₦airaland Forum

Osemigho:
1: I know the effort and that feeling after negative response. Sorry. Just keep sending well crafted ones. Also, I think your email should briefly talk about your proposed research topic, in one stand alone paragraph, while you attach SOP to the email. That will make the email less overwhleming to read and less strenuous for you to compose.

Did you apply to other schools?

2: 4 applications submitted and under review. praying for positive response.

3: lolz. Checking my cards for more options. Anyone here should endeavour to do same at our leisure time, especially waiters of admission and visa decision. Gathering more knowledge reduces the pressure of waiting. I know more of the process here than there. Seeking more knowledge. They say readers are leaders. Lol. I no fit run leave this house. 2 years and counting..

4: that is the spirit. It will by God's grace.

Nice tips man. Yea I applied to other schools tho equally competitive....I.e. UBC and Toronto. It's good to spread it tentacles by gathering information of Express entry. I know it's favoured masters holders, law graduates and people with ACCA certification that are not so old...early thirties. Schooling in Canada also gives a good opportunity to secure PR visa so u keep d embers burning on both fronts

Megziflips:
Thanks for the feedback.
This is a rather unique case to me - where an applicant is conditionally admitted to a program and required to find a supervisor. If I may ask, which program did you apply for?

Anyway, with regards to your inquiry, unfortunately I have to tell you that there is no silver bullet. People will give you various bullet point guidelines that you should follow, but most of those are hardly relevant. Supervisors are humans like everyone else and so naturally they are all receptive to very different things. Some might prefer a formal detailed message with all your credentials attached, some might prefer a short message and rather you don't attach any files. In this regard, the only advice I can give you is to look at their various profiles and get a sense of their personalities, also check if they provide any guidelines to contacting them.


In another regard, I can tell you what would delight a professor about a potential applicant (this actually applies to general self-marketing and not just graduate school).
The professor "doesn't" care what you have achieved or what grades you've gotten (note: doesn't in quotes). They, like everyone else are naturally self-centered and care about themselves. So rather than message them with all your credentials, telling them what you have achieved and how working with them will help in your development, show them instead how much interest you have in their work, what you can do for them, why they need you (rather than another student), how you can help advance their research, why they should invest their research dollars on you, and if you have to mention your credentials, it should be in regards to how it can positively impact their research.


If you're wondering, the best way to do this is to read up on their recent publication(s), try to fully understand it, then send them a detailed and enthusiastic mail about it. It could be constructively praising or criticizing (preferably both) their paper, or even better suggestion some ways to advance the research. Even simply asking very intellectual questions can be a plus.

Note, this would be walking a thin line, so you should try to really get the gist of the paper. As much as this is an opportunity to prove yourself worthy, it's also an avenue to display tomfoolery. If you ask unreasonable questions or make unreasonable observations you might just give them a good reason to not accept you.

I applied for masters thesis biochemistry. The mail I received was from the department's graduate coordinator. So she was like until I secure supervisor before the deadline only then can they recommend me to the postgraduate office for me to get admission. So at this stage now it's get supervisor and get admission it's that simple.

I've applied several techniques but I'd equally give yours a trial. Thing is one can't tell a professors personality simply by viewing their profile page. I've also read a lot of their publications just for me to write them and get the usual my lab is full. I will just keep at it. Thanks for the tips man

Osemigho:
Congrats. I pray God will favour you to move to next stage.

Your program style is cunny. Supervisor after conditional admission and not before? Guess they like to postpone the supervisor struggle and gather more application fee.

Panic not!

Did you attach your SOP/SoRI in the email? Did you craft the mail to each faculty research profile? Check the email well and keep praying for favour.

It will end with praises.

Thanks @osemigho for the encouragement. I didn't even expect to get this far with all the fears been expressed as to how competitive and highly rated McGill university is. I just thank God and I still believe that nothing is impossible for those that believe. I will keep firing the mails to the faculty members and I know one of them will pull through. The school also said they have made our profiles available to all prospective supervisors so if God wills what I'm seeking for may find me out. I also write every mail to suit the research profile of each different faculty member based on their research topic. It takes so much time and effort to craft one mail but seconds for the prof to reply send a negative reply. That's what is just frustrating me.

The body of the mails I'm sending is my SOP so I don't bother attaching it again. Good thing is they are replying me faster now because I've included the deadline date in my mail to them so the process have gained some speed for me.

I hope to secure thos admission on time so I can start trv application in good time. I don't want to miss the Sept 1st resumption date.

