Quite a lot of people have given sound advice on your issue and I am of the opinion that you take a good look at the cogent ones, do a self evaluation and apply those points that are best fit for your person.

I had issues with my grades in the first 2 years of my 5 years engineering course and I will try and break it down.

My first year produced a cumulative CGPA of below 3.0 and i realized that my failure was due to my instability in terms of accommodation (most people never really understand how much one loses to commuting distances to school everyday), naivety of a fresher (thinking i would simply do well considering i did well in my secondary school studies) and inadequate studying.

My second year was a bit better as my CGPA rose to above 3.0. I attributed this slight improvement to having a proper hostel and a lot of reading (day and night burning the academic candles literally). This slight improvement wasn't going to cut it for me as I had assumed I would graduate with a 1st class easily. Well, that was out of the window at the end of my second year despite having one of the best students in my class as room mate and assistant whenever i had issues (he was actually the best mathematical mind in the class).

In my third year, i did a complete evaluation of myself,looked at my CGPA and the CGPA structure. I set a target of what I needed to score per semester to get me to my target of not just a 2:1 but a particular CGPA that will allow me apply for scholarships when applying for masters program in the future. I realized that a paradigm shift needed to happen, things needed to change with my spiritual, social and academic life, so i began to follow a plan:
a. I stopped attending church on sundays and whatever fellowship was slated for saturdays.
b. I stopped doing any serious reading on weekdays or at nights
c. I started participating in sporting activities
d. I selected a good fellowship that only holds on weekdays
e. I actually stepped up on my social life (Female hostel, parties, award nights, committees etc)
.....and finally, i would use try never to miss lectures and always take notes. I would spend my weekday evenings updating lecture notes and reading materials, separating my notes, past questions and materials into study days.
I dedicated the whole of Saturdays and Sundays to just my studies. I would wake up as early as 5am, pack a few munchies and head to the most remote lecture halls set my study target for the day before me and take all the time i need to digest all. I would take walk breaks and even siesta there. I had a different jotting note for each course where i jotted all points in my own words and short forms which is the only material i refer to for exams .

Apart from my personal target, I also had my brother on my neck as he was always calling me only to tell me not to come home without a 2:1. This also helped me focus but i also always prayed for divine wisdom, knowledge, understanding, retentive memory and the spirit of excellence from God. This is just something i do and believe in, different strokes for different folks.

I never scored a GPA below 4.0 till i graduated and had over 4.6 GPAs in my final semesters.

Truth is no one is after you from your village, you are not also quite capable of extraordinary things academically once you get the right plan.

All the best!

Cole001:
Good Morning to everyone. My sincere appreciation goes to everyone that has been contributing to this threas Eke40seveb,Justwise and all other gurus! I hail of you. I thank you sooo much. All the answers I gave @ the embassy during my interview was culled from what EKE40SEVEN gave in the Part1 of this thread. Thanks to Everybody.God shall surely perfect everything concerning your applications and visa processing in Jesus name. I GOT MY VISA TO ULM UNIVERSITY last week.Thanks to everybody. I will surely table how I went through the application with ULM University and Visa Interview in my next post. Thanks to Everyone.Every comment posted is always useful during visa interview,please let's take note.Thanks my Greatest Nairalanders! God Bless You all.

Congrats...... More testimonies we plead!

Gcapable:
I am with styles2009 on this.

AK has been helpful and he has contributed immensely to this thread no doubt but truth be told, he is over doing it these days, making peeps lazy and all that.

Questions peeps ask lately on this thread are just pathetic. You want to go for masters and you can't use your discretion on little issues makes me wonder how some peeps graduated from school. E.g. AK's write up in the last pages of part1 of this thread dealt with alot of issues including how 3rd class graduates and grad with less than 3.0cgpa can gain admission in Germany and he has made reference to that write in this part2 yet, peeps keep asking the same questions. The most annoying part is that esdajo still gave a clue using himself as an example and peeps are still asking to give lists of school that will accept 3rd class and the school that gave him admission. It is just pathetic.

Please don't get me wrong, am not saying peeps should not ask for help/question but let us try and do some little research on our part. You just can't keep asking questions like list of schools to apply to, that offers this, that accepts this, if you can photocopy your certified documents etc. Like seriously?

AK Baba not trying to discourage you, you are doing great helping peeps out but kindly reduce the OVER-SPOON FEEDING to mere SPOON FEEDING.

AMANDA AWETU.

