₦airaland Forum

fortune29:
Thank you. Can you suggest some schools that fit my profile. Bsc 3.43/4, Msc 3.7/4. Currently looking at U of Pitts, Kansas State, Florida State, Uni of Tennessee Knoxville and TAMUK.

Yildiz:
thanks. Actually I didnt send my score to the California school. I felt it's a bit low for their average. Well I really don't know about UIUC, but what would be your advice? Again can you suggest any other school with good funding prospect?

Yildiz:
Now please gurus in the house help me analyze this issue, I previously contacted grad coordinator at UIUC and she said most of their admits are in the 90th percentile of quantitative. Today I send her a message that I scored 163, do I stand a chance and she said yes. Then she added that they normally receive about 2000 applications per year and admit 150-250. Do you think I should still apply?

olansindeed:
University of Ibadan CGPA scale

fortune29:
Good day all.
I wrote the GRE today at JKK. 159V, 157Q. Disappointed with the score as I was hoping for a much higher Q.
I got two straightforward analytical writing tasks and then the exam in the format QVQVQ.
I registered with a frequently mentioned agency on this thread and used a variety of materials: cracking the gre, Kaplan, magoosh.
I'm a fall 2018 hopeful for PhD in energy systems engineering.

olansindeed:
Good evenin all.

I am interested in applying for PHD Plant pathology. Below are my profile.

GRE V-154
Q- 159
BSc GPA- 6.5/7
IELTS- 7.5

I will need ur candid advice on schools I can apply to.

ashkenking:
Pls I need an ans to Dis info.. is dere any exam centre in ibadan for the TOEFL exam..

Yildiz:
Just finished writing my GRE. My scores are
Verbal 159
Quantitative 163.
Details later

arTiculaTe01:
I work and reside around PH. I could not afford to accept the next available date for the PH center since it was too close to my date of registration. Moreover, the question of hiring a mercenary is totally out of it. I did call the attendant lady, and severally, but she insisted that if I wanted a date far-off, they I would have to settle for the available one - which was far more important to me than the location itself. I am only bothered about the authenticity of the venue, nothing more...

ponpon:
The poster above used "MACHINE"

arTiculaTe01:
So much said... I'd be sitting for the GRE on the 24th of November (Friday, next week). My center, according to the info I garnered from the ETS website, is in Owerri. Registered through the B.Y. Mafit guys in hopes that they book a Port Harcourt center for me but this happened... I hope this is a valid center as i do not want to receive some disheartening mail from ETS months later. lol. Your thoughts please......

Ifecrown:
thanks for that clarification.
my issue is that i would like to sit for the exam Nov 30 or Dec 1, but the dates BY Mafit is reporting feasible are Nov 22 or Dec 29.
and i want to apply for Fall 2018, I'm kinda of stressed and restless right now because im not fully prepared.
Don't know if i should go ahead and write Nov 22. your candid advice is needed.

wissy47:
I think you should take a legal action against them, but try to reach them first to find out why your score was cancelled,
and please what is the name of the agency so that others will not fall prey

CDCgirl:
What are the consequences of both?

Ifecrown:
Please,I want to ask if anyone knows of another center in Port Harcourt apart from BY Mafit? if yes can you share their Contact/Address?

CDCgirl:
hi guys please i am in a dilemma and wanted to know if there is anyone who has been in my situation and how they were able to resolve it. So i registered for the GRE exam with an agent about 6months ago and i am currently in a university in the US but i just received an email from the ETS saying my score has been cancelled. i don't understand why they chose 6 months after the exam to cancel it or why, and i don't know how it will affect my studies please has any one had similar experience?

Mc1807:
Hello guys please I want to know if someone can register gre n toefl online without agents here in Nigeria

secondly,how do i download materials to prepare for gre exams

lastly,how do i search for schools good in business admin or entrepreneurship.i need help as mch as i can get;am a novice here.thanks

ElDeeVee:
@ the bolded, 169Q in Naija and another chic with 170Q here. I'm thinking of writing the test again sef just for the purpose of getting a gangster score lol.

vikings809:
Thanks a lot for the reply. I've been researching on this issue for months and I'm fully aware of the importance of the PGRE. I'm only here for more opinions on the issue.

In response to your suggestion, I've actually written the PGRE (mentioned this in my first post ) I'm just waiting for the result. Thought my GRE could be better and that that would help me potentially, hence my decision to rewrite it.

UC Riverside actually mailed me and urged me to apply. That's one of the reasons I'm applying there. They have research options in biophysics, which is my area of interest (haemodynamics and bioengineering). I've been having doubts about Florida. Now I've made up my mind about them.

I'll have a look at the institutions you suggested.

