afodam247:
Hello house. My interview is this coming week. the issue I have is this, my sponsor has only #4million range of running balance with another #90million fixed deposit in the same account. I hope this can be presented before the embassy. Please everyone's contribution will be immensely appreciated thank you.

Hi dear, I have similar issue. Please d fixed deposit account statement you submitted to d school, did it show d maturity date notice on it?
Please reply ASAP. Thanks

dmajor1:
Hi guys, I got a lot from this tread and I know it's only natural to give back. Visa approved on the 25th of April and this is how it went.

VO: (with a smile) Good morning.

Me: Good morning sir.

VO: How are you?

Me: I'm fine thank you? How are you?

VO: I'm fine. Thank you. (I have already passed my passport, sevis receipt and i20 to him by now). So, you're here for a student visa.

Me: Yeah.

VO: Tell me about the program you're going for.

Me: I'm going for a chemistry doctoral program at Florida State University. I'd be taking courses in Molecular biology, cell biology, bioinformatics... (he motioned for me to stop).

VO: Tell me about your background.

Me: I have a bachelors degree in Chemistry and Masters degree in analytical chemistry. I currently work at a Pharmaceutical firm as a Medical Sales Representative (motioned me to stop. He was typing all along).

VO: So your 2nd degree is from University of Ibadan?

Me: Yes

VO: And you've being working at a pharmaceutical firm since...

Me: February last year (he nodded).

VO: how many other schools did you apply to?

Me: five others.

VO: five in total?

Me: no. Five others aside FSU.

VO: oh... Six in total. Who's paying?

Me: I got a graduate Assistantship (nods and reaches for white paper).

VO: I have approved your visa. Congratulations and have a good day (I didn't here more than this).

Me: Thank you. Have a good day too.

Thanks to everyone in here whose stories have one time or the other inspired hope.

Congratulations! I tap d good news. Please reply your pm.

vikturaikay:
Please I am having issues getting a flight to Cleveland Ohio. Can I book a flight to New York and then connect to Cleveland by road. Or will it pose a problem at my POE. You know like " you are going to Cleveland, why stop in new York. Please I need an urgent suggestion because my school is about resuming thanks. Walspring Lagosismyhoe, ijebuboy

Congrats Dear. Any funding

Greetings House. Please will the amount in the account reflect in the sponsorship letter??
Please urgent answer is needed. Thanks

bigfrancis21:


I just wanted to say that you are getting emotional over this topic, and you sound like MBA is something you want to do. I didn't mean to get you upset if I did nor discourage you. You are also quite excited over the quoted figures you've seen online and you think it is that easy but you need to be aware of these:

1) I assume that you are in Nigeria and would be studying MBA on an F1 visa. MBA is not a STEM-designated course which means that you cannot be employed on an H1B visa after graduation by any company. You will not be eligible for OPT (3-year post-graduation work opportunity for STEM students). You would need to have permanent residency to be employable nowadays which may likely take you an extra 1 to 3 years post-graduation to obtain. By the time you obtain your residency, you would not have been 'fresh off from school' as some employers prefer. Even for STEM-designated courses, with Trump's administration, chances of H1B sponsorship nowadays are very very slim.
Full list of STEM courses: https://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Document/2016/stem-list.pdf

2) You probably don't know this but connection/knowing someone or 'networking' as they call it here is just as common as it is in Nigeria. Most of these people with 6 figures from an MBA landed their positions through old-boy friendships, connections or networking, in addition to having their MBA of course. An average Joe with an MBA can still land such high-paying positions but you have to be truly exceptional at what you do.

3) Speaking about your much-touted ROI. Now let us do the math. You spent $150,000 on average in heavy student debt to get an MBA. Let us assume that you are one lucky son of the stars and as an F1 student you graduated and out of nowhere got 'H1B sponsorship' at a $120,000 per year position right after graduation. Now you've worked so hard in school, made As and landed that $120,000 per year dream job. Wonderful.

