier, preferably when you are applying to the school, as they hand them out quickly. Some schools require you to already be a student before giving you an assistantship as they would require you to take an exam first, while some schools would give you an assistantship along with your admission. Its your job to do research by calling and emailing the school.

You said it's sad that some of our brightest brains end up at little-known schools. Have you ever wondered if that's what they can afford? I have a friend whose younger brother is in the medical field. Same got admission to JOHN HOPKINS but was unable to take up the admission as the fees were rather high for him (and you know how difficult it is for a foreign student to get a loan without a co-signor). Instead, he went to University of Georgia where he was given a scholarship. Now tell me why he did that? Not because he doesn't have ambitions, but because of the fees, and also University of GEORGIA may have ambitions of breaking into the Top-five league of medical schools.

Texmex,
I am not talking about those who can't afford, i am talking about those from wealthy backgrounds in naija. Some guys don't even know about rankings at all. As far as they are concerned "school na school" (all schools are the same) in yanki. They don't know that there is a difference between going to the University of Chicago or Northwestern and going to the university of mississippi.
Also, another point i want to raise is that a lot of naija students lack ambition, as far as they are concerned, all they want is to go work for an oil company. You don't hear of any innovation at all. That's why i am advocating that they should all target these top schools. Going to these top schools would "open there eyes" and they would realize that life is not all about the oil industry. If these students go to Stanford or Caltech it would help them a lot better than going to Texas Southern University.
The best indian, chinese, and israeli students go to the top schools meanwhile our finest and most brilliant students go to Montana State and they start feeling like they are the best in the world. Why don't we have our own Sergey Brin's and co's?


Sagamite, this is for you http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/08/0821_most_successful_immigrants/index.htm just take a look at some of the schools that this guys went to.

There are lottttttttttttttts of pretty people with tribal marks. In fact, i think some tribal marks are really, really cute.

So why are some of us advocating top schools regardless of the cost? Maybe we believe that we could change our country by making them aware that we are behind in the world and that we have to catch up fast. davidif started this post out of selflessness, to make people aware of business schools. He didn't do this to show how knowledgeable he was about business school or to talk about his significant business experience like some people.

Or maybe those of us who attend prestigious universities are tired of being the only black faces in multitudes of whites/indians and chinese  and would want our country to develop. We are also aware that entrepreneurship cannot start from nowhere, you need the experience to start a viable business option. You need exposure and sadly that exposure is absent in Nigeria. Maybe we have become aware that the only way to join the global order is to learn as much as we can about that global order. Maybe we sit in our classes where they talk about emerging economies and no African country pops up. May be its the fact that we are only known for 419 and it would be nice if we are known for something else like building businesses.

SEFAGO
Thanks a lot i am doing this out of my selflessness because a lot of our Africans don't have information. Its sad when some of our most brilliant students end up at Mississippi state university or the University of Alabama instead of the University of Pennsylvania or Carnegie Mellon University.

(Probably my greatest motivation for cosidering STANFORD is that statistically it is the most difficult MBA to get into; Quote me anywhere, the acceptance rate is less than 10%, This is what attracts me, I would never ever follow the path of less resistance!!!)

Goldmann
I thought you wanted to work on Wall street? If you still do, it would be better if you went to a good school in the Northeast like MIT, Columbia, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, Brown or Yale. In fact, i would prefer if you considered the University of Pennsylvania which has a better B-School than the others. The UPenn Wharton school of business is even ranked higher than Stanford.
Now if you want to work in the venture capital sector or in Sillicon Valley then you might want to go to a school on the west coast like UC Berkeley, Stanford, (caltech doesn't have a business school but it has an economics dept. though). I am not saying that there are no Stanford boys at Goldman (there are lottttts of them) but i am saying that location, location, location really matters in these things.

