omoluabiguy:


There’s nothing like pity, if your reapplied application don’t have any changes from your first one, you are likely to get the same response all over till something changes

The only change is one should have a better presentation, not necessary there should change in ds-160.

Wolexy1212:

Sorry about the delay bro. The 64k visa fee is valid for a year, so you can still use it for fall.
Or, mail the school to give you concessional extension before your next interview in Jan. VO would see the updated i-20 and it won't be an issue.

Lols... visa fee valid for a year?

Guess they do pity reapply student visa applicants

Horlanrewajuh:
Good Morning Everyone and compliments of the season to you all. I had my interview this morning, 28th of January 6;30 am and was denied . My school resumes on the 2nd of January and lectures commences on the 8th. Guys i need this opportunity to get another chance as i have a sponsor who wants to foot my academic bills . If i should proceed to gtb tomorrow friday to pay for the CGI , when am i likely to get a date . Pls anyone should advise me on what to do. I appreciate . I am a silent follower of this thread and you all are great here . Thanks

Try and reason with a CGI worker, they can help you bout getting a date but might cost you money though. I heard they can help about approval too

subset:
My people, my visa came through this morning. I follow for those silent readers. I'm yet to recover from the ecstatic feeling.
I owe everything to this thread. I read every darn thing on this thread. I'm specially grateful to lamexx for reviewing my prepared responses and for the mock interview. This guy even called me with his airtime. So much love on Nairaland. Thanks to walspring for paying my sevis fee and to everyone that has contributed to this thread, you guys are awesome.

Abeg you guys should allow me to rant small. The idea for masters came to me immediately I passed out from service. This is the time I stumbled on this thread from a Google search, it brought a huge relieve knowing that most of the questions I have must have been answered here. I made it a duty to read at least 20pages of this thread everyday. It paid off !!

The stressed I went through for my transcript was just crazy. Shuttling almost every month from Lagos to Owerri to follow up on the transcript, even after paying one guy to help me expedite the process(Dude chop my money). The height of it all was when two of the transcript I requested was erroneously sent to one school. It took me almost 3 weeks to realize this error then I had to pay another 20k for another transcript which took one month again to process. Futo una well done!


To the transcript

The VO approved the three people in my front. One of them was an old woman going to visit her daughter, the other person was a lady on F2 going to visit her husband that's in school. She asked her how she met how husband and who will take care of her business when she is away. These people's approval bolstered my confidence.

I was very vocal as none of the questions were unexpected. I already have an answer for almost all the possible questions. Some people say you shouldn't rehearsed your responses but you should know what works best for you. I'm very good at memorizing things so I leveraged on that to practice most of my responses, this in turn strengthened my confidence. I practiced the questions every morning and every night even in my dreams . I just can't stand the thought of starting this process again. Some time ago I read on this thread about maintaining eye contact during the interview. It usually feels weird to me looking people in the eye for more than 3 seconds, so I knew I had to work on that and I did so by maintaining eye contact in all of my conversations with people for the past 2 months. It worked because I was able to maintain eye contact all through the interview. The VO was very conversational, her smile alone will mellow down your tension.

