₦airaland Forum

happyday:
I need to ask: What informed your choice of those schools you picked?

If it's the prestige, then you might be missing the whole point of going for a (post)graduate degree.

They call it graduate school in the US.

Here's why.

"If you only want to go to a top graduate school, then you're going to graduate school for the wrong reason, and the chances of you getting in are low. You should go to graduate school, because you want to do research, and you don't need to go to a 'top' school for that."

tensazangetsu:
Actually a masters in marine engineering and naval architecture is offered in very few schools worldwide very few same as an undergraduate degree in marine engineering. And again I can't do a postgraduate in a lowly ranked school I rather forget about it. It makes no sense going to spend all my resources in a school which isn't even ranked among the top 100 in the world in engineering. Ranking matters a lot nowadays and about getting into a top ranked graduate school two of my friends one graduated with a 3.6 on 5.0 and another a 3.8 on 5.0. The guy with a 3.6 got a fullbright scholarship to upenn and the guy with the 3.8 is in MIT now. Aside grades a lot is considered for admission into graduate school. it's not always about who has the highest scores and all that. Each case is considered on a provisional basis.

happyday:
Don't over complicate issues, bro. We call it postgraduate program here in Nigeria. They call it graduate program in the US.

I need to ask: Are you planning to apply with your HND?

Most schools require that you've a baccalaureate degree in your proposed course. That's equivalent of a Bachelor's degree.

But, don't take my word for it.

Look for your desired course, and Google any TWO schools offering the course at the graduate level.

Next, find out the contact email of the coordinator (there's always someone to contact, if prospective applicants have questions and inquiries).

Contact the individual for the two schools. Let your email be short, straight-to-the-point and brief.

AFAIK, schools offer a. M. Eng. b. MSc and c. PhD

M. Eng. pretty much applies to those who would want to come in from industry, for graduate study.

MSc is for preliminary research. Think of this as the NEUTRAL gear while driving. You go for MSc if you want to test the waters, if research is your pot of soup, or not.

PhD is the highest point of academic research - research zenith. You bring so many skills to bare here. Your creativity, perseverance, resilience and determination will go far than any other thing. Any other thing like your talent, GPA or GRE scores.

happyday:
A 3.8 on a 5.0 at MIT? What course? Did your friends school in Nigeria or US?

happyday:
I need to ask: What informed your choice of those schools you picked?

If it's the prestige, then you might be missing the whole point of going for a (post)graduate degree.

They call it graduate school in the US.

Here's why.

"If you only want to go to a top graduate school, then you're going to graduate school for the wrong reason, and the chances of you getting in are low. You should go to graduate school, because you want to do research, and you don't need to go to a 'top' school for that."

carik:
I plan to write the GRE early next year whilst in my nysc period.
I have obtained my HND in Electrical Engineering with a 3.08/4 CGPA

,checked online to find out the duration of a post graduate program but stumbled on a post that says postgraduate study falls into three categories

1. Professional masters for employment after the program
2. Academic masters for further studies
3. Doctoral degree


Meanwhile a source told me I'll have to obtain a post graduate degree before applying for a master's program.
Don't understand the logic here
Can you help me out?

pennstate:
Masters degree is master degree, what you get out of it depend on the courses you took and there are usually core courses to prepare you in any area(s) you find yourself within your masters.
As for your HND you can join the other thread and read at least the last 50 pages, someone made mention of HND/OND conversion to BSc. (I do not know about that). Goodlock

carik:
Please what's the link name or link to that thread.

tensazangetsu:
And besides if I can't get into a top graduate school in the usa. university of british colombia offers my program and they ask for a minimum of 2 1 from graduates from ghana same with university college London (I don't like the UK though).

pennstate:
https://www.nairaland.com/3103711/general-u.s.a-student-visa-enquiries-part

happyday:
I see. I think you're concerned about the rankings, because of the cash you'd be spending for the program.

I guess that's the point. The main idea of research, is you delaying rewards for now, so you can contribute an original concept to the existing body of knowledge.

So, rather than you paying, the program will be paying you a small stipend, to keep you aloft enough to be able to pursue your research, not so you can comfortably afford the good things of life.

No research program will ask you to pay. If you're successful in your research, you boost the program's profile.