Now you probably forgot that a heavy chunk of your income is taken away in taxes. For a $120,000 per year income, nearly $40,000 is taken from your paycheck in taxes. Precisely, $81,790 is what is left over after taxes are accounted for, which is about $6,815 per month. That is even though on paper it says that you earn $120,000, your actual take-home pay is $81,790 which is not 6-figures that you expected. https://www.taxformcalculator.com/tax/120000.html

Now it is time to start paying back all that student loan. The total amount which you will end up paying is probably over $200,000 which includes interest payments. You've graduated and the bank or financial institution has sent you a staggering bill of over $200,000 at xy% interest for 20 years with a monthly payment of $3250. Out of $6815 per month pay check ($3,145.26 every 2 weeks), you have to

- pay your student loan debt (anywhere between $3000 to $3,500 for that loan amount) per month. Read up here on this American who originally borrowed $68,000 to go to school who has to pay $113,000 back including interest. http://www.businessinsider.com/budget-paying-student-loans-2016-7 For this lady, she has to pay $2230 in monthly student loan payment for a bill of $113,000. For a bill of over $200k, you can expect your monthly payments to be nearly twice as $2230.

- pay your house rent (anywhere from $700 to $3000 depending on the housing type, number of rooms in the apartment rented, level of luxurious living) or monthly mortgage payments (if you bought a home)
- pay your utilities (you pay for all the 24-hour light, gas, Internet and running water that you enjoy - $100 to $350 on average depending on your level of usage)
- pay your monthly phone bill ($50 on average)
- pay your monthly auto loan (anywhere from $250 to $400)
- pay your monthly car insurance (anywhere from $80 to as high as $500 depending on how often you get into accidents, if you constantly get police tickets for overspeeding, running the red/stop light/sign etc. which stay on your driving record and bump up your monthly payments)
- pay for gassing up for your car ($100 on average)
- pay for feeding/groceries ($100 on average, that is if you can cook, which saves you more money than eating out)
- credit card bills/debt (if you accumulate any)
- miscellaneous expenses (such as parking tickets, tolls, relatives back home etc.)

Miscellaneous expenses: maybe in some months you manage to squeeze out $100 per month to save $500 and before you know it your family relative calls you from Nigeria telling you how they are suffering asking you to send them ordinary $1,000 so that they can start enjoying life. You look at your savings and you barely have $500 saved up and you don't know how to communicate this to your relative after all you already boasted to them sometime ago that you earn 6 figures per year. These calls just never stop coming in regularly. Now you are stuck in the rat race of majority of Americans - living from paycheck to paycheck and you dare cannot afford to lose your job.

At the end of the month, you are left with nothing as you struggle month to month servicing your $200k debt in student loans. High ROI isn't it?
It would be so easy for you to imagine an adjusted $81,000 per annum salary on a debt of over $200,000 as good ROI.

Thanks for this analysis Sir, you really finished it. Please how can I get to you? I need some recommendations. Just sent you a pm.

Yemiiee:



Please if you get a legit link to pay let me know so I can use it once my I-20 comes in

Am waiting on my I-20 too. Please let me know once the legit link drops.

folmus:



Why the change of name on her important travelling document? What names did you fill out on Ds 160? If you can do affidavit, go with it.

Please reply your mail Sir

Samie1das:
I've been following this thread for a while and I went for my visa interview today. Was successful. Here is the interview transcript.

Me: Good morning sir
V.O: Blank face. Why are you travelling to the USA?
Me: To further my education. I'm applying for a masters program in BioMathematics at University of California.
V.O: Did you apply to other schools?
Me: Yes I did. (Mentioned the name of some other schools)
V.O: Why did you now decide to go with University of California?
Me: It has the area I needed and is consistent with my career choice.
V.O Does it mean that the other schools are not good enough for what you want to study?
Me: I feel University of California was the best choice for me because of the depth of their courses and the long standing experience they have. I discovered this in my interaction with the professors.
V.O: Who is sponsoring your education?
Me: I got funding from the school and my parents will also support me. (Brought out my financial statement)
V.O: Which standardized tests did you write?
Me: GRE and TOEFL. Brought out my test scores and showed him
V.O: Are you sure these are yours? 229 on the GRE (Kept his gaze on me).
Me: Yes I attended lectures at one of the best centres in Nigeria and I did a lot of personal practice
V.O: kept typing. Do you have travel experience?
Me: I have never had cause to travel out of the country. I'm travelling now just because my education requires it
V.O: How am I sure you would come back
Me: Smile. My future plans revolve around what I would do here. My course is alien in Nigeria and I believe there is more difference to make here.
V.O: kept on typing. Handed a white paper to me and told me where to pick up my passport.


I'm very grateful to every one who has encouraged and shared their experience here. This would not have been possible without you guys. Also thanks goes to B.Y Mafit for the free lectures and how much they contributed to my GRE scores. That really made a difference cos that was what caught the interest of the V.O and it was at that point I knew I don hammer.