Below is my transcript

VO: Good morning (she is always the first to greet)
Me: Good morning
VO: please pass your passport and your other documents
Me: Gave her my passport, the i20 and sevis receipt. She returned the sevis receipt
VO: Looking at my I20, why are you applying to software engineering degree (with sharp eye contact)
Me: I've always been a tech savvy person. I discovered during my undergraduate studies that my strength and motivation lies in the field of computing. I developed a penchant for programming during this time.It has become something I'm very passionate about. This program will help me solidify my knowledge and give me the ability to design, implement and improve software solutions across multiple domains. It will afford me the qualifications to take up a job as a senior software engineer in a Nigerian tech firm when I am back. I will be able to apply machine learning algorithms efficiently
VO: typing...
VO: how many schools did you apply to?
Me: 3 schools
VO: why did you choose this school
Me: Aside from being one of the schools that pioneered the masters of software engineering program in us. I chose Monmouth university because their software engineering curriculum matches my research interest and offers the best fit for my career growth. My research interest aligns with that of professor wizzy* which is on the application of machine learning in personalized marketing. I am keen on being part of her research group to enable me gain practical knowledge of machine learning concepts. I also like the fact that their program integrates applied computer science, mathematics and management science in the course modules which will give me a well rounded experience in creating software solutions. I was also offered $4000 scholarship
VO: what's your highest qualification
Me: Bsc Statistics
VO: why the change of program
Me: well this is not a change for me though. Studying this degree will equip me with the technical knowledge and expertise to be able to implement machine learning algorithms efficiently considering my background in statistics. It will afford me the qualifications to take up a job as a senior software engineer in a Nigerian tech firm specializing in machine learning solutions. This degree will make me very desirable when I return back to Nigeria because there is a high demand for software engineers in Nigeria.
VO: When did you finish school?
ME: I finished 2015, after which I went for my compulsory youth service and that lasted till April this year. I was retained at the eCommerce firm were I was working a software developer. My primary duties entails extending the website functionality by developing and implementing ad-on magento plugins. I also perform routine maintenance which involves security patch installations, module updates and reconfiguration, search engine optimization...
VO: what are the courses you will be doing and how will they be beneficial to you?
Me: I listed about 7 courses and I repeated some lines from "why software engineering question":
This will help me solidify my knowledge and give me the ability to design, implement and improve software solutions across multiple domains. It will afford me the qualifications to take up a job as a senior software engineer in a Nigerian tech firm when I am back. I will be able to apply machine learning algorithms efficiently (Though I said it in a different way, so won't start sounding like a robot)
VO: I can see that your brother is your sponsor, what does he do?
Me: He is major distributor for so and so
VO: Has he traveled out of Africa before?
Me: Yes he's being to Dubai, Us
VO: Then she started typing for about 20secs and then asked: did you write any standardized test
Me: yes, I wrote GRE (I got 292)
VO: Let me see your score card.
Me: I reached out to my envelop, at this point I can see her dropping my passport in the tray. Then I passed the GRE result
She now said the sweet words.

My people my ear was still wide open I didn't go deaf oo. She now started rapping the usual " your i20 is as important as your passport always keep it on you, you'll need it at the POE and be ready to ...*I helped her to complete it* explain myself. Then she said I'll get a message in 7days to come pick up the passport.

Some people were denied but I didn't see any blue paper flying around. Abi na the 214g be the blue paper?

This has been a huge relieve. I can now close all the endless tabs that has been open on my system the past 2months

My advice to folks just starting the process: This has been repeated here countless times, please note that GRE is a vital component of your application whether you are seeking for funding or not. If you have enough time, abeg prepare for GRE and smash it.

All glory to God

Congrats brother. I also have a BSc in Statistics. Going for BSc in Information and Computer Science.

Can I hook you up on whatsapp?

Will someone have to get admission first in school in china before applying for CSC ?

bjayNL:
I finished BTech in Applied Geology second class lower (2.92 GPA)
I seriously need your advice house...
1. Should I go write GRE and try get a masters degree at an affordable University, will I get admitted and will I also be given VISA?
2. I wish to do Nursing, can I apply for a degree in Nursing, will I be given a VISA?
At this state I'm confused, I have wasted a lot trying to process Canada.. I've been told not to try applying for VISA cause of the course I applied for else I'll be bounced...

Assist please...

Yes sure. You can apply for degree. So you might write SAT and TOEFL/IELTS to increase your chances.

dste:
started already. get your documents ready

What documents?

DMainMan:

yes but they charge you fees and you are likely to get just partial scholarship.

Y not apply for Chinese Government scholarship (CSC) by yourself to get full sponsorship.

Put me through brother, I am ready.

For those in China, Is CUCAS in China a legit company?

Ericsunday619:
Drop Whatsapp number for those interested in China admission.

