₦airaland Forum

walepepe21:
You are not articulate enough with what you actually want as you don’t even mention what you read in your UG degree.

gozmoc8167
post=103520679:
Hello guys, sorry to deviate from the focal point of this thread.

I wrote GRE yesterday and got the following scores:

Quant-149
Verbal - 153

Any hope for funding with such score?

My intended program is MS/PhD in electrical engineering. My CGPA is 4.32/5.0

Thanks in anticipation of your responses.

HushTee:
Visa Transcript

F1, F2 (wife and baby)
Location: Lagos (initial date was Jan 2024, but we were able to reschedule to July 8 2021 - we didn't apply for EA, we just found that we can reschedule)
Time: 7.45am
Status: Approved
COA: $104k approx. Fully funded (no deficit)

shams040:
To correct you. On the outside you view it like Civil relates to URP and I'm telling you a No as far as Nig is concern, this is my domain. While I agree with you that visa and admission are diff games, I will like you to know that Interest has a lot to play in the two. For Example, I applied but urban planning schools that was my under grad but was rejected bec currently only few in that school handles advance GIS as I have proposed to work on.

As far as forestry admission is concern I reserve my comment on why I made my choice. But let me hint you, the research interest of d advisor aligned with mine and no 1 get admitted to that dept except a professor got a grant to fund him for the whole study duration. This prof advertised and I applied as I was sure other candidates too must have applied (bec he wrote on his twitter page that he has received 00's email) and he selected me after two interviews. Not to blow my trumpet I need to let u know I got Australia scholarship in Environmental sci and another in canada Geography all because of research interest.

In conclusion research interest is number 1 in respective of visa or admission application. When I processed my US visa the VO only asked me a question "what is ur study plan?" before completing he already approved my visa with good comments from him. URP to Civil is not a possible transition in Nig. So you should know US isnt my first country.

Thanks

chuksmanred:
I'm going for a second bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering. My first bachelor's course is civil engineering but in a Polytechnic.

Please, I need help on what more to say to defend my intent on why I switched.

And also, in my I-20 it doesn't show second bachelor's, only bachelor's. How would I defend this?

My I-20 again doesn't show the name of my course of study. It only shows the faculty name which is Engineering technologies/technicians.

Please, help me on how to go about all these in my interview.
Thank you all.

neurosci:
Congrats!

Now, question: you said your cost of attendance was $104K and you were fully funded. I'm believing your wife's F2 was fully funded too. I'd never heard schools could find F2 as well, especially considering your wife wouldn't be doing anything for the university. Is this a new thing or something specific to ivy leagues?

chuksmanred:
I will turn 29 this October. Actually my dad is a radiographer. I chose biomedical engineering to be a technical consultant based on servicing Medical equipments to give good results. Cuz the guy that services my dad's medical equipments bills him high knowing the technicians are scarce.

I have the full funding from my dad for the four years.

I don't know if my genuine reasons are convincing enough.

Prodigee:
Honestly bro IMO there's nothing wrong in going for a second bachelor's degree as long as you can defend the rationale behind it. And what you said above is a good reason for your intentions. That's your story man!

gozmoc8167:
Hello guys, sorry to deviate from the focal point of this thread.

I wrote GRE yesterday and got the following scores:

Quant-149
Verbal - 153

Any hope for funding with such score?

My intended program is MS/PhD in electrical engineering. My CGPA is 4.32/5.0

Thanks in anticipation of your responses.

Oyeyemidesign:
Don’t let anyone discourage you here cos that’s what some people do. If you have a good reason why you are going for second degree and it makes sense to the VO, you will get your visa. There’s no direct path to visa interview as everybody story is different. Have seen people personally who got there visa even tho what they studied in undergrad doesn’t relate with what they are going for, what matters most is your career, that’s why they ask about your work experience on Ds-160.

Prodigee:
Honestly bro IMO there's nothing wrong in going for a second bachelor's degree as long as you can defend the rationale behind it. And what you said above is a good reason for your decision. That's your story man!