How about your admission search, any feedback yet? You spend more time on d EE thread dan here... . No leave us run on we r in dis together!

It will surely end in praise!

Megziflips:
Let me quote myself again



I never inferred that people aren't offered animations in January. I simply pointed out that this is an exception rather than the norm. Virtually all of these applicants will be highly desirable applicants, cream of the top of the applicant pool and lonely already had assurances from faculties prior to application.

If possible you may try inquiring of any of their profile.

I think you are spot on with your analysis of masters admissions in Canada. Very strong applications are attended to before others.
One of the schools I applied to McGill University sent me a mail two days back. Deadline for submission of all applications for my program was feb 1st. They said I met all d requirements for admission into the program and have been admitted only conditionally. That I secure a research supervisor before may 17th and get back to her to confirm my admission.

My problem now is securing the supervisor. I've been getting series of sorry our lab is currently full and it's really discouraging. I know my emails to them are good enough for them to make positive decision to my favour. I even attach my CV, transcript, GRE score and sometimes work reference. What can I do differently to secure a research supervisor?

platypelloid:
Hell house.
Has anybody heard from UBC fall September admission please

I applied for MSc thesis biochemistry at UBC and I haven't heard from them. I guess the applications are still under review so let's stay patient.

My advice to you is to go for biochemistry so as not to limit your scope in the field. Biochemistry is a life science that's so broad with many sub fields. Many of these subfields have a direct relationship with medical science so they form the basis of medical biochemistry. However there are other equally challenging fields like industrial biochemistry, toxicology and biotechnology which are still taught under the broad head biochemistry.

If you want to limit yourself to just the medical field you can opt for medical biochemistry but it wont do you any good as the only career prospect for you is if you can use your degree to get direct entry admissions into a medical program. On the other hand with a biochemistry degree the Job opportunities are endless and you can equally use a bachelors degree in biochemistry to get direct entry admission into any medical program.

Success in your academic endeavors

emmy4Gold:
Good afternoon to everyone, @ Osemigho and other gurus in the house, my application at UBC is under review, i uploaded my transcript while submitting my documents. According to the school's website, uploaded transcript are regarded as unofficial. it is advisable for me to send official transcript ( i.e send by mailing it directly from my previous school to UBC) when the admission decision has not been made. . And i could read this on the school's website that official transcript has to be submitted before admission offer will be made. Do you advice me to send my official transcript to them when admission decision is yet to be made. Thanks, ur reply will be highly appreciated

I applied to UBC as well and I know you don't have to send any official transcripts yet until after the review and your application is accepted, you secure a research supervisor and finally get a conditional admission. Only then will u need to send your official transcript to the school to fulfil the condition of your admission.

I think it is fair of the schools to prevent applicants from excessive expenses when such applicants won't be given admission at the end of the day.

Riddeek:
odikwa this na one chance ooo... See as dem put the red line sef, if supervisor not found. Program can not start.
So person go come back naija if him no see supervisor? my brother double ur hustle to get supervisor biko.
If possible, try to get b4 application review sef

The problem Bros be say the potential supervisors are not even responding to mails at all. I mailed the grad coordinator asking for help with supervisor search and here is her reply below "Sorry, we cannot send files to our PI’s. Once the applications are complete, and have been approved by our admissions committee, they are available for them to review.

@ Osemigho,
How is your search for supervisor at UBC going? For my own program it comes after application review and one has to travel to Canada to search for a supervisor. Is it similar with your own program? View the attached doc

Patrick2go:
IQAS declined? very much expected because i phoned them to confirm to those lines. WES evaluates professional certificates. Give it a shot to see if yours pulls through with their criteria and count your blessings.

Thanks Patrick. How do I go about evaluating a professional certificate with WES. When I tried to the drop-down list I saw for type of degree/diploma did not have anything like diploma on it

Hello gurus. I need help to increase my CRS score and increase my chances of getting ITA. I have a Bachelor's degree evaluated favourably by IQAS. I also have a diploma in brewing certificate from IBD(Institute of Brewing and distilling) but IQAS declined to evaluate it stating that it's a professional certificate. Can I still claim points for two or more degree or must the diploma be evaluated first.

Osemigho:
Some programs says they receive just 1 African applicant and many from China, India, etc.
Truth is many 9ja first class students don't know the international option they have aside roaming the streets for limited jobs that require connection.

Good point. My guy in US said d exact same thing. We r not as informed as those Asians.