Whereas, if you excel in your coursework masters, you'd have boosted your chances of getting a good job thereafter.

tensazangetsu:
Actually a masters in marine engineering and naval architecture is offered in very few schools worldwide very few same as an undergraduate degree in marine engineering. And again I can't do a postgraduate in a lowly ranked school I rather forget about it. It makes no sense going to spend all my resources in a school which isn't even ranked among the top 100 in the world in engineering. Ranking matters a lot nowadays and about getting into a top ranked graduate school two of my friends one graduated with a 3.6 on 5.0 and another a 3.8 on 5.0. The guy with a 3.6 got a fullbright scholarship to upenn and the guy with the 3.8 is in MIT now. Aside grades a lot is considered for admission into graduate school. it's not always about who has the highest scores and all that. Each case is considered on a provisional basis.

olahim:
i need someone to add me to the facebook group, my email: olahim23@yahoo.com.

DanjaNinja:
My GRE Experience: Lessons Learnt - J.

General Tips
#Tip 1: Don’t rely on any one single book.

Each book has its strength and weakness. Combine them all for maximum impact.

#Tip 2: What books do I need?

1. Grubber 2015
2. Barron’s GRE
3. Nova GRE Math Bible
4. Kaplan
5. Princeton Review

#Tip 3: How can I get these books?

If you can afford physical copies of these books – Sweet, go head and buy them all. But If you can’t afford any or you’re a ijebu madam like the lovely,intelligent MsNas or like myself, simply send a blank mail to selfstudy360@gmail.com or selfstudy.version2@gmail.com for soft copies (Pdf’s). #MoneyMustNotWaste

(a) selfstudy360@gmail.com contains:

• Barron's New GRE 19th Edition
• Cracking the GRE 2013
• Gruber's Complete GRE Guide 2012

While

(b) Selfstudy.version2@gmail.com (New*) contains:

• Gruber's Complete GRE Guide (2015)
• Mahanttan Prep - 5* lb. Book of GRE® Practice Problems (2013)
• Nova’s GRE Math Bible (2008)

#Tip 4: When should I take the GRE?

Take the exam at least 4 months before you plan to send your admission applications. That way, if you don’t meet your targeted score (not your portion…Oya say Amen!), you would still have enough time to retake the exam without duress. For example, if the deadline for admission application is September 15th, the ideal time for taking the GRE should be by May. The reason for this is simple: If you don’t meet ur target score, you can retake the GRE by June thereby providing ample time for sending your application. This is not a rule but a suggestion.


#Tip 5: How much time would it take to prepare for the GRE?

Minimum: 2months @ 4-5hours per day.
Note: The number of hours do not really matter, it’s the amount of problem solving skills learnt per unit time that counts. Some people learn quickly while for others, it might take longer to read and understand new concepts. So remember, 4-5hours are just recommendations, whether u spend more or less time – ultimately, it doesn’t matter. What matters is how much u learn and how fast you can correctly answer questions. If it takes u 4-5hours per day to achieve this goal, so be it. If it takes u less time, so be it. If it takes you more time, so be it. No one cares. Ultimately it’s your scores that matters.

#Tip 6: Can I prepare within a month?

Yes u can, but it’s not advisable. You need time to internalize and completely memorizes the GRE strategies.

And lastly,

#Tip 7: Don’t be deceived by your score on POWERPREP II.

You took the sample test on PowerPrep II, you had an average of 160-165, you feel good and cant wait to take the actual test. Truth is Powerprep II does not compare to the actual test. On a scale of one to ten, one being very easy and ten being very difficult, Powerprep is a 4.5 and the actual test is an 8.5. #OkBye

Now for the part you’ve been waiting for: My GRE Experience.

This is a summary of lesson learnt from my personal experience, please feel free to add your insights and contributions. Sharing is caring.

You probably know this already but just to refresh your memory - The GRE is made up of three parts: Analytical writing, Verbal and Quantitative.
1. Analytical Writing
2. Verbal
3. Quantitative

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO ACHIEVE HIGH SCORES.

FOR ANALYTICAL WRITING:

Books and Resources needed for Analytical Writing:
Official GRE Topic List (30%) + Kaplan (60%) + Barron (10%).

(a) Official GRE Topic List: GRE maintains a list of every possible topic that you will find on the actual test date!!!!!! It’s totally legal and you can find the list here:
Pool of Argument Topics: https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/argument/pool

Pool of Issue Topics: https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/issue/pool

The list is quite exhaustive: 200 issue task topics and 200 argument task topics. Once you have the list, group the topics into categories and proceed to (b). I believe if u know the possible questions, your chances of success should be up 30%.