Favournice001:
First interview in lagos
VO: good morning
Me: good morning ma’am
Vo: so tell me about your plans
Me: I’m going for my bachelors degree to study music technology in California university of Pennsylvania
Vo: whats music technology all about
Me: Music technology is study of everything that has to do with music production, in terms of knowing how to use devices e.g computer to record and edit music
Vo: oh okay so who will be sponsoring your fees
Me: my dad is my sponsor, he’s been responsible for my academics from birth. He’s excited and ready to sponsor me
Vo: What does he do for a living
Me: he's the head pastor of a church here in Nigeria
Vo: whats hes annual income
Me: I have he’s bank statement here showing his financial strength
Vo: let me have it, looks at it and gives me back
Vo: vo nods her head and starts typing
After a while she look and me surprisingly and asked why haven’t I travelled out of Nigeria before
Me: told her I haven’t gotten any reason in the past to do so
Vo: interrupts and says I’m sorry you’re not qualified for an f1 visa (denial under section 214(b) )


Second interview in lagos
Vo: good morning
Me: good morning sir
Vo tell me about your educational plans
Me: i plan going for bachelor degree to study music technology at California university of Pennsylvania
Vo: you father will be taking care of the costs
Me: yes
Vo: what does he do for a living
Me: he’s the head pastor of a church, he’s into medium scale farming and a real estate developer/consultant
Vo: I’m sorry you aren’t qualified for this visa but can reapply again
(Denial under section 214(b) )

Please how can i fix this i plan reapply again but this time Abuja cause my school resumes fall 2021

walepepe21:
You are not articulate enough with what you actually want as you don’t even mention what you read in your UG degree so it’s very hard for anyone to respond to your questions here.

Secondly, you said you want RAship than TAship. Don’t negate your chance by having such mentality as most people get TAship thank RAship as the later entails looking up and down for a supervisor which is even very hard while most dept make TAshio available for all the admitted students.

So, having this mindset about your choice for the financial aid it can affect your application where you can even see TAship openings and leave it since you’ve narrowed down yourself to RAship.

Thirdly, you said you want to apply on or before This years runs out. Don’t rush your application because you have time to get it right by prep for your GRE , TOEFL, getting LORs from your profs etc as many deadlines still extend till Feb 15 but your choice of degree you’re coming to do here will actually determine most of this deadlines as some close early on time while the others deadlines are still far.

Fourthly, Most of this department don’t even look at whether you’ve pubs or not as the first thing they mostly look and valued is your courseworks & grades you had in those relevant courses like the last 60 credits hours before other requirements follows like GRE, toefl , pubs etc. Also , get me right I don’t say having pubs is not good too , it is good but it’s optional/not a major factor to reckon with during your application.

kaykad:
Hi Oga Prodigree or anyone in the house can i have a template on how to write up emergency interview letter please

neurosci:
Congrats!

Now, question: you said your cost of attendance was $104K and you were fully funded. I'm believing your wife's F2 was fully funded too. I'd never heard schools could find F2 as well, especially considering your wife wouldn't be doing anything for the university. Is this a new thing or something specific to ivy leagues?

HushTee:
Visa Transcript

F1, F2 (wife and baby)
Location: Lagos (initial date was Jan 2024, but we were able to reschedule to July 8 2021 - we didn't apply for EA, we just found that we can reschedule)
Time: 7.45am
Status: Approved
COA: $104k approx. Fully funded (no deficit)

God did it.

I was interviewed first..... Dude seemed nice, he also did our fingerprint.

VO: What are you going to the US for? (I requested he repeat the question again though cos my baby's cries didn't make me hear the first time)
Me: I'm going for my PhD degree in Evolutionary Biology at Yale University.

VO: Can you say the name of the school again?
Me: Yale University

VO: How many programs did you apply to?
Me: Seven (six admits)

VO: So, why Yale?
Me: I talked about how the professors research interests aligned with mine, with specific research topics. I also talked about the presence of a strong network of researchers in my field who produce some of the best research in that field in the US. I forgot my practise (but uncrammed) lines at some point but replaced them with whatever came to mind regarding my research interests - they kuku have almost no idea what my research is about,

VO: Have you been to other countries before?
Me: Yes, India.