Osemigho:
Your UG project supervisor may have published your project, but the question is if he indicated you as the first author - most of them don't do this. Thereby claiming your project as theirs.
Your industry experience may not count against if it is in your PG field. I think you should worry less about it.
Try apply to one more apart from sas, if you can.

It is well.

I Dont think It will be a problem if ones name is included as first author or not. Provided your name is there amongst the authors it shud suffice. Some of the publications of the faculty members u see on their webpage doesn't even have their names as first authors.

I'd love to apply for more schools but I Dont want to Overburden my reference providers. Having to respond to five applications is already too much for one person don't u think.

Osemigho:
About one of those three guns, let me share little story so far.

I use to get all African professors say "no space" to my email but when one of them(non-african) approached them on my behalf, one of them was forced to confess that he had lost hope in potential African students because, no matter how promising they may appear, they don't get accepted. they are challenged by Americans and Chinese for just about 4 international student spaces, masters and PhD included, and always not get accepted. he said he doesn't want to be heartbroken anymore. So, he can't take the offer.
His reply email was forwarded to me and I saw it with my eyes. Then, my supervisor asked if I am prepared for the worst and I replied yes that it won't be their first cos I had been rejected once.

The reasons I am reapplying there are because of my supervisor amazing support - she went ahead to get other professors to say yes, their rejected post mail that I still keep in my wardrobe as ginger no to give up, and I still believe in miracle (humans are there not angels). I have Uvic,Ucal as backups and still praying for favour.

So my brothers and sisters, If you are going for the super 3, have a superb proposed research, fantastic GP, and please have backup. It will end with praises.

2017 will be glorious.

Afraid have catch me now. It's scary the stories coming about African students looking for international placement. Truth is these Chinese and Indians r not better than us. Our failed leaders have ensured that we can't compete with our counterparts on the global stage. I have two of my coursemates in the US doing their PhD and they told me that academically they were beating d Asians. The only problem is that our education sector can't compete with theirs.

All we are praying for is unmerited favor. It's not impossible if we believe. And I encourage others to keep applying....soon they will have no Choice but to start taking us seriously.

iamlimitless:
@free radical, I will advise you to apply to only one of the top tier schools (U of T, McGill, UBC).

It is not unusual to see Canadians, Chinese and Indians with perfect undergraduate GPA (4.00/4.00 or 10/10) and published undergraduate thesis applying to this top schools, unless you have a very high GPA or published thesis in your field it will be better to look for backups.

Apply to two mid tier schools (U of Alberta, Calgary, Waterloo, Western Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Dalhousie, Ottawa ).

You can check your program in each schools , availability of potential supervisor in your intended research field and the possibility of guaranteed funding to make your choice.

We all shall have a prosperous year ahead full of TRV success for the applicants, academic success for our bro/sis in CA, and blessings for all our gurus taking time in their busy schedule to give us informations.

Thanks for the advice bro. I've already started applying to Saskatchewan after some other gurus pointed out how daunting my choice schools were. It's already late for me now to withdraw my applications to those schools so I'd just sit back and hope for the best.

Luckily for me my undergraduate project was published in an international journal by my supervisor in school. Didn't even know before now. That shud also work to my favour I pray. Though I spent over 5years post NYsc in the industry which may count against me.

wealth360:
Bro. I greet you so much. I also had a very high CGPA. I applied to just only 2 schools in canada. Dalhousie University and U of Sask. With my personal statement and tight application and funds seeking mails to potential supervisors...I was rejected in Dal Uni but U of sask gave me admission but based on funding with my supervisor that agree to supervise sent me an email telling me to come first to school then we will sit and talk abt funding. I agreed with him but also asked him why. He said most international students that he gives funding to don't resume because of visa rejection palava.
Mind you. 2days ago I met a nigeria professor that lectured in OAU and Osun state uni. But now in Uni of Manitoba. He came to ile-ife for xmas and we talked. He told me a lot and he said schools doesn't have anytin to do with CIC. He said he gave 2 9ja guys funding for their PHD progm but dey got rejected by CIC.....dat one nko? he also said I sud advice everyone planning to come to canada for study not to use any agent. That both 9ja agent or canada agents doesn't have any say about study visa.

My advise for you Bro is to accept any supervisor saying yes to you but not talking abt funding. When u reach their u will get grant and scholarships yapa since u be efiko.

Guy na Visa process be koko funding or no funding.


