Sanguine1:
My better people, happy weekend o.
Please i want to send SEVIS FEE money to someone in the US through WESTERN UNION TRANSFER.
Who has any idea of WESTERN UNION charges rate?

What are the requirements/information i need to send to the person to pay the SEVIS FEE on my behalf.
Thanks you all

I don't know about the rate, ask your friend to inquire on your behalf, but I know you need to generate a payment coupon on www.fmjfee.com, and make sure you input all your details correctly, or else it won't update when they've made the payment for you.

mzhorlah:
Hi! November 4th is the earliest available date in Abuja on the system yet it read no available date at the moment. What could be the problem?

I don't understand what you mean by this, please explain. I know it says "no available dates" on the ustraveldocs website, so where did you see November 4th? Please share, thanks.

Ifesinachi22:
Please what is The best answer when VO asks you "What classes will you be taking?"

Tell them a few of the classes you intend to take and briefly describe the ones you're most interested in

Schrodinger1:

Lol...Apt! Oil dey your head

Meanwhile, ULL will be going on-campus and has adjusted the resumption date for the Fall.

Were you just accepted there or do you already go there? How are you going to do it?

Any school that can say something like this isn't worth going to, and your friend is lucky the school actually exposed how racist the administration is. It would be worse if he had ended up paying thousands of dollars just to get to a place where he'll be the subject of racist abuse. So many Nigerians are breaking boundaries even in Ivy League schools, and Nigerians are the most educated immigrant group in the United States. So it's their loss.

In addition to this, Nigeria is NOT a State Sponsor of Terrorism.

It's sad that this thread has been derailed and has now become about ethnic superiority. I wonder when Nigerians will realize that there are only two teams, the elite and the masses.

Geewin69:


Na long process o, highly cost-intensive too.
If I talk, you go fit do am?

Yes, as long as it's legal

felixboye1 since she has reassured you that your funding is not impacted at all, I think you can tell here that you cannot give a definite answer at this time, because the embassy is closed. And then reiterate that there's a chance of it reopening soon, and that there are currently no travel restrictions on people coming from Nigeria.

Paragontek:
I mailed the embassy for emergency visa. See their reply.

exact same thing I got. I think they're tired. Lol.

I tried to book an emergency appointment a few days ago since I'm 60 days from my expected start date and was told that they're not processing 'routine' visas, they didn't even acknowledge that I was requesting an emergency appointment. I guess right now 'emergency' = 'COVID-19 related'. So all we can do now is wait, and yesterday's Facebook live event with the consular officer sounded a bit encouraging.

Debbss:


Thanks, please when you hear or have update on any successful emergency visa booking, kindly post, I'll keep checking

Anybodie:


Welcome home, we all need help

Lol

Gerrard59:


I had to login and quote this. Well done, you did well.

Thank you, I appreciate it.

iwriterng:


Test isn’t a TRUE measure of intelligence.

Let me give you an exam; I wrote the GRE twice.

First time; I travelled to Abuja by road, sat for 8hours in a bus and took the test the next day; sitting for another 4hours. I did poorly. That’s not a true test of my ability to ace the test.

Second time; I took it in Lagos, slept well the night before, and did well on the second attempt. Hopefully that gives you an idea of why standardized test is not a TRUE test of intelligence. It’s just a 4hours run, people with long attention span will do well, that doesn’t mean those with short attention span are not smart.

Um, I'd like to say something. While I somewhat agree with you, I still believe that standardized tests are a measure of intelligence. Your analogy applies to every area of life in my opinion, it's the reason why Messi ended up becoming the best player in the world while 'Obafemi' from Ajegunle had to quit football so he could get a menial job to make ends meet. 'Obafemi' might have more innate football talent than Messi, but he's not a better footballer than Messi. He's not even close to being nearly as skillful as Messi. Simply because he was not fortunate enough to have access to the things needed for his success.

In the same way, someone who scored higher than you the first time you took the test was better than you at the time, even though you had the potential to do better than them (which you eventually realized).

These standardized tests, in my opinion, are a way for an admissions officer to gauge/understand the difference between a first class honors degree holder who graduated from, say, Obafemi Awolowo University, and one who finished from Cambridge University. So I personally think the discussion should be more centred on what we can do to help Nigerians do better. We're clearly at a disadvantage now, and it's reflected in our average scores. Yes, there might be many Nigerians with the potential to do well, but unrealized potential is meaningless. There's no point imo bragging about "what could be". Because as long as we can't prove that the innate intelligence is there, it might as well not exist.

emmylee097:
If you paid thia dude via a transfer all you need tobdo js go to yiur bank and ask them to recall the money.make an offical copying cbn fraud email. THATS ALL

When I was scammed by a nairalnder it didn't work

Geewin69:



Same story.

Yeah. In summary:

No specific date on embassy reopening but they are actively working to figure out how to expedite student visas when it does reopen.