I do get your point and as is obvious, everyone has their issues to sort out. There was a time on this thread when people would get a response like "read from page 150 of thread 1" or "read this thread from the start" to questions they felt had been dealt with but recently people have stopped doing that. The only thing keeping this thread alive is the banters that go on here daily, be it trivial or a huge announcement of admission or rejection. If we all start classifying queries and people, this thread will just go silent and die off but even if that doesn't happen it is still a general rule of thumb that no knowledge is a waste.

This issue of getting references from professors and lecturers may be daunting to some because of their non-cooperation in signing up to 7 documents. I am sure if i told you how I went about getting my references without getting into my school for same you will not believe that is even a possibility and I am sure people would learn from it and seek to try it out to see if it can work for them too.

Let us stop all insinuations about people's abilities because you do not know them. For all you know, given the same favorable circumstances and opportunities, they might end up being miles ahead of most.

Let the Love show people.

All in good time..........

styles2009:


If i may ask,must you always reply to almost every post?
That Nigerian mentality of "using a sharp coloured photocopy" is rather the dumbest on this thread.
How about telling the applicant to try and get copies of same letter addressed to different universities,if they really want an admission to those school
Na by force to reply ? park well

come on!, it is people with mentality like yours that make life difficult for others. how is it any of your business the number of posts he responds to? What mentality is Nigerian if i may ask? I would have tried to explain the circumstance that warranted the responses from EKE to you but I am pretty sure your puny grey matter is stuck in whatever stone age you delude yourself as being in.

It is surely not by forced impulse that you choose to regurgitate your blarney. shush if you've got nothing valuable to contribute and leave those that need the advice to do what they will with the little provided.

Eruditor:


http://www.use-in-a-sentence.com/english-words/academic-words-english/former.htm

http://forum.thefreedictionary.com/postst29484_She-is---was-a-former-teacher-.aspx

You put a quote on the supposed sentence but ended up not quoting it verbatim. In any case, this is the sentence: "In fact, the current DMD Bernard Otti, was a former GED of that directorate"

I know your puny brain will overheat trying to make something of the links I provided above so I will try to help (as onerous a task as can be). The phrase 'was a former' (as it pertains to humans) is employed in situations where the person in question is either dead or doing something else after retiring from a previous position as should be indicated in the sentence. So in the sentence above, I used the word 'Current' to indicate his present position and the phrase 'was a former' to indicate what he WAS before taking on the DMD role (his present position).

Feel free to accept or disregard this piece of advice:
1.Get a refund of your tuition from all your English teachers. They bilked you seriously.

2.Grow a pair and be ballsy enough to quote my posts instead of this wanton show of pusillanimity.

3. Don't be a bucolic simpleton. I am not the reason you didn't get a text from PCL. (Oops! I said it)

4. If you are as busy and employed as you claim, leave those of us that are not, to visit NL as often as possible.

Side note: I have learnt to take statements like "I am employed, I don't need this job" with a pinch of salt because most people who aver such, are usually insecure and delusional so they try to use their mouths to make up for what life hasn't given to them.

Personally, I wager you are underemployed but if it helps you sleep at night, then you are the MD of SPDC.

OMG!!! Una see why i no talk anything when i hear say NNPC don tell PCL to stop invites because of the staff training and promotion exercise?

@Eruditor: do you know how many people you have sent to the dictionary? Even me wey dey form 8.5 for IELTS and over 107 in TOEFL on the average never hear some of these words before.

Kai, you remind me of AWESU (my friend who studied the entire dictionary because he wanted to improve his scrabble game) .

Bros I hail thee oooo.

Obiwannn:


SMH.....who tell u say i de compete with u?

Obi, why so serious? I was just kidding nah. All in good time....

iamtope:
Good and Bad News!!!
I feel uncomfortable informing the house that the NNPC 2012 recruitment exercise has been put on hold based on rationale best known to the management. The 2015 management promotion exercise is ongoing and can't be run concurrently with the recruitment exercise. Suffice me to say that more people would still get the invite for the interview either through sms or email. The decision to suspend the exercise got to PCL late on the 18th Feb, thus the sms notification was stopped and no further sms was released aside the batch that had been sent out prior to the notification. The second sms sent to the same group of people was only a re-assurance that the exercise was active.
The recruitment may not continue till late April/ Early May.
Please note, i ain't speaking on behalf of PCL or NNPC. Just tot to divulge some privy info. Wish everyone the best.

I can confirm this info because i got the same info a few days back but didn't feel enthusiastic about sharing because of the tension already going on in house with all the grammarians and english abracadabrains in the house make them no go stone me vocabularies. The promotion and training exercise will end April 30th from the info i got after which the recruitment process can commence.

Keep the faith people, it hasn't even started!

Obiwannn:


lol..
me sef pass u..
some in Middle East..
1 in France..
7 in Germany..