(b) Get a copy of Kaplan’s New GRE Premiere and head to the Analytical Writing Section. Read, digest and understand the essay development template for both the issue task and the argument task as discussed on chapter 15 – Chapter 21 (New GRE Premiere - Kaplan 2011-2012 edition. Newer editions should be better). Don’t bother reading anything else on Kaplan, the rest of the book is useless. With the Kaplan template, you can begin to draw up possible responses to each topic category from the GRE topic list that you obtained from the GRE website. That way, on the test day, coming up with responses won’t be all that difficult because you’ve seen it all – abi how una see am?

(c) Get a copy of Barron: While this may not be compulsory, it will help you in paragraph development. Read and understand the “Claim, Grounds and Warrants” development on chapter 6 (Barron’s New GRE 19th Edition).

The last and most important step is to PRACTISE, PRACTISE AND PRACTISE. Practice using the available topics from the GRE list in a timed mode – your practice should mimic the real test. For the GRE, its 30minutes per writing task but for you, its 22 minutes. Why? It’s always better to practice with less time – It makes you stronger.

Practice with POWERPREP writing platform or Notepad to get a feel of the nature of the typing platform. Don’t practice with Microsoft Word.

One Again, PRACTISE AND PRACTISE. It’s ultra-important you do so. You can only write well by constant practice.

My Experience: I didn’t practice enough. Truth be told I practiced only once and the end result was abysmal. I could only manage one sensible paragraph for the issue task – Big Poo. The way time flies when ur messing up is simply amazing. The argument task was much better, I wrote 4 sensible paragraphs –all within 23 minutes.
Score: Surprisingly,I scored a 3 on the writing section. since the total score is the average of both scores, I assume I made a 5 on argument and a 1 on issue…lol..just my opinion.

Generally, Argument tasks are easier than issue tasks – for Argument tasks, an essay or issue with faulty premises is given; your job is to identify and logically explain them while for the Issue writing Task, you have to develop your own argument from scratch. Finding faults is easy (argument task), writing from scratch is less easy (issue essay). But for you reading this right now, a minimum of 4.5/6 should be perfectly achievable. Why? Cos you know every possible topic, you have pre-planned responses and your “hand dey hot” due to constant writing practice.

One last tip: As soon as you are done with a particular section, whether you performed well or not, it’s best to completely ignore that section, it belongs to the past - it doesn’t matter anymore. Whether you did well or not, does not matter and if you believe you didn’t perform well, it still doesn’t matter. Focus completely on the next section – You have seven (7) more sections to deal with and you need a focused, optimistic mindset to proceed successfully. There’s no use crying over spilt milk. [/b]

FOR QUANTITATIVE

Books You Need for Quantitative:

Grubber (25%) + Barron’s (25%) + Nova GRE Math Bible (25%) + Mahanttan (25%).

Do you have to read them all from cover to cover? Not really. Each book has its strength and weakness’s. You want to be prepared for every possibility. Better you write the GRE once than write it twice. Think of the cash - $200. Think of the time spent on preparation – weeks, even months and finally, think of your Goals. So grab does books and study like mad. The end justify the means.

Lesson 1: Study each question category and solve the most difficult questions you can find on that category to re-enforce your understanding of that category.

For example, if you had prepared with Grubber like I did, you will find the data interpretation, graphical and statistical questions difficult. Why? Grubber does not really delve into these sections. Barron in addition with Manhattan and Nova does a better job. So read and understand the underlying principles and skim all books for difficult questions on all topics.
Likewise, if u ignore Grubber’s Data Comparison and algebra strategies, you might not do so well. But then, there are notable exceptions. Individuals with an engineering, mathematical and statistical background would generally do better in the Quantitative section – they’ve been doing these problems for years. Also those with an aptitude for numbers would better. Does that mean those with little mathematically backgrounds would end up with low scores? – Nope. Just read up and practice, you might end up doing better than the so called Math wizards.

The GRE Quantitative consists of two sections made up of 25 questions each. Each section runs for 40minutes – that’s an average of 96 seconds per question – which leads to lesson 2.

Lesson 2: When studying and solving quantitative questions, set a time limit of 50 seconds per question and stick to it. Like previously stated, practicing with less time makes you stronger and faster.

Lesson 3: Solve lots of Quanttitative questions.

Manhanttan and Nova Math Bible offer a huge collection of quality quantitative questions. Solve as much questions as you can on both books. Luckily, if you don’t know the answers, solutions and explanations are provided in both books.

