₦airaland Forum

Hello everyone,
Here is my proposed visa interview transcript open to inputs and criticisms. My interview is coming up next week Tuesday at Lagos Consulate.

Tell me about the program you're going for.

I am going for Ph.D in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering at The University of Kansas (KU), Lawrence. I’ll be required to take a minimum of 42 credit hours (minimum of 24 credits hours of graduate course work and 18 credit hours of research). My project topic which will be jointly decided by my supervisor, Dr Bleep would broadly relate to surface water quality and transport.
I would take courses like: Physical, Chemical and Biological Principles in Environmental Engineering Processes, Concepts of Environmental Chemistry, Contaminant Transport, Water Quality and Modeling, Chemical and Microbial Hydrogeology.

What is Surface Water Quality?

Surface/Environmental Water Quality has to do with monitoring quality parameters (chemical, physical, biological and radiological) of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, and oceans. Natural water bodies are receptacles of large amount of toxic pollutants from commercial and industrial activities as well as discharge of treated and untreated sewage and agricultural runoffs etc. In surface water quality and contaminant transport, environmental scientists/researchers work to understand the complex interactions between biogeochemical processes and surface water quality and in turn identify sources and fate of contaminants. Through sampling, real-time monitoring, chemical analysis and modeling and simulation of these processes and contaminant transport, we gain a better understanding of the ecosystem which in turn helps environmental lawyers and policymakers to enact legislations aimed at maintaining water at appropriate quality level for its intended use.

Why PhD in Environmental Engineering (Water Quality), I can see your first degree is in Agricultural Engineering.

My desire to pursue a PhD in the field was ignited in the course of my MSc research project where I worked on removal of dyestuff from textile industry effluent using activated snail shell carbon. While collecting wastewater sample, I witnessed indiscriminate overland discharge of untreated textile effluent into waterbodies – a practice poses serious risk to human and aquatic life and ultimately lowers water quality and place pressure on water treatment and sanitation facilities. The experience further heightened my interest in surface water quality and wastewater treatment, management and disposal.

Besides, according to a report compiled by National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 2008, access to clean water has been identified as one of the 14 Grand Challenges of Engineering. My research project would likely leverage biogeochemical processes to improve surface water quality.

Why USA?

My aim is to become a reputed researcher in the field of Civil and Environmental Engineering and I plan to achieve this lofty goal by acquiring world-class education and sought-after skills through this PhD program. Making USA my top destination for my PhD program was a no-brainer due to the high level of ongoing research and funding of Environmental Engineering/Sustainability related projects in most top USA universities. Also, most US research-based institutions boast of state-of-the-art research facilities and renowned faculty who keep breaking new grounds in their respective fields.

How many schools did you apply to?

I applied to 5 schools altogether viz: NCSU, USF, Temple, UMBC and of course KU. I was admitted into 2 viz: KU and Temple, Rejected by 2 viz: USF and UMBC and waitlisted by NCSU.

How did you hear about KU?

I learnt about KU through extensive online research and checked program rankings on US News and World Report.

Why University of Kansas (KU)?

Firstly, my research interest on leveraging biological and physico-chemical process to enhance surface water quality and water treatment methodologies closely aligns of with that of my advisor, Dr. Bleep. Also, I had discussed at length on phone with Dr. Bleep about the research opportunities in her research group shortly before she offered me the GRA. In addition, I was offered $7k scholarship by the School of Engineering as one of the outstanding admitted students.

Lastly, KU is Kansas’ flagship University and a premier institution. It’s one of the 62 members of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU) – a confirmation of its standing as one of the nation’s leading research-based institutions. The Association of American Universities (AAU) is a bi-national organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. It consists of 60 universities in the United States, both public(34) and private (26) and two universities in Canada.

What else do you know about the state of Kansas?

Geographically, Kansas is located in the middle and in the Midwestern part of USA. It’s one of the nation’s leading agricultural states, a large producer of wheat and other grains, producing one-fifth of all grain produced in USA. Kansas' capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita.

Who will be sponsoring you?

I was awarded Graduate Research Assistantship & Departmental Scholarship worth $51,991. The offer covers my full tuition, fee benefit and 12 month stipend per annum.

What are your duties as GRA?