That ur Kiel and Hamburg, is it Material science and Environmental engr respectively?

very funny.... I be data communications engineering guy. so no worry, we no dey compete for slot

Obiwannn:


BROS u de vex o!
i like ur all hands on deck approach.
No worry, God go give u at least one...
We go see for KIEL

You go fear nah. It is the result of the research and learning that has been gained from this forum that has taught people to do the needful by increasing their chances of admission via multiple applications. Like me now:

a. TUM
b. Hamburg
c. Kiel
d. Offenburg
e. Uni Erlangen

Stuttgart for dey among but that is already out of the picture since them don sideline me for now.

The final one is in Asia. This na Germany thread so ....

All applications have gone out. Now the waiting begins.

P.S: Please people, do not use EMS if you have a deadline of like 10days oo. These people can give hypertension and it is not like they are cheaper sef. sent a document on friday only to be told that it will just leave nigeria yesterday (monday), when fedex or anyother serious courier service would have been halfway there by now. I just hope they deliver on or before 15th sha.

DanIndia:
Working, and at the same studying, can be a bit stressing - I'd recommend you go for Germany though. Your CGPA is good and I'm a very positive person so I strongly believe that you can ace admissions with your preferred institutes.

All the best, and remember nothing is Impossible.

I would just like to chip in here that the Canadian policy you mentioned has changed starting Jan 1, 2015 with the introduction of Express Entry Programme in Canada. I am not fully equipped with the details but I know that a lot of students in Canada have started complaining about the new policy which sort of places them in the same pool as immigrants. A lot of awareness and how to's are going on to enlighten students and prospective students on what they need to do to put themselves in good stead to be eligible to stay back after studies.

I am sure further research will reveal more.

Williamso:
Please who's in PH? Where did you certify and how much? Was at Obio court and was told 600naira per page Looking for alternatives please...

They all say the same thing at the high courts. it is left to you to negotiate and get the best deal you possibly can.

I was at Ikeja High Court today and they started at 500naira per page and I had to negotiate and form a regular customer to get 200naira per page. I almost got 3pages for 500naira if i had pushed harder but I decided not to push it any harder.

Go back there and try another part of the court. Walk in like you own the place....

[quote author=Eke40seven post=31181740]

1. If you stay in Lagos, go to the HEAD OFFICE of NIPOST at the ARRIVAL LOUNGE of the MURITALA MUHAMMED AIRPORT (MMA), use the registered mail and tip them to encourage their good work. You know what I mean.
It costs between N500-1500 officially.
That is the fastest you could ever get of any NIPOST OFFICE in Nigeria of a post leaving our shores (I could be wrong). Although from experience unregistered mails are always faster may be because record keeping and updating online for tracking is not involved and it costs not more than N300 per address/file. Whichever way, I'm positive that your mail will arrive maximum of 7-10 working days if you use that channel.
[/quote

@EKE40Seven: Please will that be the MM local airport, MM2 or international at the bolded? I just need to be clear about it because I am headed down there tomorrow to send my documents. I no wan do plenty waka na wetin dey make me ask o.

Thanks as always

DjAndroid:


Mind you, windows mobile and windowsphone are not the same OS.

In the picture below, the first is the windows mobile while the 2nd is the windowsphone.

In as much as i like your analysis, please do a more recent comparison with windowsphone OS 8.1.

A lot of things will begin to make sense then.

Gave out my Infinix Alpha and my Nokia Lumia 520 just so I can go solo.

nairalanding from my microsoft lumia 535

Imagine a life of ease and sweetness all in one mobile OS.........

Naffysah:
Hi Guys!
I really do not want to be a bearer of bad news but from a very very reliable source( a friend currently working at PCL), people who received the messages are the successful ones.
There is nothing like sms been sent in batches and the ones yet to receive are most likely the unsuccessful ones.
Also, the highest level of nepotism was involved in the selection process according to him.

As a PCL customer care executive , Erin, said (I called ,'01-2703667' yesterday), dey will be sending invites in batches till March 12(lwtmb - d generic reponse to all intending applicants).

So guys, if you know anyone in nnpc, now is the time to re-awaken the nnpc networks as anythn is still possible between now and March 12, God willing.


*my humble contribution.......
(Still awaiting my sms with faith tho )

If anything I refuse to believe the part of nepotism being a factor in the selection process for the SMS invites sent. I know at least 4 people that got invites that do not even know a policeman talk-less of being connected and they were successful. At least I am a testimony to that effect. I know people that are connected to the towers and are yet to get the invites. So to a large extent, the invites were largely based on merit though preferential treatments can't be completely eliminated.