07030843064

Exactly, brother... China is a very cool place to be.


Check this out


http://www.cucas.edu.cn/china_scholarships?cat=1&degree=2&school=&program=&lang=2&semester=2

Let's come here and discuss about schooling in China. I do believe China offer more scholarships than any other Asian countries.

goodemma20:
a lot of of slots were recently created by the consulate to accommodate the increase in F1 applications.

Yes.

goodemma20:
part of the qualification in getting an emergency interview is that you must not have been refused a US visa in the past 6 months, so unfortunately, you do not qualify for an emergency interview, moreover, your resumption is just in 8 days time , so even an emergency interview would not help your case, my own opinion is for you to defer to fall and use the time created to make significant changes to your profile.....hope this helps.

Really?

Got buddies that got denied early this month & reapplied for emergency appointment and still got date this month.

ecoleco:
Welcome back Ecoleco!

Hoping that this place is sane enough to give helpful tips to genuine people.

Watching...

Hopefully

goodemma20:
Don't shoot yourself in the Leg.you've already told the VO that you applied to the above schools. Those schools have already been recorded in their system. Telling him you applied to another will likely lead to a denial and you would have lost your trust at the Embassy. Try to honestly strengthen other aspects of your app.....hope this helps

Thanks, brother

Gurus, If I get admission to PARK UNIVERSITY in Missouri. which other school of the same calibre & ranks can I say I applied to... cus University of Bridgeport didn't make sense to the Consular

3rdeye1:
Hi guys. Please I wish to migrate to US with my wife and kid. We work and reside in Dubai, UAE but we wish to move. I really need you candid advice pls and the best way to go about it. Some said moving wth family is an advantage while some said I should try to move first. We are honestly considering US or Canada. Is it something I can do on my own or I need an agent. What are the prerequisites? I kindly need an honest answer pls and probably from an experienced person. Thanks

Try Canada first then USA.


Or you get to USA and move to Canada!

Kheake:
Good morning all, my visa was approved at the Lagos Consulate this morning at about 9:30am. I am so grateful to God and everyone who has posted their transcripts here, thereby making it easier for other people like me to learn and avoid mistakes.

My interview was for 6:30am but I forgot my passport photograph at home so the CGI team directed me to take passport pictures before I could go for the interview (had to pay 2k). After finger printing, I had spotted a young white guy who was wearing natives and I was hoping I could interview with him because it seemed to me that he would have more empathy compared to the rest (seeing that he liked our culture enough to wear our native �, ....I may have been wrong tho)

Anyway, I was directed to him (my first victory �) and there were 2 families before me and they both got their visas, the second family was a mother and a daughter but he denied the daughter and gave the mother saying that the daughter is an adult, the babe is 25 yrs and she can apply in her own capacity and I thought she wasn't very audible.