Happy new year everyone

Quite insightful your comment especially what the prof from OAU said. It still bores down to getting accepted first for the program. After that we shall face the hurdle of getting visa from cic. That is where we need d experiences of the gurus on this thread.
I've also started an application with uuniversity of Saskatchewan for fall 2017. In case the big guns decide to reject me.

Riddeek:
Boss i hail ooo!
To apply only to the 3 best schs in canada , either your cgpa is 4.9 or you have been dieting on "liver" recently and you have grown some balls.
Either way, i wish you well.

Well wat can I say. I just want to try first and see how lucky i can get. I am only trusting God for a miracle. Its not by liver ooo or the cojones

Osemigho:
Nice GRE score.
Mine was 148/148 3.0 TOEFL 99 and that made me drop US option cos my aim were Illinois Urbana, Havard, UofCalifornia LA, etc. I don't need a spiritualist to tell me my money will waste if I submitted my apps.

You can try mid rank US schools. A friend of mine is partially funded(submitted account of #1.5m alone) in Sam Houston of texas with a GRE score lesser than yours.

Based on several articles on after school options have read plus the fact that a GRE and TOEFL fee can pay for 4-5 Canadian app, I dropped US.

If I were you, I will try US schools with your score and also apply to Canadian schools. I won't retry any GRE. But you are not me! be yourself.

Shalom!

Funny I also did Illinois Urbana but when I got to the last page of the application I just told myself that it's pointless wasting money finishing d application bcoz of d course I was applying to had a higher gre score requirement. I decided to face Canadian schools squarely now.

Osemigho:
Google by rank and devour your program websites.

Which schools did you apply to that you got responses from potential supervisors

Osemigho:
Lol. Our professors can be funny. Almost miss UBC recommendation deadline of January 1, when I got a message from one of them that my recommendation will have to wait till after festive season. I had to replace with another who answered in less than 24hrs. Their case also need prayers and monitoring.

Which program did u apply to in UBC that fixed deadline for Jan 1. I also applied to UBC and for my program deadline is Jan 15th. My professor too told me he will attend to it after new year oo

cuspy:
I'm not planning for Fall 2017 session, Fall 2018 is my target.

To be honest, I had a 310 in GRE (Q161 V149 AWA 3.0) but I can't tell if it's competitive or not. I'm trying my luck with both countries. I also plan to retake the GRE too cos I prefer US to Canada but I'll try both countries.

The score u have is very good but may not fetch you funding for US schools. It would have been fantastic if the writing had been up to 4.0. I scored 305 (Q155 V150 AWA 4.0) and it was above requirement for one of the programs I applied for in Canada Day requested for it.

Its good u r still trying both ways. If u get into d Canada msc funded u can easily get PhD admission in US if u intend to go further.

Osemigho:
Their competitiveness is the major thing wrong with them. Look for other 3 schools alongside those ones. The three school doesn't respect first class GPA.

I was a victim to Toronto and have first a little above 4.50 like you.

If you are going to apply to those 3 schools alone, you better submit an over perfect application and prepare for the worse. Your proposal must be an intriguing research. Intriguing!! Your recommendation letters must be fantastic too.

My advice for you is that, preparing for the worse is applying to other three mid-low rank schools. Shalom!

Hmm....any suggestions of schools I can apply to.

Osemigho:
I am admission seeker like you. Let me motivate you with my story.

I applied to 3 schools last year. 1 of which require a supervisor which I got one. I was refused admission in the 3 schools.

Restarted around july 2016 to email supervisors again.In the supervisor search race, I can divide it to two things with varying responses.

1 stage was July - late October 2016, I sent email to about 50+ professors with no proposal. Only about 2 responded positively, one which interviewed/skyped me, sent several papers to me to read and use to develop a research proposal. Developed something a little out of her field. he/she went further to get other Supervisors in my new field to support my app with the proposal.
The other one, in a different school, gave me just yes and said I should apply. No extra support no proposal development.

Stage 2- November - December 20th 2016, I sent new email to several professors again. Specifying the research I want to do and attaching the propos of stage 1 above to the email. I got "no space too" but with a different tone. It is more of referal to other professors in their school and even other schools. I even got two "yes" and one referral in one program alone on the same day. But [/b]admission is still not guaranteed[/b].

In Canadian supervisor, admission and visa race, favour and diligence is what you need.

I pray God will favour us all. Amen!

Good luck bro. No matter what, try not to give up.