VO: For what?
Me: A research fellowship. I got a research fellowship and I went to India for a year to carry out the research.

VO: That's great, excellent. So, I see you're fully funded, are you aware of the kind of apartments there for you?
Me: Yes, one bedroom flat... One bedroom apartment

VO: Has your school settled it?
Me: I was about saying "no, but I've paid for it," only for him to say "I'm sure they have." I kuku kept quiet.


All the while I was being interviewed, my baby was crying seriously. When I finished mine, I collected her from my wife so she too can be interviewed. She cried all through, we didn't stay in any of the queues cos of that.


Then he moved to my wife
VO: What do you do?
Her: I'm a fashion designer, I run a fashion business.

VO: What will happen to your business here? (this was a slippery slope question that we already prepped for)
Her: I've handed over to my second in command for the duration I'll be away

VO: What will you do when you get there?
Her: I'll spend time with my husband, I'll take care of my baby

VO: So you don't have any intention of working in US?
Her: No, not at all.


After she was interviewed, she was told our visas will be ready in a few days. I heard that and passed her our baby to collected the white paper containing the pickup address. We had a long day celebrating.

I have a fairly okay profile. I'm a 2:2 BSc grad, really good MSc, a few publications and conferences, a few years of research experience (about 5 years including and a research fellowship abroad), I did TOEFL and scored 101 but didn't need to use it cos I did it because of only one school - Cornell (that rejected me), and had solid references.

I've been a silent observer here, but I'll just share my 2 cents / tips on a few issues that I find worrying on this thread.
Firstly, I searched and searched and for transcript from someone going for a visa interview the same day with all family members (to predict my chances. cos I'd been told by some people that we have low chances of approval if we apply together - terrible information) and someone who's going to an ivy league (to know if I'll get any privileges). But, that was ineffective, I guess my research skills just got the better of me (not sure I was mistaken to do that though). When I didn't find specifics on nairaland or quora or reddit (and generally on the Internet), I decided to read all transcripts in this particular thread from beginning till the end. The few transcripts from one-traveling parent and their F2 child(ren), and every other transcript including unsuccessful and proposed ones were very helpful in many different ways.

I'm indifferent to not sharing/not-sharing programs and schools in transcripts, everyone has a reason for not wanting to share theirs - I particularly don't like being bugged with questions that a simple googling and DIY can fix. But IMHO, sharing helps a lot in linking possible questions with program, cost of attendance, work/research experience, exams done, and CV record - a DYOR person would easily be able to put 2 and 2 together from your transcript.

One other issue that got me worried initially was the DS-160 question of "who's funding your trip." I picked "self." Apparently, it wasn't something to worry about. Also, I changed my current work on the form from my paid jobs to my volunteer (unpaid) research assistant job, just to avoid questions that I may not be able to answer clearly. I updated my profile four days before interview and went with the updated confirmation page only (since it was over 72 hours).

My wife and I practiced every kind of question regularly including slippery slope questions, and had my sister do a final interview for us using almost 70 questions (of cos, she had no idea whether our responses were good, but we know when they're not good). Every question we were asked was practiced - not one wasn't practiced. I feel like it's just good to prepare for every kind of question and have very specific and clear (not vague) responses to them all - you'll know if your responses are vague. Also, don't lie!

I'll rest. I'm deeply sorry this was long.

I wish every other person going for an interview (whether F1 or F2) all the best. God's favor!

Pefuele:
Research Interest? How can that be key when it is not everyone that is going for research based( thesis Masters)? Some are going for course works( Non-thesis based Masters) and of course MBA.

Infact, research is mostly key when you are talking about PhD. You will noticed that VOs mostly ask questions on dissertation or research interest when you are going for a PhD. Check the PhD transcripts approval well. I am also going for a PhD and the first question I was asked is about my research and professor and the second I was asked is course alignment ( what is your Bachelors degree)? That's all.Infact,you may not have a supervisor or a permanent research interest( you can change based on supervisor) even as a PhD student until you touch base cos you may be offered a TA based on course works and TOEFL scores.