So straight to my interview:
Vo: good morning
Me: good morning
Vo: what program are you going for?
Me: Master of Arts in Economics
vo: so what school are you going to?
Me: Western Illinois University
Vo: why this school ?
Me: (I had 5 points I had noted to say, but I got so carried away with the first one that I didn't mention others, I tried to dwell a lot on the first one tho, cos I think it was my strongest point).
During my application process, I noticed that the school has a unique graduate track system. What this means is that, while I will be trained in the fundamentals of graduate level economics, I will have the opportunity to select other courses that align with my goal. I wanted a program whose curriculum was interdisciplinary and Western Illinois is providing this opportunity for me. I wanted a program that would allow me study other entrepreneurial courses besides fundamentals of Economics. Some of the courses I will be taking are Economics of Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial experience and this is because of my role at my place of work where I interact with several business women who are passionate about their businesses but don't know how to go about it. By the time I go for this course, I will be better equipped to serve them.
Vo: where do you work and what's your role ?
( I think he was asking so that he could understand the link between my current role and why I was going for a masters program in Economics )
Me: I currently work in a bank and I manage and coordinate the trainings, capacity building and networking sessions for the women market program in my bank. I also forge partnerships and new alliances to add value to the women we serve. (I quickly tried to link what I currently do at work with my reason for going for masters in Economics). Given my role and because we cater to a large spectrum of women including business women, When I interact with most of these women, I realize that most of them are passionate about their businesses, but don't know much about finance, budgeting, going global, the need to collaborate , they don't even know where to start from. Prior to joining the bank, I already had a career plan to spend 4 years at work, go for a 2 years master program and come back to spend another 4 years before starting my own consulting firm to help business women grow their businesses and go global.
Vo: what is your highest level of education ?
Me: Bachelor in Education, Economics (I stuttered a bit here)
Vo: how many schools did you apply to
Me: 4
Vo: what are the schools?
Me: Western Illinois University, Eastern Illinois University, Montana State University and Virginia State University.
Then he notices something, (apparently, the last time I went for an interview, when I was declined, I had applied to Canadian schools and I had told the lady interviewing me that I applied to Canadian schools. And she quizzed me a lot about applying to Canadian schools, I couldn't convince her as to why I couldn't choose any of the other Canadian schools instead of western Illinois, I am pretty sure she must have noted this on my profile because she didn't seem convinced ). So he asks
Vo: did you apply to any other schools before now?
Me: yes, when I was applying during fall, I applied to 2 Canadian schools, but this time around, I decided to focus my energy on US schools.
Vo: what year did you graduate?
Me: 2010
Vo: what have you been doing since you graduated?
Me: following my graduation, I went for my youth service and after my service I started working with the bank.
Vo: what year was this?
Me:2013, I have been with the bank since 2013.
Vo: who is sponsoring your education?
Me: my dad
Vo: what does he do?
Me: he is an engineer who works with in an engineering firm. His firm provides support services to telecommunications giants like MTN, Huawei Technology. He does a lot of installations, trouble shooting, procurement and vendor supplies.
Vo: do you have your financial documents here?
Me: yes, I do (I reach for the statement and hand it to him)
Vo: (skims the first page) there is no name on this statement
Me: (In my mind, Aaaaaaaaaaaaah, how won't there be a name) there is a name on it then I call out my dad's full name
Vo: oh I see it now , do you have a more recent statement, this statement has been issued since September
Me: oh! I don't have a more recent one right here . This was the one I used for my I 20.
Vo: okay don't worry, have you ever travelled outside Nigeria before ?
Me: yes, I have been to the United Arab Emirate
Vo: what year was this?
Me: 2016
Vo: are you married ?
Me: no
Vo: do you have any kids
Me: No
Vo: where would you be staying?
Me: campus
Vo: okay, I will be approving your visa
Me: ( I thought I was going to go momentarily deaf like I read here, but I didn't ).
I felt as if I was in a dream, I couldn't believe it
So he hands me the white paper and circles a portion and said something about Email and SMS. I was so happy that I told him thank you and have a merry Christmas, he smiled and said you too. Up until I got home, I felt as though I was at lala land.
.
.
.
My 2 cents:
Pray as if that's all that counts and prepare as if that's all that counts
Read as many transcripts as possible, when I went for my first interview, I wasn't coming to NL but after I was declined and someone sent me past transcripts, I started coming here to read the transcripts and I was able to learn from so many of them.
I kept praying for favor, tried to give more including tithe, woke up at night to pray more and also read far and wide. My watchword was psalm 126:1-3 and indeed when he approved my visa application it felt like a dream.
I pray that God grant other people's heart desires as well.
Now it's time to book flights, get immunizations and prepare.

Thought as much, when one is denied... the consular will write his/her reasons there... so incase when one try again... the new consular will see it there...

Congratulations.

Has anybody reapplied second time & got approved?

bigfamo:
Please house I just got my package, can I still book for visa as my school resumes January 8 and I found 11 as the date available? Class starts January 16 though.. Thanks

Have you tried Emergency Appointment?