The main question in the interview is proof that you intend to be a student, they don't want rehearsed answers proving your home ties, they just want to know that you're qualified to be a student and intend to study in the US.

The Facebook live event with the US Embassy concerning student visa issues starts in 10 minutes.

Admitwithschola:


I'm not surprised by your account, which can be correct. As is clear from my previous posts, engineering boys and medical boys do relatively better on this test. If you read my previous epistles, that should be clear to you - so there won't be a need to repeat same point. Your friends fall into the elite group of Nigerians, but you understandably can't use them as a reflection of the state of GRE (and GMAT) in Africa (Nigeria in this case).

I think it's better to provide solid data than give anecdotal evidence (i.e. my friends got this, your friend got that). So, instead of relying on anecdotal evidence of 4 or even 10 people, maybe I will put the stats here for all to see.

https://www.prepscholar.com/gre/blog/average-gre-scores/
https://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/snapshot_test_taker_data_2018.pdf

Do Ctrl+F + Nigeria, Ghana, etc, it's sad all round.

So, there is more evidence that, in general, 320+ is more unusual than otherwise. If you have a solid argument that shows counters this, I am happy to hear. Of course, averages do not tell all the story and if we control for fields, then the score may be much less unusual for engineering (and medical guys if they choose to do it) - as is clear from my previous posts. Still, we can only know this if we know how engineering boys/girls perform in aggregate.

And by the way, if you have friends who are writing in August and beyond, we are offering full GRE refund to anyone who scores 330+, half refund to someone who scores 325+. This is our little way to try to encourage the few people that we can and hopefully take Nigeria's average GRE score from the current embarrassing level to something more respectable. So since all the people you know are scoring at these levels, maybe you can have them reach out to us with scores from August and beyond - http://baumtenpers.com/

So, to summarize, while it is possible that a score of 320+ is less unusual for an engineering (and medical) grad in Nigeria, the data from ETS shows that a score of 320+ in Nigeria is not a usual score. If anyone disagrees, please debate with real data, not anecdotal evidence. Note, I am not trying to knock down your 'hozu', I am just trying to create awareness and urge those taking the tests to really put in hours and do their best and blast high scores. The situation is even much worse for GMAT, but that's an issue for another day.

Wow, I'll share your GRE offer with my friends, this is a really nice thing for you to do. I hope someday I can be able to donate to this cause too.

geooxygen:



Bro, can you pls suggest the best materials I can use for prep, targeting a score 320+ will be writing GRE by October.

The Manhattan books for quantitative
Magoosh books for verbal

Then use the official books to see how well prepared you are. Also, watch as many videos from 'gregmat' as you can on YouTube. You'll learn a few tips and tricks.

LagosismyHome:


Congrats on your offersssss

Thank you

Admitwithschola:


Nice bro, congrats. I am personally impressed. When you come to Stanford, let me know, so I can connect you to Naija and Kenya guys already on ground. There are like 4 naijans in your faculty there, one girl in energy resource engineering, others in elect, mech, etc. Also, we have a top research professor (naija man) in engineering. I strongly believe the naija presence over there in engineering is because of the reputation of this naija prof.

These schools are almost impossible to enter and top grades are not enough - but you did it. Congrats again. Reach out!

Thanks again, and I will. Just need to hope the embassy reopens soon.

Admitwithschola:


Guy, sorry for probing too much on your wondrous achievement, but I wanted to ask: please give an idea of the university you attended, also what about your secondary school? Public, private or federal? Did you ever take SAT? Were your WAEC and JAMB math high scores? e.g. A1 waec and >75 jamb?

Haha, with this information people that know me irl might be able to figure out who I am

Undergraduate institution: Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti

Secondary School: Obafemi Awolow University International School

I wasn't as serious as I became while in the University (where I actually became passionate about what I was studying) but my WAEC was A1 math, B2 Physics, and B3 in the rest. JAMB/UTME was 262. And no, I didn't take SAT, again as at the time I graduated secondary school I didn't really have a clear picture of what I wanted.

Admitwithschola:


Congratulations! One of the very few people to smash GRE!

Our engineering boys are strong!

Thanks!

geooxygen:



Thanks bro, u have an amazing profile.

Thanks

Kimzylove:


Congratulations......

Please i have a few questions
Do you know if A level is compulsory for undergraduates?
How is GPA calculated for a Nigerian who has WAEC and the necessary tests?

I'm sorry, I don't really know about undergraduate admission. Maybe you can check WES evaluation/conversion for GPA calculation though.

Eniolakiite:
Awesome

Thanks

learner007:



This is a jaw dropper! Congrats bro. It is sha funny how a smaller school will reject you, and their 'senior boss' will accept you. Northwestern don commit Type I error

Thank you, the whole process was a rollercoaster for me, mentally

quasarJose:


Waoh. Such an awesome feat. Thank you and congratulations sir...!!!!!

jhidey08:


I couldn’t just ignore this post. Respect ✊� to you! Go forth and excel, Goodluck to you.

