She worwor die.

Wait, wait, wait. This guy (the OP) comes around with conspiracy theories based on no facts whatsoever, while maligning several politicians, and he is applauded? Really? Says a lot about you guys that are just nodding in agreement.

@

SEFAGO

Thanks for the contribution. My suspicions were closer to your observations, but I just needed someone with experience to confirm them. I will give it my best this summer and hope for the best. I plan to approach my summer research like some sort of audition to apply whichever professor I get to work for's lab for grad school. How much clout do individual professor's have in choosing who gets to work for them?

@flo_path

I sent you a message

Even if GEJ wins the presidential polls, I believe it will be good for our democracy if PDP does not have a majority/clear majority in the senate and house. This way, there will be proper oversight of the executive branch for once in a long time.

@sintame

There is really not much to add to what flo_path and cezoozue said. They hit the nail on the head. I will add that if you have an opportunity to do some practical/research work, you should take such opportunity. The top schools want proof that you can do research (if you are going for a PhD). The best proof that you can do research is by doing research and writing about it in your statement of purpose. Also tailor your statement to each school individually and make sure your recommender write excellent and excited recommendations for you.

@cezeozue

Can I see your statement too abeg. That stuff is worth gold to me I mean that is a statement that got someone accepted to Stanford and MIT, it has to be worth a lot to people that aspire like me. My email is iandexter007@yahoo.com

THe guy does not come across as an "ordinary" Nigerian supporter. I perceive him to be more like these paid media aides. And it is really obnoxious and insulting to one's intelligence to see him try to spin every issue as a plus for GEJ no matter how silly the or tenuous the link is e.g. the whole matter with Gbagbo and Ivory Coast and Zuma.

This is not meant to be a personal attack. But Beaf seems to have no interest in dialogue or discussion. He specializes in scouring the internet for articles that promotes GEJ in a good light (no matter how GEJ's association to the matter is), providing excuses for all GEJ's mistakes and misjudgments, and cyber-bullying all who disagree with him through the use of insults and ad hominem attacks.

Am I only one who has noticed this?

I am not one given to irrational support. So I have found it hard to support any particular candidate in this election. The candidates come across to me as all bad. It seems Nigerians are left to choose their leader based on unserious reasons like "removing PDP from power," "who has a more popular name," or "who is from a particular region or ethnic group." None of the candidates seem to have a grasp of the issues that face Nigeria. Neither have they shown that they have workable solutions and ideas to solve our problems. It is really disappointing because if I had to vote, I will be voting for the "least-bad" candidate, not the best candidate. Why is it unusual for intelligent and exposed people like Fashola and Utomi to be major political figures in presidential politics? Why do the major political parties never field candidates that have a proven record of getting a job done in the private and public sector? And why is it that whenever technocrats happen to have a prominent place in our government, see Ezekwesili, Okonjo-Iweala, and the former NAFDAC boss, our political system conspires to make them ineffective or outrightly reject them after a few years? Discuss.

Ok, its just me then.

Congrats man! If you don get MIT, norrin do you.

^^^

Accepted at MIT?

@those who asked

My email is iandexter007@yahoo.com

THe guy does not come across as an "ordinary" Nigerian supporter. I perceive him to be more like these paid media aides. And it is really obnoxious and insulting to one's intelligence to see him try to spin every issue as a plus for GEJ no matter how stupid the or tenuous the link is e.g. the whole matter with Gbagbo and Ivory Coast and Zuma.

This is not meant to be a personal attack. But Beaf seems to have no interest in dialogue or discussion. He specializes in scouring the internet for articles that promotes GEJ in a good light (no matter how GEJ's association to the matter is), providing excuses for all GEJ's mistakes and misjudgments, and cyber-bullying all who disagree with him through the use of insults and ad hominem attacks.

Am I only one who has noticed this?

My two cents:

It is tough coming to America if you do not have the funds, so you have to weigh the pros and cons. If you are selling pepper in Lagos and living in face-me-i-face-you, then maybe coming to America to struggle is a step-up for you. If on the other hand you are middle-class to upper-middle-class in Nigeria and you have other options to get a stable job in Nigeria, the struggle may not be worth it.

In may own case, my family is closer to the former. So when I look back now, the struggle in the first year is worth it. I now live pretty comfortably and even my American friends tell me that I am "balling" i.e. rich. I am just comfortable though. More importantly, I have gained the outside knowledge/practical skills (not just school/book knowledge) that will help secure my financial future so I cannot complain. This situation is infinitely better than staring ASUU strike and a 2.2 GPA in the face with no prospect for a job before I left Nigeria.

I must acknowledge that I have it a little bit easier since I have a full scholarship that covers tuition, room and board. So I only have to make money for other essentials. But I have seen Nigerians around me with no scholarship make it too.

One advice: Do well on you SAT and GRE and write killer statements of purpose. Also get very good recommendations as needed. There are many schools in America willing to give you a full scholarship to come to America. It depends on level though. The best get full scholarships to ivy-leagues and the rest like me can get full scholarships to lesser schools but take full advantage of the opportunities available in American society to move up.

@cezeozue

I may not leave till just a week before my school resumes. We may still see.

@flo_path

The folks at MIT are just organizing our travel. After that they will tell us which professor we will be working with and from there we will know what we will be working on. What are you working on? What is your IM or email? You said you need to approve your CPT; I took part in a research program last summer and I did not need CPT. The folks at MIT have also not mentioned CPT. I hope I am not forgetting anything i.e. CPT.