I am expected to work 20 hours per week work on research projects that will lead toward the PhD degree.

What will this degree do for you?

A PhD degree from a well-recognized institution of learning like KU will undoubtedly increase my chance of gaining employment as a senior lecturer cum researcher after completing my program and returning to Nigeria. Also, I stand to gain advanced scientific knowledge through this degree and benefit tremendously by working with renowned faculty and through exposure to world class research facilities at KU.

By acquiring a world-class education and sought-after skills, I will be well equipped for a lifelong career as a reputed researcher and assist meaningfully in eradicating the scourge of incessant water-borne epidemic outbreaks in developing countries and my country, Nigeria falls in that category.

Did you write any standardized test?

Yes, I wrote TOEFL in October 2017 and had a composite score of 101. Also, I wrote GRE in August 2018 and obtained a total score of 315 and Analytical score of 4.0.

What are your plans after graduation?

I will return to Nigeria to apply for a senior lecturing position in a University whilst providing consultancy services when the opportunity presents itself.

Please, I need help about cheap and affordable accommodation around the US embassy in Lagos where I can stay for just the night before my interview on Tuesday morning.

Hello folks, Is there anyone heading to University of Kansas, Lawrence? Perhaps, if anyone knows a Nigerian there, I will like to connect with him/her. Thank you.

Congratulations to everyone that have gotten visa approval!

I am about to schedule my visa appointment. I don't know how to go about filling the document pick-up location. I am based in Ilorin but would be applying at the Lagos consulate.

My first question is this, can I use my mailing address in Ilorin or an address in Lagos or somewhere close to Lagos like Ogun State.

Secondly, if my visa is approved, would I have to wait for some days to pick it up. If yes, like how long. Thank you all.

sharwama:
Choi!
Shebi after entering location and the code, you use to press ENTER? That's the reason. It happened to me several times.
What's the way forward?
Simply put the code and scroll down to retrieve your application.
ENTER is the enemy, I repeat, ENTER is the enemy

Thanks a million. I did as you said but had to restart the computer and it worked. Have a wonderful day!

Good morning everyone.

I'm having problem continuing my DS-160 application. After entering location and code, it keeps redirecting me to travel.state.gov website on DS-160 Frequently Asked Questions.

Please, is anyone experiencing the same problem. I use Mozilla Firefox on my PC. I've refreshed the page severally and entered the website address https://ceac.state.gov/genniv/

I eagerly await your responses. Thank you all.

ayo23us:
Dear All,

Please, I would be happy if someone can notify me when dates between now and June ending become vacant.

Thank you!

+1

TheZed:
No. all you need now is a passport that’s valid for at least 6month or so. If the passport expires before the end of your program, you can always renew it in New York or Atlanta.

Thanks a bunch. I will ensure I renew ASAP in time for my visa appointment.

LagosismyHome:
Also check requirements when you are applying for anything. In this case check USA embassy site so that you can be fully aware of what you need ... so here i pasted it below for you for free ... you cannot use a passport expiring june 2019

Passport valid for travel to the United States – Your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond your period of stay in the United States

Thank you for your response and the bolded. My I-20 states 31 May, 2024 as program end date. I'm resuming for a PhD program starting 2019 Fall. Does it mean the new passport which would expire by April/May 2024 depending on when I renew it would not be acceptable?

Hello friends,

I have received my I-20 form and paid my SEVIS fee. I'm about to complete the DS-160 form and schedule visa appointment but my passport expires June 2019. Can I use my passport for the process despite the near expiration date? It is stated in the DS-160 website that in most cases, the passport should have an expiry date of 6 months after the visa appointment date.

I was at immigration office in Ilorin today to renew my passport but I was told to return in 2 weeks time. I was told the booklets have been exhausted and it would take 2 weeks or less to get new stock. I was also told people from nearby states like Oyo had to come down to Ilorin as there is shortage of the booklets nationwide.

I want to quickly schedule my visa appointment. Should I be patient or go ahead with the old passport which I will renew afterward? Thank you all. I eagerly await your responses.

Hello friends,

I want to complete the DS-160 form and schedule visa appointment but my passport expires June 2019. Can I use my passport for the process despite the near expiration date?