Now considering LSU and UC Riverside, with 2 other safe options.

Merci bien.

vikings809:
I'm surprised at your reply. Didn't anticipate this hostility. I've always pictured you as some gentleman. I do check this thread from time to time but I'm not a regular contributor- that's how I got to know you and others do contribute a lot.

Also, I'm not trying to hide anything, just thought giving an estimate of my score would be enough. Obviously, I was wrong.

Here's my profile:

Undergrad: Second class upper OAU - 3.34 on a 4.0 scale (WES)
GRE: V-154, Q-160

**I'm thinking of rewriting the GRE, I had malaria on the test day.

If there's anything I omitted, please let me know.

P.S: You could've replied my earlier post in a much different manner but it's all good. I understand how you feel.

Yildiz:
I will be writing on Wednesday in Abuja

vikings809:
Hello house,

A hearty thanks to everyone contributing to the success of this thread.

I'd like your opinion on this matter:

I'm applying for PhD Physics in the US for fall 2018. I've written the GRE (scored between 310 - 320) and the Physics GRE as well (result is pending).

My worry is that I don't have a Masters and my B. Sc degree was attained years ago. I'm thinking of applying to LSU, UC Riverside and U Florida. Should I look elsewhere? Which other schools should I consider if so? And what else do I need to do?

cc: Femi312, Scholastica16 and time2smile

pronto543:
Thank you greatly for your response. I'll take to your advice on how to use the practice materials and all the preparation tips.

As for the bolden part, I explained my reasons in my reply to another person in my previous response.

arTiculaTe01:
Great house!

Does anyone know about (GCE) Global Credential Evaluators, Inc? - the extent of their credibility and acceptance by US schools...

pronto543:
Hello peeps,

I have been a silent viewer of this thread. The first day I came across this thread around May this year, I knew I had struck gold. I took the time to read from the very first page up to 200 and something page it was on then. May God bless the soul that started this awesome thread. I have in short benefited immensely. I download all the materials I've been prepping with. I simply download from the various Dropbox and google drive link posted by the well meaning brothers we have here. I printed on campus since it often cheaper. Although I spent close to 15k, I must say it's money well spent given the knowledge I've gained reading these materials and when compared to the cost of buying each of the materials from the bookstore.

I sat for TOEFL on Saturday, 28th October 2017 at JKK centre. I registered with MAFIT and while I had less than 2 weeks to prepare, I focused on the speaking and reading. I'm pretty good in Writing but I still had a little practice on both the integrated and individual writing task.

I had written TOEFL in 2014 so I was already familiar with the exam overall. I scored 98 at that time. A day before the exam, I practiced with the TOEFL iBT software and reviewed all the questions I missed.

My scores were available on Tuesday, 7th November after just 7 working days. I wasnt able to complete the Listening as there were 2 questions I couldn't answer before the elapsed. I guess that is the price I have to pay for trying to eavsdrop on other test takers who were already on the Speaking tadk while I was on Listening task. Below is the is the breakdown of my scores:

Reading-->25
Listening-->24
Speaking-->24
Writing-->28

Total--->101

I am happy although I was aiming for 105 upward with at least 26 in Speaking.

I've registered with BRABIT LTD for GRE. My test date is Friday, 24th November. I actually told them I preferred Saturday, 02 Dec so I have less time for preparation. They also offer free Magoosh online access which I'm enjoying already. The reg fee is 45k which is quite cheap when compared with most centres.

Below is my profile
B.Eng Agric & Bioresources Engr (4.06/5/0 CGPA)
M.Sc Environmental Engineering (5.4/7.0 CGPA)

My target schools are:
North Carolina State Uni, Raleigh
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Temple University
Morgan State University

I'm planning to apply for Ph.D haven contacted POI in some of the school and getting the green light.

Gurus in the house please help me with tips on how to score above 160 in Quant's. Your comments are really appreciated.I have been using the Official GRE guide, Manhattan 8 Series and Manhattan 5lb and now I have access to Magoosh online prep. The problem is that my preparation has been on and off due to work and hustling.I'm a bit jitry. Another challenge is application fee palaver ($285) and transcript evaluation ish($325). I really need financial help people.

Can someone help me get in touch with someone outside the shores of Nigeria to help with payment in order to beat the high exchange rate? I really crave your help guys!!!

You can pm me

ElDeeVee:
I think people generally got smarter on the art of acing the test. Saw someone with 169 Quant score last week

IstandWitBuhari:
Please can I have his number or email address ?

temmitats:
Hi everybody, I'm so sorry I've been AWOL. I've had a lot on my plate, I took my toefl in October and I finally got my scores a week ago. R28 L30 S26 W29 and a total score of 113.
I honestly was expecting a not so stellar score because my mind was all over the place some days to my exam due to some issues. I flopped in one of my speaking tasksand I was expecting a bad score actually. In general I thank God. How are applications going? I jut had to update everybody cause I gained a lot from this thread. I wish everybody the best.