All the same, we cannot rule out the backward mentality so many Nigerians have, Ive got Managers and Assistant Managers in my office who say stuff like:
"What are you looking for abroad"
"Harvard is a waste of money"
"People in the U.K and U.S are suffering, they cannot compare the quality of their life to ours in Nigeria"
"If you travel abroad as a Nigerian, you are destined to be a cab driver or a morgue employee".
Hilarious as these statements may seem, they are actually true! Such narrow ways of thinking, In the mind of my Branch Manager, the only thing necessary (regardless of your career goals) after a first degree is ICAN! In his words, ICAN and not a Harvard or Stanford MBA will take you anywhere!

Goldmann

ose o for that comment. Its amazing how soooooooooooooooo many Nigerians have that mentality even here in yanki. A lot of Nigerians are in mid level schools and they love to feel that there schools are as good as the Caltech's and the Brown University's.

I must confess i respect your position on this topic, your arguments are all brilliantly outlined.
If young African minds begin to gear their thoughts on being an enterpreneur rather than being a better or more qualified employees, then Africa will definately rise from its current level of mediocrity.

An Ivy league education prepares you to be an enterpreneur especially in the long run. I was watching a documentary the other day about the founder of the Ethiopian commodities exchange and she went to Cornell University.
Even if you don't become an enterprenuer overnight, you can still work in KKR, Goldman Sach's and some of the top firms in the world thereby gaining valuable experience which would help you start your own business. For example you could start your own boutique firm that would focus on one aspect of finance which you have expertise on like giving advisory roles on M&A (mergers and acquisitions) or any other field that you are very knowledgable at.

adebayor's the man.

Member: Miss bond

Pix: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?action=profile;u=27915

Description of pix: face shot, red top

Says to me: Are you intimidated? I am cool though. [And whispers] I kinda like you.

sagamite
This is a classic thread ha ha ha

By the way, miss bond is very very very intimidating but at the same time, she is still cool though.

Member: hotteju

Pix: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?action=profile;u=371819

Description of pix: green dress, hand on hips

Says to me: I can see from the corner of my eye that you want to come and toast me, but you never get the liver. I am leaving in a few minutes.

hotteju is extremely intimidating also, especially in that pose. I wouldn't even approach in real life, my liver go cut abeg. 



By the way, bkplur is incredibly hot.

Office hours simply means that the lecturer or proffessor has certain designated hours which he uses to focus on "one on ones" with his students. For example, if i have a problem with a problem in my class, i would go meet my proffessor.

Sagamite,

Its Idealistic I must say. quality cost money. Even in the US you cant compare schools in the hood to those catholic private schools which charge a lot.

If you want quality you must pay, Most of the time mediocrity is cheap.

Just like in anything Gucci is expensive while the aba made "Reebox" is cheap

Buying C ronaldo is expensive while Opabunmi would be cheap.

Quality education is expensivebut its a sacrifice for the future.

That is what i have been trying to tell them. Even Barack Obama took out loans to go to Columbia and Harvard just like a lottttttttttttttts of American students at those schools decide to. If Obama had decided to play it safe and not risk it or if he had the same Naija mentality that a lot of folks here have, i guarantee you that homeboy would not be in office right now. Nigerians need to learn that an excellent education is a business investment.

I repeat Stiglitz and Krugman would never have your time. It is just a sales pitch for the biz school to get their hands on your $100K.

Sagamite
HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF OFFICE HOURS?? In yanki, people actually take that seriously my guy. If you want to learn, why not learn from the best?

There is nothing like an excellent tertiary education. Going to an MIT instead of a Uni of florida is not going to improve your intellegence. Whatever you become in this life is 90% of your internal intelligence schools only provide an enabling enviroment for you to nature them.

Candylips
Did i just read that from you? Intelligence is something that you develop and the school you go to helps you develop that. You want to tell me that if you leave LASU and go to Caltech that you would not be smarter. I don't know about you my brother but i can definitely say that i definitely know a lot more than i did when i was in naija.
There is a famous quote that somebody made, i think it was Albert Einstein, he said that there is one thing that can be expanded beyond limit and that is the human brain (or something like that).
Oh, by the way, THERE ARE EXCELLENT TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS.

Way to deflect the responsibility away from yourself by blaming your player. Mr. Shuaibu Amodu, just resign because you are incredibly incompetent.