gsun:
Dear house,
Thank y’all for the help you are rendering to others in here.

I have a bit of problem. And here is my case:
I got a PhD offer with an engineering department at a public University in the US. In the offer it was stated that funding is not guaranteed for now that the department will try to match me with Professors having grants in line with my interest to be my advisors so I could get funding from working with them. For that reason, I moved on to accept the offer, considering that I had applied to two schools under harsh conditions and later on the lower ranked school sent me regret mail for a probable mistake on my part. Meanwhile, I already had would be advisor there.

I have ended up not contacting Prof myself in this department given that they said they would do that, I felt they knew better. I also wanted it not to seem like desperation on my part.

Now, I am looking at options and wondering if I should have gone ahead to talk with Profs myself or just stay patient and disturb the graduate advisors with reminders, as I am already preparing my mind now on deferring the admission to subsequent semester, while I try out one or two additional schools on my pool of shortlisted university. I see PhD in engineering without funding is not worth doing from reading pages of this thread and personal experience.

Fall is winding up with resumption fast approaching and I have exercise patient up till now. What do you advice? What are my chances? Can I trust them by waiting a bit longer? Your take please!

Thanks for your time!

[b][/b]

Walspring:


Gre means Graduate Record Examination while TOEFL means Test of English as a foreign Language.

Gre is for master students only while toefl is for both masters and undergraduate students
They are not the same but they are both organised by same body..

Do you want to register it yourself or via an agent ?

happney65:



If you dont like what he said,Please do not answer him..At a time or the other you once asked that same type of question maybe not here but from someone and for goodness sake this is a Forum,As long as you havent gone against the rules of this forum you can ask any question you wish be it stupid nor intelligient..Nobody,I repeat,Nobody should come here and be acting like the Most Intelligent or the Boss..

donkotman:


bros u do well, deer are some not to do people on Nairaland that lack manners and just come here and type what dey want.

I just want to register and I Dont want to make mistake in doing that. I hope u can be of help..... tanx

DanjaNinja:


Please lets be objective here and cut @bbdd some slack. He has some valid point that we all need to consider. While his response was a bit strongly worded, it is what it is - The truth. I know we all started somewhere and no one knows it all and no one ever will. Even the professionals on this thread were once complete novices who knew nothing. However the idea is that you need to at least make some effort to try figure out the basics on your own before asking questions. I fully acknowledge that in the process of learning, that no question is silly but there's a subtle difference - some questions show initiative and a strong desire to learn while others seemingly valid and logical, show complete lack of initiative and complete laziness on the part of the poster. For example the question "GRE and TOEFL, are they the same?" while seemingly valid, it also subtly shows that poster has made no single attempt on his/her own to try to understand the basics. We might argue that the poster is a complete novice and should not be scolded but common!!! lets be realistic here, while such questions are permissible they should not be acceptable. If you cannot at least google it up, how do you even pass the exam?. I mean, have you seen the verbal section of the GRE? Does it look friendly? Who would bail you out?

A better alternative would involve at least making an attempt by using google. Then if you still don't understand after using google, you are completely free to come on here and ask for clarification with emphasis stating that "although i checked the website, i still don't understand". That my friends shows that you have at least made an attempt and that makes all the difference.

I run a thread on nairaland titled "How to achieve high scores on the GRE". In that thread, i shared my GRE experience and tips on what i feel could help anyone achieve high scores. As part of the post, i included detailed explanations of how one could obtain GRE and TOEFL ebooks by sending blank mails to selfstudy360@gmail.com and selfstudy.version2@gmail.com. Yet, would you believe that i receive countless mails from those who claim to have visited the thread asking me for instructions on how to get the GRE ebooks? I even got a mail from someone asking me "how to achieve high scores"!!!!!!!! Like wtf? Kill me already!!!! After my detailed and extensive post, you ask this? It begs the question, did you even read my post? If you did, why ask rhetorical questions?

You think @bbdd is aggressive? Trust me, in life you will encounter situations where either you will not find anyone willing to help you or you will not find anyone with comparable expertise in solving your problem. In such situations, What do you do? Give up and cry or Roll up your sleeves and take the bull by the horn by using your initiative.