And yes I am international. You sound like someone I will like to talk to more.

@tabarity

The main disadvantage of bailing on your advisor is that you ruin your networks and relationships. If the student plans to work in academia, it becomes virtually impossible to be successful. As you go up the career ladder, who you know begins to matter more and more in what you can achieve. So the professor can decide to be vindictive and let the relevant people in the academic community have a negative impression of the student. Also the student will probably never be able to get a recommendation from that advisor.

@flo_path

You are going to be in an harvard summer program? Thats great. I will be in one at MIT. Perhaps we will meet each other in Boston. And you have Goldman Sachs too? na u biko. In my experience, nigerians usually choose the research track or the corporate track, but you have doors to the two areas open. kudos to you and best of luck.

So let me get this right:

Pride out of nowhere randomly came to satan's heart and made him sin? So evil had existed in space previously but (from the bible historical accounts), on a random day, satan became the first person to randomly fall for the previously existing evil (pride) and this led to the fall of man? And also God knew this will happen, but just decided to let it be so he can throw satan to earth, and then satan will make men sin, and then Jesus will come etc etc. And who created the evil(pride) that was existing before it "infected" satan? Did God do that? Why will God just create evil for no reason? So before satan fell for pride, were other angels also tempted by various evils and just managed to overcome the temptation?

I need answers. This is a precarious time for my faith.

Several of your observations about me are definitely on point, especially the one of having people of like mind around me. And please feel free to continue to offer your help and advice. I will be better for it.

I understand you and you are kinda of right. When I first came here, I was negative about being in my school, but I like to believe I have changed and moved on. This is evidenced by my determination to seek opportunities outside my school to enhance my career.

On the issue of the research, I usually discuss about my research in the way you exemplified. However, I sometimes worry that the top professors in the world will see it as shallow. This is kind of a weakness for me: I almost never satisified with any seeming achievement.

To the point: what i wonder is if my research was "technical" enough?

But i guess you are right: I should be working on communicating the big picture that is inherent in the general area of my research.

^^ @ mantraa

How does that make sense?

@ all christians on the forum

Why is no answer forthcoming?

@stzero

Thanks a lot. I had a Q800 and V750 on the GRE. I hear it does not matter a lot. In fact, MIT EE explicitly say they do not consider it. My research was in the study of how different driving patterns affect the energy efficiency of electric vehicles. It did not seem too complicated. Mostly procuring and analyzing data with some easy softwares. I am doing something in mathematical biology now and I should get a paper albeit unpublished from it. The reason all my experiences do not relate to EE is that I am a CS major, and when I came from Nigeria, my stupid school made me start from college algebra i.e. JSS3 math. I was doing calculus II at OAU when I came to the US. So I did not have enough time to do my prerequisites and get EE classes from other schools as I am doing now.

Also, I am getting confused on whether to apply to EE or ME departments if I am interested in robotic controls.

Abeg make una answer ooh!

I am a christian and I need answers lest I lose my faith.

@stzero and cezeozue


Did you guys do your undergrad in America? What are your stats and background like? Are there public/private scholarships I can apply for in Nigeria after getting admission for a MAsters or PhD program in Nigeria?


I presently go to a small HBCU in America. I have completed one summer research program at Purdue University last summer and I have been accepted to another one a MIT for this summer. Also, I am conducting some research with a professor in a nearby big state research school. A paper I co-authored from my research last summer has been accepted and published. However, these research experiences I refer to do not have a direct relation to my graduate research goals i.e. robotics and control systems. My GPA is 3.8 out of 4.0, but my school is really not rigorous, perhaps even mediocre. I will apply to graduate school for fall 2012. What are my chances at the top schools like Stanford, MIT and Gatech? If my chances are poor there, what caliber of schools are the best I can comfortably get accepted to?

It is said that satan (lucifer) disobeyed God and was thrown down to earth. What made him do that? For example, if am being tempted now, it is satna and his demons that tempt me to disobey God. Other times it is just my human nature? So what spirit made satan question God? Or did it just happen out of nowhere?

wetin do odemwingie?

joel obi sabi throw pass ooh.

what6 formation are we playing? every seems to be in a disarray? who is number 8?

@SEFAGO

Waiting for more advise and expatiation. Are you also doing a PhD? Did you do your undergrad in America? What, in retrospect, will you have done when you applied to make yourself a better candidate?

@Nicklee and any other informed person.

I presently have a 3.8 and will probably have a 3.9 at the end of the last semester before I apply to graduate school. My GRE scores are Q:800, V:750, W:5. The problem is I go to a very small, perhaps inferior, school. My school is a 3-tier school according to USNWR. In fact we have little to no research opportunities. I attended a summer research experience last summer and will do one more before I apply to grad school. I will also complete and Honors Thesis and do some research with a professor at a nearby better school. What schools should I consider safeties? I really like MIT. What are my chances for MIT, Stanford, OSU, UC Berkely, Penn State, CMU, UT Austin?

It seems that some from a Nigerian federal school with similar stats to my mine, except probably for the research experience, will have a very good chance. That is interesting because I left Ife to the US to explore these opportunities and it now seems as though I will have a better chance of attending the best engineering schools by remaining in Ife.