IstandWitBuhari:
Please help me register gre

gokuu:
I will not be completing my Sloan applications for now; there is still time to change my mind tho. Right now, I feel Sloan is too expensive and will leave me in a ton of debt after graduation, and MA is a really expensive state.

I am sure I will get in UT Austin because I'm way above their class averages; but I am unlikely to go there because UTs MFin is not STEM-designated and that is a deal-breaker for me.

As per cost, what I have realized is that while the state may be cheap, the metro areas are quite expensive. UT is in Austin, which is an expensive city. Just like Nashville; the state (Tennessee) seems like a cheap state but the Nashville area is quite expensive. I have been looking at housing options and it is unbelievable. To make matters worse, Vanderbilt is located in the poshest area of Nashville making it even more expensive.

Time2Smile:
It has been interesting and a little challenging. PhD in the US, especially in the first year entails a careful balance of three major aspects; The core courses, Lab rotation and most likely Teaching assistantship (TA).

The core courses are quite demanding and you cover so much in a short space of time. Two courses of 4 credit hours each, and a seminar of just 1 credit hour. Lectures for each course are twice a week and early morning in my case. In two week(4 lectures) we covered more than a typical Nigerian semester. So if you don't review the lectures after the class, they pile up really fast. One thing I try to do is review the previous lecture before the next class. Also, we record the lectures and listen to it again, because so much information is passed across in limited time. American students even struggle to cope with the pace of some of the classes.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that C is a failing grade for a PhD student. That means the student has to retake the course and a number of students are actually retaking Molecular Biology. Full exams also are frequent, usually every four weeks but tend to only cover the lectures treated in the previous period. Therefore up to 4 exams in a little over 3 months period and then the average is used to determine the final grade. I think most people know that C in the US is not 50% but a lot higher and sometimes depend whether the Professor decides to "curve" the grade using the class average.

One of the thing that has helped me is forming a study group, where we discuss the lectures and bat around ideas. I also picked the brain of Senior PhD students about what to expect from each course and Professor( All courses have more than one Professor, with different style and exam). The good thing about it all is you learn a whole lot, the classroom experience is great, Professors are helpful and would gladly answer your question in class, through email or you can set up an appointment for an office visit.

In my program, a PhD student is expected to perform two laboratory rotations to determine which lab to pursue dissertation. So after your classes, you would usually go to your lab. While securing a lab before admission really helps the admission chances, it might be counterproductive in the long run. I say this because of what I have gleaned in my few months. Finding a good research fit is highly important as the student would be spending the better part of 5 years in that lab. This goes beyond performing a research that interests you, but also encompasses the temperament and mien of your potential PI. Some labs are notorious for being difficult, toxic and also some PIs are almost impossible to work with. In addition, you will want to find a lab that has funding, because then you will have more money and freedom to conduct your research and will not have to work as a TA beyond the first two years. Working as a Research Assistant means you can devote all your time to research.
Sadly, this information cannot be accessed until the student is fully on the ground. The good thing is thatmost labs actually need students and would gladly accept you as a rotation students.

The TA is where the stipend come from and you are expected to perform your duty as assigned. We don't get to teach in my department but I know other departments in UTD where PhD students teach courses. We assist in laboratory practicals mostly, grade scripts and proctor exams.
Officially you are expected to work 20hours per week but is less than that in practice (maybe between 8 to 10 hours per week). The Graduate advisor actually gave us the freedom to choose our TA assignment from the available pool. My advice is to never volunteer for a TA assignment others are unwilling to do as they are usually the most difficult and require more time commitment.

The general life in the US has been good, The weather in Dallas has been mild (although it is getting cold), food is relatively cheap in Texas and there are Nigerian stores in Dallas. A drawback is that one needs a car to get to most places as the public transport is not the best. I love UTD in this area because there are free buses that run to campus every ten or twenty minutes to students dominated housing areas(depending on where you stay). Most shopping options lie within the route to campus, so you can also use the bus for that. The school is located in a suburb so it is really safe and accessible.

The facilities are top notched as would expect from a US university, but it some simple, civilized touches that have impressed me the most. Like a kitchen with fridge and microwave attached to the lab, coffee and tea available in the lab. There are lab meetings fortnightly with good food ordered from restaurants. There are different kinds of sits all over campus with charging ports, there is always an event or small talk on campus. The staffs are always willing to held and I actually misplaced my relatively new phone on campus but had no doubt that it would be returned by whoever finds it and it was.