However, I would say all these course alignment and research interest is soft now because the embassy in Nigeria is more concerned about funding. The situation is also very unpredictable now in Abuja because you can see candidates with huge deficit getting approved. So, I would say for now it is difficult to be narrow it down! However, the Lagos Embassy is quite predictable with mostly funded guys approved ( I saw a transcript that someone was approved yesterday with no course alignment but VO just approved based on the fact that he/she may not drop out because he/she is fully funded).

Normally: this is the formula. Your UG course should align with your intended Masters/PhD program. If there is a career change your intended program should relate with your new career. However, we are still in the period where funding is more significant. We were once in the period where GRE was key whether you get 300 or 340 just write the GRE.

Martinogie9:
Good morning. Please if you are a student currently living around Texas Tech University campus, kindly send me a mail. Thank you.

Favournice001:
First interview in lagos
VO: good morning
Me: good morning ma’am
Vo: so tell me about your plans
Me: I’m going for my bachelors degree to study music technology in California university of Pennsylvania
Vo: whats music technology all about
Me: Music technology is study of everything that has to do with music production, in terms of knowing how to use devices e.g computer to record and edit music
Vo: oh okay so who will be sponsoring your fees
Me: my dad is my sponsor, he’s been responsible for my academics from birth. He’s excited and ready to sponsor me
Vo: What does he do for a living
Me: he's the head pastor of a church here in Nigeria
Vo: whats hes annual income
Me: I have he’s bank statement here showing his financial strength
Vo: let me have it, looks at it and gives me back
Vo: vo nods her head and starts typing
After a while she look and me surprisingly and asked why haven’t I travelled out of Nigeria before
Me: told her I haven’t gotten any reason in the past to do so
Vo: interrupts and says I’m sorry you’re not qualified for an f1 visa (denial under section 214(b) )


Second interview in lagos
Vo: good morning
Me: good morning sir
Vo tell me about your educational plans
Me: i plan going for bachelor degree to study music technology at California university of Pennsylvania
Vo: you father will be taking care of the costs
Me: yes
Vo: what does he do for a living
Me: he’s the head pastor of a church, he’s into medium scale farming and a real estate developer/consultant
Vo: I’m sorry you aren’t qualified for this visa but can reapply again
(Denial under section 214(b) )

Please how can i fix this i plan reapply again but this time Abuja cause my school resumes fall 2021

walepepe21:
Look at your degrees can’t you see it aligns with one another at all in which the VO will even reason along with you that there is an alignment ? Why don’t you go for that Forestry (Agriculture Science ) now for your PhD degree since you had URP in your first degree & CVE in your Second Degree. Ask yourself that question at first. Can’t you see that both your degrees fall under Engineering & Environmental Sciences?

Check past transcripts and tell me how many that went to the embassy without have an aligned degree with what they studied in their UG or PG studies. Have you yourself see someone who studied chemistry talking Mathematics to the embassy? This is about morality and how well you’re informed.

However, It is better to take a wise counsel than to give a vague response or guess if you don’t have an idea about how it works. What most people are goofed about is that schools in USA can offer someone who had his UG degree in chemical Engineering an admit to come and study in Agricultural Science.

Finally, Sample many approval Transcripts here and look at both their 1st degree & 2nd degree is there is no alignment at all. This is one of the mistake many of you runs into as I do warn my students about this a lot every time.

Who told you course alignment has nothing to do with VISA Approval? Where did you listened/read about to that ? Chief get it right , admission requirements is TOTALLY different from the Embassy requirements okay !

Thank you and take care!

shams040:
While I agree with you on the likely change in the VO's questions to the applicants, I still strong believe that course alignment should never be a yardstick to Visa approval.

Not everyone would do a research but that could be replaced with a career progress. I can really see that this issue of course alignment is a Nig thing and that so sad. People change career and even research interest that is off their UG. In that same Lagos, people with good financial background were rejected.

My advise to this people is if you want to go for MBA pls go for it. Tell the VO why u have interest in it. If u look out for Idris Bello on the web, he did electrical UG first class and now an Afropreneur with MBA also from US. So please don't let anyone limit you.