My Experience: I studied solely with grubber. Algebra and data comparison were a walk in the park but “I hear “ween” for Data interpretation/Statistics, Combinations and Graphs. On the actual test, I saw 6 hefty graphical and data interpretation problems and some others I can’t recall @ the moment. Were they super hard? – Not really but “them hard small o”. To answer them, you need to understand the question (30secs), solve for solutions (30-40secs) and compare possible answers (10secs). If u get it wrong, u start all over again. But as you start over, remember Time dey go ooooo!
That’s why you need Lesson 4.


Lesson 4:Someone on this thread advised - if you find any question difficult, simply mark that question and move on to others.. You may return to that question later. Don’t waste time trying to solve one question for over 1 minute, skip and return later. This is so true!.

FOR VERBAL

Books you need: Grubber (90%) + Barron (10%).

Honestly, You can actually survive by using only grubber. The verbal section seems like the easiest section on the GRE but don’t be complacent o! This section is pretty tricky. I remember one particular essay with about seven (7) paragraphs. It was so dense that you could barely understand the content of a single paragraph; It also felt like it was written in another language. It was that difficult.

Also,the verbal section is made up of several subsections all mixed into one. You will find sentence completion (synonyms and antonyms) and essay comprehension all packed into one.
My Experience: I scored a 157/170 – Not bad @ all given that Grubber was the sole book I used. I won’t lie, am an avid reader – I guess that helped. However, if you study the Grubber Verbal Strategies: Latin and Greek Roots, Prefixes and Suffixes; the Most Important/Frequently Used GRE Words and Reading Comprehension Strategies – You should have no problem with the Verbal section. Grubber does an excellent job by building ur vocabulary, teaching new words and providing some interesting strategies for essay comprehension.
There are other books like Princeton Review but since I didn’t use it, I can’t say much about it. This is where external input is advisable. Those who used Princeton, oya speak up.

Final Advice:
Unlike Jamb (wicked people) that provides a single opportunity to write the exam per year, the GRE gives you 5 chances per year to write the exam (better people). But because you can doesn’t mean you should. Prepare well and write it once. A score of 160 per section is totally achievable. Just read and solve a huge collection of difficult questions in a timed mode.

Oya it haff do, una bye bye, I don try.


UPDATE 1: If you had to choose one Book for Quantitative Analysis, Barron's should be it. That Book is the truth. The best GRE Quantitative prep book ever.

UPDATE 2: Listen all, i just found this incredible online resource for GRE materials. Its a facebook group but its by invitation only. So drop ur email addresses or send me a pm and i'll send you an invite to the group. Here's the group link, however it can only be accessed by members of the group:

https://www./newgremaster/

After joining the group, head to the file section and you will find every book and test questions there. #OneLove
.

UPDATE 3: Added Kaplan New GRE to "selfstudy.version2@gmail.com". If you want a copy of the Kaplan GRE book, send a blank mail to selfstudy.version2@gmail.com" .

olahim:
it's confirmed sir. thanks so much mrjojo.

Question1:
Good Morning guys, Pls I need help...

Currently a 300 level student of Economics with computing.. I will be graduating April Next year. And intending to WRIte GRE next year June. I'm currently on 3.97/4.00. My interest is PhD in Economics or international Economics does anyone has any school in mind with Funding please

mrjojo:
you converted your GPA Already?

freshboi34:
Let me answer for him
He might have converted his cgpa, its no news, we now have student graduating with a 5.00 this days with score more than 85 in all their courses.

Well, for the guy i wish you luck! thats really an impressive gpa, you just need to make your gre score conform with that and a good S.O.P mehn you good to go!, meanwhile i have 3.72

Question1:
You've. got a brilliant GPA too.. Are u also a GRE aspirant?
Yes I converted already.... I only have my level 100-300 level result ready.. Like I said i 'd finish next year April... I hope for to finish well and strong as I really want to skip my MSC and do my PhD in Economic or international Economic.. I already have most of the Gre materials ad almost done with Barron quantitative , with my everyday preparation I want to write June ...Pls advice me as I'm considering Kansas State University with funding ....So help me God.....Advice me BIKO

lobito007:
Yeah, kansas is good. However, you should aim for even higher-ranking schools. With a tight GRE score of say, 330, which I think you can achieve, considering that you have started studying already ahead of next june, you can dare to apply to harvard, yale and stanford.

sholly91:
Please add to the Facebook group. Sholly2me@yahoo.co.uk

sholly91:
yes, it is connected to my facebook account