I am an admission seeker like you praying for God's favour.

Yes for guys like us getting admission is more difficult I guess bcoz of the funding it comes with but we won't give up. I'd keep praying and hoping I get a positive feedback before decision making time. I think one of the schools I applied to doesn't need one to find a supervisor before admission decision is taken. I'd only focus on those that do and keep reminding the potentials I've identified for feedback. Any feedback at all will give me some closure.

Another set of people we need to keep an eye on are our reference providers. Some of our professors here can procrastinate until deadline eventually elapses. That will make ones application incomplete and unprocessed. It happened to someone I know.

cuspy:
Ok. I'm going for Msc Economics. I've not decided schools yet but I'm considering University of Calgary or University of Manitoba or Yorke University + some schools in the US.

I just know their names. By the time I lookup their programme requirements, I'll know which to cross off.

Not bad. Be quick to come to a decision because most programs deadlines r fast approaching for fall 2017.
I'm also considering putting in for one more school and I think I'd look up these ones u listed above.

I gave up on US schools for now bcoz my gre score wasn't so strong to challenge for scholarships. Canadian schools r equally world class so lemme pitch my tent there.

DPizzy:
Bro! Your choice of graduate school though....

What's wrong with them? Apart from their competitiveness

cuspy:
Exactly. Someone suggested I send them a gentle reminder after the first few days of silence. It worked; a significant number of them responded after the second email. Though they were mostly the usual excuse-based responses but I felt better knowing my stand. You should do that too.

By the way, what schools did you apply to and what course?

Yes I plan to send them all a soft reminder after the new year celebration. Most of them r on vacation currently.

I applied to McGill University with one application fee for 2 msc programs Biological and biomedical engineering and biochemistry. Second is university of Toronto msc biochemistry while third is UBC msc biochemistry.

What about yours?

Riddeek:
i have no idea how funding goes in the US, not even the slightest idea, but canada's case is different. Supervisors fully control who to grant RA (research assistantship)/TA afterall it is from their research grants they pay the students. But for external ones like departmental funding (in some cases) /faculty scholarship/external scholarships, these are beyond the scope of supervisors and they can only provide recommendation letters.
So yes, you can (and you are even encouraged to) discuss funding the moment a supervisor is interested in you working with him, even before you apply. So you'll know your funding status asides from other bonuses like entrance scholarship, international scholarship etc.

By the way, with this your concern for funding, i don't want to say this to discourage you but i really hope your cgpa is very very strong.

I have a cgpa above 4.5 and I'm applying for the msc thesis for same course as my UG. I'm also finding it difficult getting positive feedback from potential supervisors I've written to. It's getting me a bit apprehensive.

cuspy:
Thanks so much for this. Do you think proposed supervisors would talk about funding without admission first? I'm also trying the US and I've mailed several proposed supervisors but most of them do not respond and if they do, they usually indirectly imply that funding and admission decisions are not in their hands and they refer you to the grad cord. The grad cord on the other hand can only tell you if your profile is competitive or not, he can't guarantee you either admission or funding until the application pool is examined first. I really hope canadian supervisors would be different

I've been experiencing the exact same thing so far. Getting those faculty members to reply you positively on the issue of funding is quite difficult. I've written no less than 12 different potential supervisors for the four programs I applied for with three Canadian schools. Only a few replied me saying their labs are currently full. The larger proportion just kept mum and I don't know if they are considering my application still or aren't quite interested in me.

I think I have a pretty strong profile for d programs I applied for.

IHate9ja1:
ubc is after admission...for original transcript

You r correct. Thanks

Osemigho:
Late if only it has passed program deadline.

Are you sure UBC require hard copy transcript?

You are right, they only require an electronic copy for application. I'd arrange for the official hard-copy to be sent be my school after admission decision has been reached.

I noticed the statement of intent letter I wrote was 2 pages while I read from d website that it must not be more than one. Will this affect my application negatively?

Osemigho:
Except you are going for Pgc(d) in colleges that can offer easy admission in few weeks with no scholarship, you are almost late if you just want to start the Masters application process for fall 2017. It is however possible though the chances are very slim, especially if your program is thesis based and you need supervisor.

Your program deadline will determine the months question you asked. I can give you concrete answer.

I applied to 3 schools for four different msc thesis based programs in December. Do u consider dat late? I applied to UBC and they require transcript from my UG institution. Do I make arrangement with my school to send my transcript now or chill until after admission decision.

Let your consciences be your guide