All the same, NNPC is just another race.......let's all do our best!

Wow.....

University of Stuttgart just bounced my application ooo.

Hmmmm...... 1 down, 3 to go!

mackfame:
Nig 0 : 1 S. Afri

The defense went to bed and forgot that striker there. The striker had enough time to control the ball turn into the proper position and shoot! in this age and time! but that pitch is really poor......

Let us all try and be accommodating please.

For everyone that has not received the SMS, be calm and remain hopeful.

Interviews will be in April.

A whole lot more invites than was sent via SMS will go out to applicants.

Email invites will start dropping before/by the end of this week.

It is well with us all.

It shall end in praise.

Take care peeps!

Igunnu:


You should be glad you got the transportation stipend for the 2010 recruitment, I never got mine till date and of course it is not a wrong bank account I gave them because I still use it till date and I double checked or even triple checked that day I gave them but all the same though I also have a second chance at amphitheater. Believe it will go well his time. Congrats to you, believe we will all celebrate at the end of the recruitment. God does not start a journey he will not finish.

It was actually months after the interview that I got the money and I had actually forgotten about it. Congrats to you too and a big Amen to your prayers.

youseuph:
Like how much does NNPC pay as transport fare for the interview?

The transport stipend is actually dependent on your state of residence. If for example you live in Kano, the distance from Kano to Abuja will be used to estimate if you require a stipend as transportation subsidy and of course you can't compare the payment made to someone from Sokoto to be the same as for someone from Lagos or PH.

My point is that there is no set amount for all refunds, it is based on the distance traveled.

dollarking:
gud to know now pls share wit us what they asked u back then in ur interview

Well, back then we had a panel of about 5 - 8 people conducting the interview (and there were different panels for different sets of people).

Standard interview questions were:

Tell us about yourself
what do you know about NNPC
List 3 or 4 subsidiaries of NNPC (acronym and full meaning). might want to know what some of them actually do
questions related to individual CV and specialty
Some general questions which vary depending on the mood in the room
your question(s)

Back then, each interview session lasted about 15mins per person.

It should be a lot sterner this time around because the spirit is high......

Goodkidd:


Now ur gonna get the job. God has blessed u with ur wife to speak to u thru her

Amen!!!

Ifywhyteman:
[b]My attending that test was by faith, as i practically had to push myself off from the bed, into the bathroom, took my shower, not still sure of what i was doing, got dressed and headed for Enugu. Before that day i only got the first SMS, no knowledge of my test centre as i had forgotten amongst the three possible States in my mind which of them i actually filled in as my possible test centre, with no further detail or direction, i journeyed. I got to Enugu on the morning of that exam, the very first table i approached was where i FOUND my card, lo that was actually my centre, and with joy i had to call all and informed them what has happened cos i believe it was all the handiwork of God. So even today, as many have received their IV sms for the next phase of test/interview and i am yet to do so, i refuse to be unhappy, i refuse to lose hope...i restate that God is great and i strongly believe if it is His will that i join you guys to that interview and get this job He would still do it for me, even on the morning of that interview...Can i have a resounding Amen!...I'm off to the Blessed Sacrament, for some serious prayers..See you guys in Abuja or wherever that interview is going to be![/b]

God is always listening even when it is our inner man doing the speaking while our outer man is busy hustling and flexing.

After I only got the transportation stipend paid after the NNPC 2010 interview and got no word from NNPC regarding induction or not, I wasn't ecstatic about the invite for the 6th Dec 2015 test and as a matter of fact, I had a colleagues wedding to attend which was my main focus on that day but my wife kept hammering that i should at least go and write the test then head to the wedding (which was in yaba by the way) after the test. Long story short, I got the congratulatory SMS and awaiting interview details which i am happy about simply because i heeded the voice of reason (never made it to that wedding cos it was over by the time we finished the test).

Now i have a second chance at NNPC...........God is with us!

Keep the faith, impossible is nothing.

styles2009:



Hello
I read your post concerning doing your master program in Hamburg and want to go with your wife and a kid.
My question as someone,who's in Hamburg over a year now, What's your plan after your master program? Do you want to work and reside here? or go back to naija? Am asking this question before i can give my own opinion.
Cheers

Hello Styles,
Thanks for taking the time to read my post. The plan after M.Sc is to try and gain industrial experience in Germany with some OEMs and push on accordingly from there meaning I plan to stay after M.Sc but I am also not against coming back to naija if it gets to that (hope all turns out well so it doesn't happen).
In the interim, I plan to study and hustle while my wife works reasonably to have enough time for our kid. By the time I am done (2yrs),she can start her postgraduate program too as things would have been clearer by then. In all, at least 4years of international experience should put anyone with a plan in good stead anywhere.