I was at immigration office in Ilorin today to renew my passport but I was told to return in 2 weeks time. I was told the booklets have been exhausted and it would take 2 weeks or less to get new stock. I was also told people from nearby states like Oyo had to come down to Ilorin as there is shortage of the booklets nationwide.

I want to quickly schedule my visa appointment. Should I be patient or go ahead with the old passport which I will renew afterward? Thank you all. I eagerly await your responses.

[quote author=iamlucky post=77480023][/quote]Thank you dearly. Like your moniker, I am lucky to have all the necessary information handy.

Hello everyone,

I received my I-20 on Monday while a friend in USA paid my SEVIS fee via Western Union on Thursday. I'm still waiting for the confirmation of the payment to print my receipt as proof of payment.

Please I need help on how to apply for visa interview with the US consulate in Lagos but I'm not based in Lagos. How do I go about it and what are the documents I need? Thank you all.

Hello everyone,

I received my I-20 on Monday while a friend in USA paid my SEVIS fee via Western Union on Thursday. I'm still waiting for the confirmation of the payment to print my receipt as proof of payment.

Please I need help on how to apply for visa interview with the US consulate in Lagos but I'm not based in Lagos. How do I go about it and what are the documents I need? Thank you all.

Mike413:
Congrats! Do you still have those paper study packs?

Thanks Mike413. I've already sold the study packs.

Anfieldboss:
Congratulations Doc

Thanks Anfieldboss. The Doc title tho

Predstan:
Wow... Good to hear

Congratulations

Thank you. It's a great news for me.

CptCharlesVane:
Wow! Congrats!! reads like they can't wait for you to join them. Allons-y!

You are absolutely right. I can't wait to join them in August

Auditmonkey:
Congratulations

Thanks a bunch

mtope:
Congratulations

Thanks mtope.

Sherlock5577:
Congratulations!! This is great news.

Thanks Sherlock. I'm so excited to receive the news. Yours is on the way.

mtope:
Congratulations

Thank you!

[quote author=TheZed post=77118347]Pronto543

Congratulations [/quo

Thank you greatly.

yasolan:
Congratulations Sir,
News like this keeps me in high spirits
Best Motivation ever

Thank you so much. Let's keep our spirits high. This thread is the best place to rub minds together and become motivated.

Good morning esteemed colleagues,

I received an official GRA offer which includes full tuition waiver and fees from my potential advisor yesterday for fall 2019 at University of Kansas (KU). She notified me by mail on Thursday that she had secured 2 years GRA offer for me regardless of the outcome the fellowship offer I was nominated and applied for 8 weeks ago. The offer is in addition to School of Engineering scholarship I was awarded 5 weeks back.

I greatly appreciate the effort of everyone on this thread. Full funding mail will continue to flow in for all.
#fall2019 #yeswecan

RMatthias:
Please I need this as well!!!!

Pm me using Nairaland

soar10:
Please does anyone here have any idea about Purdue university west Lafayette acceptance rate and if it's a red flag

.

Which program are you applying for? Purdue is regarded as a 'public ivy', this means it is quite difficult to get in. You can give it a try if you have a very good overall profile and high UG GPA.

Bifrost:
Anyone here who has a recent paperback edition of GRE materials he's willing to part with on this thread, I need it. I'm really struggle to study using my laptop as it gives me headache cause I have eye problem.

Yeah! I've pm you. Check your mail.

solihp:
So the test day experience.

Couldn't really sleep much, I kept waking up at intervals, I left home around 6am as my exam was for 8:30am, I was on the mainland and my exam was in V.I,dragnet center. I got there few minutes after 8 due to the traffic. Oooh I ensured I took rice before leaving home cause I read that it was very important, I also took lucocade boost and chin chin with me for the break time.

When I got to the center, we were briefed, we kept our belongings in our lockers and we were assigned a working station. There was ear plug which was helpful during the exam although it was too tight and wanted to give me headache, so I removed it at intervals, i was also cold due to the AC

My issue task was sweet, wrote about 5 paragraphs with about 7mins to proofread, I am a fast typist(not too fast though)
My argument task was also cool, I wish a survey was stated though so I could tackle it well, but I tried my best. Expecting a 4 or 4.5.