All the best.

Pefuele:
Research Interest? How can that be key when it is not everyone that is going for research based( thesis Masters)? Some are going for course works( Non-thesis based Masters) and of course MBA.

Infact, research is mostly key when you are talking about PhD. You will noticed that VOs mostly ask questions on dissertation or research interest when you are going for a PhD. Check the PhD transcripts approval well. I am also going for a PhD and the first question I was asked is about my research and professor and the second I was asked is course alignment ( what is your Bachelors degree)? That's all.Infact,you may not have a supervisor or a permanent research interest( you can change based on supervisor) even as a PhD student until you touch base cos you may be offered a TA based on course works and TOEFL scores.

However, I would say all these course alignment and research interest is soft now because the embassy in Nigeria is more concerned about funding. The situation is also very unpredictable now in Abuja because you can see candidates with huge deficit getting approved. So, I would say for now it is difficult to be narrow it down! However, the Lagos Embassy is quite predictable with mostly funded guys approved ( I saw a transcript that someone was approved yesterday with no course alignment but VO just approved based on the fact that he/she may not drop out because he/she is fully funded).

Normally: this is the formula. Your UG course should align with your intended Masters/PhD program. If there is a career change your intended program should relate with your new career. However, we are still in the period where funding is more significant. We were once in the period where GRE was key whether you get 300 or 340 just write the GRE.

Phaithy:
I have a BA degree in History and I’m gained admission into one of the business schools for my masters in supply chain management. My 4 years of work experience is in supply chain and I also wrote the Gmat Exam I had 620.

Tomsss:
Thank you so much!
The reason why I said I wanted to apply before the year ends was because I heard priority is given for early applicants. I’ll take my time to prepare and ace my GRE and TOEFL

Tomsss:
My undergraduate degree was in anatomy and I’m planning to go for Masters in Public Health.

chuksmanred:
I will turn 29 this October. Actually my dad is a radiographer. I chose biomedical engineering to be a technical consultant based on servicing Medical equipments to give good results. Cuz the guy that services my dad's medical equipments bills him high knowing the technicians are scarce.

I have the full funding from my dad for the four years.

I don't know if my genuine reasons are convincing enough.

Prodigee:
Honestly bro IMO there's nothing wrong in going for a second bachelor's degree as long as you can defend the rationale behind it. And what you said above is a good reason for your decision. That's your story man!

Pefuele:
Congrats. Your course works & research experience was nice & those matter more than the GRE at the moment since some schools have waived or made it optional. This is really key for PhD programs.

Favournice001:
First interview in lagos
VO: good morning
Me: good morning ma’am
Vo: so tell me about your plans
Me: I’m going for my bachelors degree to study music technology in California university of Pennsylvania
Vo: whats music technology all about
Me: Music technology is study of everything that has to do with music production, in terms of knowing how to use devices e.g computer to record and edit music
Vo: oh okay so who will be sponsoring your fees
Me: my dad is my sponsor, he’s been responsible for my academics from birth. He’s excited and ready to sponsor me
Vo: What does he do for a living
Me: he's the head pastor of a church here in Nigeria
Vo: whats hes annual income
Me: I have he’s bank statement here showing his financial strength
Vo: let me have it, looks at it and gives me back
Vo: vo nods her head and starts typing
After a while she look and me surprisingly and asked why haven’t I travelled out of Nigeria before
Me: told her I haven’t gotten any reason in the past to do so
Vo: interrupts and says I’m sorry you’re not qualified for an f1 visa (denial under section 214(b) )


Second interview in lagos
Vo: good morning
Me: good morning sir
Vo tell me about your educational plans
Me: i plan going for bachelor degree to study music technology at California university of Pennsylvania
Vo: you father will be taking care of the costs
Me: yes
Vo: what does he do for a living
Me: he’s the head pastor of a church, he’s into medium scale farming and a real estate developer/consultant
Vo: I’m sorry you aren’t qualified for this visa but can reapply again
(Denial under section 214(b) )

Please how can i fix this i plan reapply again but this time Abuja cause my school resumes fall 2021