May Visa Fall on everyone who requires

please reply your pm

sunshineluv5:
for Wes should fall within the range of 3.28/4.0

Bless you

Beautiful Day all. Please what is 3.66 cgpa in a scale of 4.00?
Thanks

lasthero:
i think for the first time, i will have to agree that this country is a shit-hole. Nigerian universities are so annoying and can frustrate the living hell out of you. most times , i wonder why students are getting first class like biscuit in USA and UK, but in Nigeria, its a matter of war.

my story.......
after four years of hard labour and stress in a Nigerian university, my transcript was 2.88/5.0 ( second class lower who managed to escape a third class) see first picture.

now, my WES evaluated transcript was released today after several months of battling with my school to send my transcript. my evaluation on WES came out to be
2.93/4.0 (see picture B)


can you imagine, its even greater than the miserable grade my Nigerian undergraduate program gave me,

i was not expecting up to 2.5 /4.0 and my hope has been tied on conditional admission in a tier 4 USA school before now.
but now, i am just wowed and amazed, now i can flex and checkout on good schools.



my advice to everyone on Average CGPA of 2.5/5.0 (second class lower) from a Nigerian university, don't loose hope, research for schools who required WES evaluation, don't hesitate to sacrifice the WES evaluation fee, i just believed there is hope for you.


now , let me take time to research Good schools.....

please how much did you pay for wes?

Greetings House.
Please gurus, how good is the university of San Fransisco California? Is it a red flag school?
Thanks.

folmus:


Madam gospel,you are still on this payment since last year? you have my mail.

Oga folmus I greet oo. No be small since last year. Someone has helped me out.
Thanks so much I appreciate. I still have your mail cos another payment will come up in future

Good evening house. Please I need help oo. I want to pay my application fee of $55 at USF. I am having difficulty paying it with my first bank MasterCard.

Please can someone help me with the payment?

Nwabu007:
I believe you should be able to edit and/or remove a recommender of your choice.

OK, thanks

Good evening house.
Please is it possible to change a recommender already submitted?
Please i need ASAP answer.
Thanks & Happy Sunday house.

princeGee23:
Do you think, we are here to play? People like you will allow Twood to hammer you.

I don't understand you Princegee

tactmayor:
State .whether the CGPA is to 4 or 5 scale

Oh sorry. It's 5 I guess.

folmus:


You are still searching since last year? What is your GRE score and your CGPA? with that we can[b]help[/b]you search schools

Mr. Folmus,no be small since last year oo . Had hiccups on the way.
CGPA 3.77, GRE 276. Analytical writings not yet out.

Happy Sunday House.
Please am looking for a school where I can master in Education. My Bsc is in Education chemistry and I have GRE. Please I need a school that can give me funding and Graduate Assistantship for Fall 2018.
I await your replies.
Thanks for assisting.

greatolus:
Visa approved today at 7:00 am at lagos consulate, window 7
V o : good morning
Me : good morning
V o: why did you choose Georgia state university?
Me: of all the schools that I applied to only gsu offered me a GA position which comes with a tuition waiver and stipend.
Vo: How many schools did you apply to?
Me: 5
Vo: can you name them?
Me: etsu, uni of Arkansas at little rock, uni of san Francisco and Colorado school of mines
Vo: which school did you graduated from?
Me : unilag, akoka
Vo: what is your highest qualification?
Me: bsc chemistry
Vo: when did you finish nysc?
Me: I did not as my age is over service year.
Vo: what will you be doing after your program?
Me: come back to Nigeria to pick up a lecturing job in unilag
Vo: did you write any entrance exam?
Me:no, vo wants to look at me quickly told him I wrote gre
Vo: who is going to sponsor your trip?
Me: I have a tuition waiver and my dad would pay for the rest
Vo: you visa is approved, bla bla bla dhl isolo. Gave me white paper

congratulations bro. Am also going in for chemistry. Please di reply your pm. Congrats once more

ProfOjah1234:

Congratulations bro.. Naija plenty for una dept, I know of 5 Nigerians (Both Msc & PhD).. You will be fine.. Welcome to the PantherFamily..

Hi. Congratulations bro. Have been looking for chemistry people, am chemistry too. I just sent you a pm please do reply. Congrats again

ponpon:
cc cutemorgan

Hi! Have been looking for you people. Please can we private chat??
Have sent you pm

Joan011:
Is it for SAT registration

no for TOEFL and GRE

ponpon:
Use brabit it's 40k

Hi, how do I get the brabit?? Please I really need it.