So while preparing for GRE, I didn't know what to wish for, either quantitative as experimental or verbal. I know the verbal bores me alot and I noticed from my practice tests that I scored higher in my first two verbal than the last 1 when verbal was the experimental, which means I get tired of the questions as time goes on. Then I knew quantitative was my strong point, but I didn't know if I should wish for Quantitative experimental because I might also get tired and I needed greater score for my quantitative because of my field.

The first question was Verbal, I said in my mind that I was done for.

I think the first verbal wasn't that nice, I didn't utilise my time very well, the 1st quantitative also had some hard questions and surprisingly, I couldn't manage my time well too, it's surprising because all through my preparation, I always finish the Quantitative on time with at least 5 minutes to spare, so I will say my Quantitative was generally harder than what I saw in the practice tests.

For the verbal, I went with the advice on this thread to do the TC and SE first, then the short passages and then the long ones. So it meant in two sections, I just picked the answers for the long passages randomly. The second quantitative was also hard, I saw that I had one unanswered question few seconds to go, I just went to the question and picked any option , for the 3rd Verbal, I had enough time to go over all my answers again.

Let me talk about my expected score. I wanted at least 320, 155V 165Q, but when I saw my score, although I didn't meet it, I was genuinely happy as I smiled. My unofficial score was:

153V 161Q. I was not happy because of my quantitative but because of my verbal, because in my mind I was already preparing for 146 highest. So I would say it was an auspicious test for me and the verbal was fortuitous. Oooh I forgot to add that before the third section started, I was already hungry, so it's best to eat before the test, I took my energy drink and snack during the break too.

In all, I am happy with my scores, I sent my scores to four schools.

I applied for Masters in Statistics or Applied Statistics in some schools and Biostatistics in others.

PS: GRE was the only item remaining in all my applications, they have all been completed, all recommendations sent, application submitted and fees paid. So the GRE just sealed the applications.

Fall 2019, yes we can. Hoping to come here to share my good news before the end of the month. And ooh, if given the opportunity, I wouldn't retake the test, I am exhausted biko. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread in one way or the other. God bless you.

Wow! I love the detailed account of your GRE experience. It is similar to mine in some ways. Thanks for keeping this thread alive. Admission and funding fall on you!

rozay111:
Good day house. I contacted a professor who has picked interest in my profile. He asked for a brief Skype meeting. Please what am i to expect? What and what do i need to look into? How do i sell myself to look formidable? Please i need suggestions and clues

Hi, how was your Skype interview? I have one today. Were the questions technical or general questions meant to gauge your motivation and research knowledge?

Mikkyboy:
Congratulations Bro...Your own better oooo

E go soon be your turn too bro. Thank you!

Scholastica16:
Most of the feedback you read on grad cafe are from students who most likely schooled here. In my school here, some of the people I met who applied for a PhD have already been given a response as of 2 weeks ago. The reason behind that is not far-fetched: first, they apply earlier than most international students. Second, most of them are already in the system and know the ins and outs. In fact, most have already worked in the same groups they applied to so it is almost automatic for them. The last bit is trust factor. US schools generally trust their own better so it is easy for the adcoms to come to a decision quicker than they would over internationals. But that should not deter you. There is extra merit and even tax rebates that accrues to groups with diversity quotas and as such, many will seek to accept an international student partly for that purpose. The snag is, international there includes every country that is non-US so even Chinese and Indians fall under this category. But there is much more to accepting students than GRE and profile. Sometimes, it is just pure...luck.

I agree with you Scholastica16. From my research, in awarding assistantship (TA/RA), many schools give utmost preference to PhD students then domestic Msc applicants and finally international Msc applicants. Having a MSc degree whether from Nigeria or overseas and having relevant research experience with a publication might be the deciding factor in choosing between a student with stellar GPA and test scores without prior research experience and another with average GPA and test scores but with little research knowledge.

I believe one has to apply to at least 5 schools to stand a good chance. Applying early to schools with rolling admissions is as good as your profile. Many applicants to NEU CS programs are talking about this on Yocket right now. In opinion there is nothing wrong in completing application as early as mid October.

Like you said, many schools value diversity. While many exceptional Chinese and Indian students flood US schools every year with applications, one might be selected for been of African-American/Black heritage. One has to research properly to identify such schools.