TLDR (too long, didn't read): I agree with bbdd. Please before asking questions, do some basic research. You will get more positive responses to your inquiry if you at least show that you have made an attempt but still cannot make progress cos most times, while your questions may seem utterly impossible, the answers are just one click away.

dicapino:



Did yu apply to the Engineering technology program

gsun:
Dear house,
Thank y’all for the help you are rendering to others in here.

I have a bit of problem. And here is my case:
I got a PhD offer with an engineering department at a public University in the US. In the offer it was stated that funding is not guaranteed for now that the department will try to match me with Professors having grants in line with my interest to be my advisors so I could get funding from working with them. For that reason, I moved on to accept the offer, considering that I had applied to two schools under harsh conditions and later on the lower ranked school sent me regret mail for a probable mistake on my part. Meanwhile, I already had would be advisor there.

I have ended up not contacting Prof myself in this department given that they said they would do that, I felt they knew better. I also wanted it not to seem like desperation on my part.

Now, I am looking at options and wondering if I should have gone ahead to talk with Profs myself or just stay patient and disturb the graduate advisors with reminders, as I am already preparing my mind now on deferring the admission to subsequent semester, while I try out one or two additional schools on my pool of shortlisted university. I see PhD in engineering without funding is not worth doing from reading pages of this thread and personal experience.

Fall is winding up with resumption fast approaching and I have exercise patient up till now. What do you advice? What are my chances? Can I trust them by waiting a bit longer? Your take please!

Thanks for your time!

CC:Imperiouxx,Bigfrancis21, ebdib, slimmy05, zeezahbee, godG, others[b][/b]

bbdd:



Oh dear
That school is very very heartless.
PhD without funding is very rare. I can't even believe they would do this to you when other schools are giving full funding plus juicy stipends to their PhD students.

No PhD is worth it without funding in fact the idea of PhD Is work - study and you even pay tax and you get a social security number like other Americans (like my case)

Anyway, it's a two way thing. Mail, call, disturb, hound the department contact person
Another Avenue is to mail the current students and ask them if they're funded and how they went about it.

Don't defer yet. PhD application process is so harrowing I don't think anyone wants to do it twice. I certainly wouldn't. Lol.

Just don't defer yet.
There's still time. I got my 4th PhD admit just last week. After I've even gotten visa. So please don't give up yet.

HoneyBronzed:


Please I just scheduled my appointment for the 15th of July, is that the end of my application process? Are they to email me any invitation or something?

DanjaNinja:
Hi everyone. Please with regards to SEVIS FEE payment, which is faster? The Check/Money Order Option or The Western Union Option? Thanks all.

rajkelvin101:
Hi people. I want to confirm if i will get into trouble for working off campus tho the manager knows my situation?

slimmy05:
western union is faster, 24hrs. Money order you have to wait for atleast 3days for it to deliver, maininun process time for it is 3days

gsun:
Dear house,
Thank y’all for the help you are rendering to others in here.

I have a bit of problem. And here is my case:
I got a PhD offer with an engineering department at a public University in the US. In the offer it was stated that funding is not guaranteed for now that the department will try to match me with Professors having grants in line with my interest to be my advisors so I could get funding from working with them. For that reason, I moved on to accept the offer, considering that I had applied to two schools under harsh conditions and later on the lower ranked school sent me regret mail for a probable mistake on my part. Meanwhile, I already had would be advisor there.

I have ended up not contacting Prof myself in this department given that they said they would do that, I felt they knew better. I also wanted it not to seem like desperation on my part.

Now, I am looking at options and wondering if I should have gone ahead to talk with Profs myself or just stay patient and disturb the graduate advisors with reminders, as I am already preparing my mind now on deferring the admission to subsequent semester, while I try out one or two additional schools on my pool of shortlisted university. I see PhD in engineering without funding is not worth doing from reading pages of this thread and personal experience.

Fall is winding up with resumption fast approaching and I have exercise patient up till now. What do you advice? What are my chances? Can I trust them by waiting a bit longer? Your take please!