Dancingpotato:
I did mine for 55k. if it is considerable p.m me

please reply your email ma'am

folmus:


Madam, you were very active on here when Walspring was giving people the discounts courtesy of the good people of great nation. Why are you just coming now and what happened to your Cleaveland State Uni?

folmus my brother, thanks for remembering the Cleveland university, but they don't offer any graduate assistantship that's why am back to square one. Was actually following Walspring but then I have not gotten all requirements. But I have all of them now. That's it now

Mayorboi:
Visa Transcript.

First I need to state it clearly that God + preparation is the key to F1.
I appreciate this nairaland family. Special thanks to the Boss lady Lagosismyhome - you are a blessing to this family, Imperioux & Bigfrancis - your careful and detailed advise to the upcoming is of great value, Twoods- your constructive criticism sha..but the hard truth has to be told, Walspring - Keep touching lives.

My interview was on 12th-Oct.
So I got to the embassy by 5am & met them 'staple your docs & get coloured copy of your data page' people. Thankful for the knowledge I acquired here...
I was interviewed by a white guy on window 3.

Me: "Good morning".

Vo: ignores me

Me: (hia!!!ogbeni ogini kwa) "Good morning"

Vo: Looks up & smiles "Good morning my man"

Me: "How was your night?"

Vo: "Fine fine. Yours?"

Me: *Relaxed at this point "it was fine too thanks."

Vo: "I see you are going to school, which university?"

Me: "I am going to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville for my Msc in Environmental Science. I will be specialising on Env Tech & Assessment."

Vo: "Tell me about your undergrad?"

Me: "I studied Civil Engineering @ FUTO.. I specialized on Env/Water Resources Eng. For my undergrad project, I carried out a dissertation on the Design of an integrated solid waste management system for futo community. It was at this point I became aware of the impacts of human activities on the environment so I made up my mind on a career in env remediation & protection. I also.." (vo cuts in)

Vo: "Tell me the main problem of solid waste in Nigeria?"

Me: "The major challenge with solid waste in Nigeria is improper disposal. Here, we practice open dumping and sometimes dispose of our waste in waterbodies hence polluting the environment, breeding rodents & pests, and disrupting biodiversity in the rivers & streams..."(I sha kept on blabbing)

Vo: (listening & nodding in concurrence).. "Tell me the factors you consider when designing an engineered sanitary landfill

Me: *whistles(haba!!! From where kwanu).. "Well I would consider location & topography. The landfill must be cited away from the settlement & at a place where seepage from the waste won't affect the underlying aquifer. (*Me I sha wanted to use jargon so it ll look like I know what I am saying very well).

Vo: "So why this school?"

Me: "I am inspired to study at siue because unlike my other admits, the department at siue provides and maintains long-term field sites for monitoring environmental remediation processes. These field sites would be of great benefit to me as my intended area of research focuses primarily on environmental remediation using phytoremediation technologies (*at this time the vo was shaking his head in disapproval then cuts in...)

Vo: "I can see you rehearsed for this.. ok tell me; what fiels sites are you talking about?"

Me: "Well you know that Illinois is nicknamed the Prairie state because of the abundance of grassy plains like the oak savannahs. Siue in collaboration with the us.epa gives the students and faculty access to these restored sites for research. (*He started smiling & somehow at this point I knew he was going to approve me.)

Vo: "Who is paying for this?"

Me: Told him

Vo: "What does he do?"(*begins to seperate my i-20 & sevis from my passport)

Me: Told him.

Vo: Picks white paper and says the magic words. It was really magical. People who have experienced this can confirm.

I advice you prepare well and don't cram your responses as it kinda irritates the impatient ones.

Please pray.

I hereby usher in more Spring 2018 approved visa transcripts.

Good morning Sir. Please reply your pm. Got few questions to ask you. Thanks

Good morning house. Please am begging, I need the discount for GRE and TOEFL as am applying for fall 2018. Thanks

Walspring:


With the way you emailed me back i got confused.

Try and use the context box and type there and not subject box.

Dear I tried but it won't send. Please I want to write this month & next month

Oga Walspring Good evening Sir, please am still interested in the GRE and TOEFL discount. Please reply your in box.

Walspring:


Pm replied ever since.

Good evening Sir. I have gotten all you asked me to, please reply your in box. Thanks