Thanks

Henderson has surpassed Steven Gerrard. Lmao

quasarJose:

I hope you don't mind, what's your profile like especially Gre scores?

GRE: 166Q 162V 4.5AWA
TOEFL: 112/120 (27 Speaking 29 Listening 28 Reading 28 Writing)
Undergraduate GPA: (4.69/5.0)
Other awards: Best Graduating Student in Civil Engineering (Stanford asked for my performance relative to my peers, if available)
Extra Curricular activities: Chess Team captain
LORs: One from Deputy Provost, One from another Civil Lecturer (PhD holder), One from industry mentor
Other Skills: C++, MATLAB and Python programming
Work Experience: 1 year
Research Experience: Next to none (other than final year project)

Accepted: Stanford University(with funding), UIUC (with funding), University of Washington, University of Arizona
Rejected: Northwestern University

geooxygen:


Weldone bro, which top school admitted you with full funding, I want to write Gre in October for PhD Geology/Geophysics.

I was accepted to Stanford University for a degree in Civil Engineering. More specifically Computational Geomechanics. So I can't really say for sure on which schools are the best for Geology, because they're not exactly the same. But I think schools in South should have greater prospects and greater funding for Geology**, most especially Texas and other neighbouring states. But first you'll need to take the GRE, and evaluate your chances based of your university transcripts.

fairheart:


I think LagosismyHome has some very strong points in her comment. It is not correct that no Americans can do those jobs. There are!
Diversity in workplace enriches it in so many ways that the image of the Data you posted did not reveal to you. There are even organizations in the US that made it a rule that they must employ foreigners on work visas, but not because there are no workers within the US that can do them, even well enough, but because having diverse minds in an organisation makes it strong to compete in and out of its field. You know why? All the people on H1B did not grow up in the US, which means, they have completely different orientation, perspective, insight, different ideas that Americans who grew up in America certainly didn't have--even when pooled in the same field.

Think about Google CEO, then Elon Musk, and other great minds in the tech sector in the US; these people did not grow up in America. I can tell you for a fact, and based on my own personal experience, if Elon Musk had not left South Africa in 1988, his life would have turned differently. The scope of ideas and what you contribute to an organization vision can be limited by where you grow up; a man who spent the first 30 years of his life in Nigeria will not have the same set of ideas, and energy for contribution--which is what drives all these giant organizations that employ people on H1B--if he grow up in America during the same year. Every organizations on earth are aware of this. Why do you think company in Nigeria would go to Indian, China, to look for potential manager, foremen, analyst, etc to fill a position that demands innovation? Because they want diverse workforce at the top rung, for wide and better ideas.

I'm also sure you saw the news of a Harvard professor Lieber that China secretly recruited? Why do you think China wants an American professor, ready to pay him so much? Because no professor in China that can fill the post? Na. It's because China cannot risk limiting itself to its environment. For that, having diverse mind in the field the professor is recruited to work is the answer.

By bringing foreigners to the US to work, these organizations are armed with diverse ideas from diverse people from different part of the world, deepening their root, and and taping into those minds to expand and compete.

For going to the US yourself, your level of knowledge and how you see life and your field has been influenced and expanded, and enriched.
If you are to return to Nigeria after studies for work, you will certainly have some edge over those who never left. What did that tell us? There are certainly Americans that can fill those H1B jobs, but an organization that really wants to expand its scope and influence, and not shrink, but compete in a world that INNOVATIVE IDEAS rule, will NEVER limit its workforce to its country of origin -- or it will suffer a lot of disadvantages. This is why it will be IMPOSSIBLE for Trump to permanently ban H1B visa! He cannot succeed in this area, because any attempt to stop foreign workers from coming to the US to work in those organizations will limit their ability to tap into diverse minds, from different countries, for such organization enrichment. This is how it works!

Really good points

Started and completed an intermediate C++ course.
To prepare for graduate school (Masters), I prepared complete solutions to both "Engineering Mathematics" and "Advanced Engineering Mathematics" by KA Stroud. Read "Essentials of Geotechnical Engineering" by SA Ola from cover to cover. I'm currently taking a Data science and Machine Learning course, and I'm also reading a textbook on Continuum Mechanics (actually a website, https://continuummechanics.org ).

I also spent considerable time reading other non-academic books, and found the will to quit all social media except nairaland and reddit. Anddd I started playing my guitar and singing again. I can play Barre chords smoothly now, haha. I also watched some anime I'd been dying to watch but never had the time to (HxH especially). Anddd I had time to study the stock market more, I think I prefer it to forex trading. Before the lockdown I wanted to do all these but my job left me with barely any time. Now if they can just reopen the embassy and I get my visa I'll feel much more competent and prepared when I resume school.

Now that I've written it down I just realized that I've done quite a lot. Well, I can always do more.