Thanks for your time!

CC:Imperiouxx,Bigfrancis21, ebdib, slimmy05, zeezahbee, godG, others[b][/b]

rajkelvin101:
i got a job at jack in the box and equally have a sos security, my point is, will i get into trouble for working off campus without work authorization

bbdd:



Oh dear
That school is very very heartless.

slimmy05:
if he is willing to pay you cash without calling the DHS for you. Don't give him your social security number. If you get caught you're in trouble

DanjaNinja:
Hi everyone. Please with regards to SEVIS FEE payment, which is faster? The Check/Money Order Option or The Western Union Option? Thanks all.

bigfrancis21:


The only time I have seen an issue come up with this most often is when the student travels out of the US, say, for a visit and tries to re-enter the US. At the border, agents usually check to see if the student has broken any of the F1 visa rules such as working off-campus and if it is discovered, the student could be deported back to their home country.

bigfrancis21:


The only time I have seen an issue come up with this most often is when the student travels out of the US, say, for a visit and tries to re-enter the US. At the border, agents usually check to see if the student has broken any of the F1 visa rules such as working off-campus and if it is discovered, the student could be deported back to their home country.

bigfrancis21:


Both are fast depending on how you use them. Western union option is fast and takes about 2 days to reflect online. The check/money order option is fast if the mail (containing the money order and sevis payment form) is sent by expedited delivery (2 days delivery) which will reflect on the 3rd day. However, if the mail is sent by regular mail deliver (which takes from 3 days to 5 days to deliver) expect the payment to reflect online in about 5 days. But, WU payment option is costlier - it costs $10 to pay by this option.

bigfrancis21:


Both are fast depending on how you use them. Western union option is fast and takes about 2 days to reflect online. The check/money order option is fast if the mail (containing the money order and sevis payment form) is sent by expedited delivery (2 days delivery) which will reflect on the 3rd day. However, if the mail is sent by regular mail deliver (which takes from 3 days to 5 days to deliver) expect the payment to reflect online in about 5 days. But, WU payment option is costlier - it costs $10 to pay by this option.

elmadavida:
I was granted visa. Thank you all for the guidelines.
Transcript coming.......

Mystiqme:


Lol. I don't think they are heartless. they may not have funds.

Gsun,

Option 1: Contact professors, tell them you have gotten admission and you want to work in their labs. Express interest and enthusiasm. It is not a display of desperation, but proactiveness- an important quality for a PhD student. This is my preferred option.

Option 2: Contact the Graduate coordinator and ask about the possibility of working as a graduate assistant with another department , unit, etc in your school.

Option 3: In the likelihood, that you do not get funding, it is probable that funding opportunities will turn up after one semester. Do you have personal/parental funds that you are willing to spend for one semester? Weigh the possibilities.

Option 4:Check if a PhD admission can be deferred. If so, defer and contact professors during that time.

samnoah:


Bro, congrats. However, some questions: When are you likely to know the details of the funding that will be provided by working with the profs? Will this reflect in your I-20? If this does not reflect in your I-20, do you have any source of money other than your expectation from the School to prove at embassy? Just like you have already noted yourself, a PhD with a partial funding especially in Engineering may be somewhat financially draining. You need to be very certain about your finances. I would suggest the option of trying more schools for better funding while you wait. Other great minds will advice appropriately sha... Best!

slimmy05:
Western union is 24hrs. Money order is cheap but takes like 3-5days. Postage should cost like 2dollars or less. Western union charge $10.50.

bigfrancis21:


Some WU places take 2 days to process the payment, it is why I gave a time frame window of 2 days.

amanze15:
Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your inquiry. The Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs is currently experiencing technical problems with visa systems. This issue is not specific to any particular country or visa category. We are currently unable to print most immigrant and nonimmigrant visas approved after June 8, 2015. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working urgently to correct the problem and restore full operability. We have no timeline as to when this will be completed.

Best Regards,
Consular Section

DeeTus:
Bro, visa has finished oh. You can travel by boat or through the desert lol.