EsanEmmanuel:
GRE ain't a factor Abeg! This ish has no rules... one can only try and pray

Exactly

Stanleych007:

Jesus and I nearly drank sniper for being rejected a 2nd time. God fix this.

My first denial nearly killed me sef

I got delayed too on Tuesday and planning to refire.

The consular asked me why did I apply to the second school I applied too... That question caught me unaware. I think our schools shouls also have something in common... I later told told him it is affordable and do offer scholarship... I know he wasn't cool with the answer...

Gurus... I applied to Park University and University of bridgeport... what could be their similarities? Both gave me admission but I chose Park University cus I have someone in Missouri but I don't wanna have ties in the USA.

Drocks:
Visa delayed again the 6th time. Not giving up on my dreams!

Oh boy

Titusnick:
Just have to come back to this thread and say a big THANK YOU. Visa approved at Walter Carrington Crescent Victoria Island Lagos. 7:00 Am

Me Good morning ma'am no smiling fully focused

V.o Good morning with a lil smile

V.o Where re you going in the US

Me I am going to Grand valley state university located in Allendale city Michigan to pursue my masters degree in communication studies.

V.o What is your highest qualification

Me Bachelor of education in Guidance and counselling/Economics

V.o How many school did you apply for

Me 3........University of Minnesota, University of south Dakota and Grand valley state university. Was expecting her to ask how many gave me admission and why i chose gvsu over the other two. But she didn't.

V.o Did you write and test

Me No

V.o what year did you finish

Me 2016 naso this white woman continue typing non stop wonder wetin she dey type

V.o what year did you finish your secondary level

Me Wanted to fumble at this point when i forgot i finished 2007. Told her...Sorry can you please come again. Naso i quickly adjust myself....I finished 2007 and wrote Neco exam 2008.

Vo Did you write jamb

Me Yes


V.o What have you been doing since then.

Me I worked in my father's farm as an assistant supervisor afterwards i got admission to University of Ibadan. After my Bsc program i work in my mom school as a teacher. She nods.

V.o List the courses you re to offer in this school

Me To be honest cold embrace me all of a sudden cos i completely forgot everything i read. But God over everything, and i started by telling her....Communication law, Communication management, Leadership&Organisation, Empirical methods in communication, i forgot the rest and i mentioned this listed ones twice lol. Cos these
VO doesn't want you to stop talking.

V.o Okay Okay

V.o What will this course do for you

Me Na for here i finish work!! This course consist of listening, speaking, reading as well as writing. I need to be highly skilled in all these areas to excel as a successful lecturer. And this course will expand my understanding of the world and mass media and prepare me to tackle most complex global, cultural, political, business challenges we re facing in this country........She keeps gazing at her system typing.

V.o who is your sponsor

Me My mom

V.o what does she do? she owns a farm right?

Me I knew she wants to twist my brain here, i quickly said no....She owns a school. Naso she nod. werey ree ooo�

V.o You have relatives in the US

Me No

Vo She keeps typing for almost 3 min as well as gazing at my passport.

Me Deep down my heart, i was panicked and praying. God i must not go home with blue paper. God pls...God pls..Naso i begin dey beg God lol

Vo What i heard next was.... i will be approving your visa. I swear down i couldn't hear any of her accent again. Naso she carry my I20 begin dey check am again, for my mind i was like...yay jesus jesus...eventually she gave me a white paper circled on a specific address and one Usa education seminar flier and she returns my I20.. You will need this at the Port of entry.

Me Thank you ma ..

All i know is God is involved big time. Juju no fit do am, prayer and fasting is the key to every success in life. Dress well..Trust me it works, Eye contact sum it up as well....And these Vo need key fact of your ambition, no need for story cos they re well trained for that imo. But the end product is God's favour. Thank you nairaland! Thank you everyone!

God's favour is the key. Congratulation!

EsanEmmanuel:
SHE CAN NOD HEAD AND FEIGN "I DEY FEEL YOU" LIKE AGAMA LIZARD. na the size of the blue paper she wan give you she still dey try size... Lol

No mind them