Do give your input as experience is the best teacher and I would like to learn from you especially at this early stage of things.

Thanks

Eke40seven:


You have already answered your questions yourself. So where do I start?

Since your wife have a Bsc already, I think your work will be easier if she applies for a degree too preferably in a school close to yours and take your child along.

For the schools selected and your chances; I can't say for sure which with a better chance of admittance as there are many factors involved in individual study programmes and not necessarily the school itself have their criteria and focus on the type of student they want. I don't even know your course of study.

EKE40seven, I am only trying to obey the rules of no spoon feeding so that when ogas like una see my questions, it will get beta consideration.

Eke40seven:


You have already answered your questions yourself. So where do I start?

Since your wife have a Bsc already, I think your work will be easier if she applies for a degree too preferably in a school close to yours and take your child along.

For the schools selected and your chances; I can't say for sure which with a better chance of admittance as there are many factors involved in individual study programmes and not necessarily the school itself have their criteria and focus on the type of student they want. I don't even know your course of study.

Thanks for your response EKE40seven. I am not exactly sure if we can make the arrangement for her admission, I would prefer that we get enough time to adjust before she takes up schooling because if I read correctly from responses to Sekinat, schooling and caring for a toodler may be a tad bit difficult.

I have a B.Sc in Electronics and Computer Engineering and applying to mostly communications engineering and Info Tech M.Sc programs.

bosakelvin:
i applied to tu hamburg for msc production management programme. after applying online, i wastold to submit d hard copies of d required documents, which i have not sent because of ielts. got it now hope to send by next week, which of d programmes did u apply for at tuhh.

Info and Communications Systems

Williamso:


Yes you can look at it that way. Reduced number of applicants = Increased probability of getting admission.
But take note that this is not the official selection process, so applicants that will be weeded out will be VERY few...

Noted! Just trying to cover all my groundwork.

Thanks

Williamso:


I can help with the bolded. Others can help with the unbolded, or even complement my post.

The decision report you will get around March 1st is not an offer of admission, but simply a decision that you can progress to the next stage. This next stage involves sending hard (certified where necessary) copies of Motivation letter, degree certificate, transcript, reference letter(s), etc for the admission process.

Your TOEFL will definitely add more juice to your application. They also accept letter of Language of Instruction from your university. You can be offered provisional admission without any language certificate at all, though you will still have to present it before the enrollment deadline else you will forfeit the admission.

Thanks a bunch Williamso, I just need a clearer picture and what to expect going forward. My guess will be that getting a positive report to move to the next stage kind of increases the chance of getting admitted as the number of applications to consider is now lesser than before the report.

Appreciate your input.

RaymondRay:


At my center we were instructed to assume question 61 was number 1 of the new section.. Hvnt seen any sms yet.. Hopefully that didn't play a role..

That was the same instruction handed out at my center in Unilag and what I followed so it must be the correct format because I got the SMS.

Hello House,

Great greetings to all the ogas at the top (justwise, nevilbot,eke40seven and others), i dey hail oo.

I have been silently following this thread and have read most of thread 1 and of course up to date on thread 2.

I have applied to a couple of universities (online) and only need to send my documents which is being delayed because I want to send a recent transcript instead of the one i have which is dated a couple of years ago.

I would really like anyone with experience in the admission process of Uni of Stuttgart to enlighten me because after applying online (Info Tech, MSc), I was contacted that I scaled the first phase and that I only send a pdf copy of my transcript which i did (CGPA 3.71). I was then emailed that a decision report will be sent on or around March 1, 2015 which will indicate qualification to the next stage or disqualification. I did send them a mail today to try and figure out if the decision will mean admittance pending documentation and others or if it is simply to qualify to another evaluation stage. This is why i need anyone that is familiar with their process to shine more light.

I also did ask if they have gotten my TOEFL (scored 107) report from ETS but they just left out that part because I am hoping that my TOEFL will also add more butter to my bread at their end.

I am married and will be hoping to have my family (wife (B.Sc Bus. Admin) and toddler son) tag along because 2 years is too long a time to be away from them ooo. From responses to Sekinat's questions, I see that a total of 16,100euros is needed in block account (correct or not?) to cover for all Dependants.My question is that if I can provide the money, is it doable to have my family come along with me (if all goes as plan by God's grace)?

I submitted to Stuttgart, Offenburg, TUM and Hamburg for now. I would also like a bit of analysis on the four and what my chances are at first glance.

Thanks to everyone that has been contributing to this thread, God bless.