gokuu:
Hello fam,

So I have my first decision.
In at Vanderbilt; still waiting on interview decisions at Duke and UT@Austin.

Anyone here in Nashville?

Congrats. Hardly surprised though. Did you still apply to MIT Sloan?

UT Austin will be the best value for money considering Texas is cheap to live in and I doubt the tuition will be as humongous as Cambridge, Boston and the Durham environs.

IstandWitBuhari:



Please how can I subsidize my gre payments ?

Please help me. Thanks

How did you think of paying for it before? Are you paying via PayPal or an agent?

The answer to the question is important as Walspring's offer which helped subsidize GRE payments to 37k has elapsed. But there are others on here that can do it for 45 or 50k depending on you which of them you are willing to trust.

Epithet:


Direct PhD is the route I have decided for now. I had to streamline these schools based on research interest and available research laboratories. Scholastica16 you've been an example to us all, reading through the forum, I can't but appreciate your efforts and contribution Gracias

You definitely have the GPA for it. Are you talking to potential advisors?

gokuu:
Hello fam,

So I have my first decision.
In at Vanderbilt; still waiting on interview decisions at Duke and UT@Austin.

Anyone here in Nashville?

Spring or Fall

Scholastica16:


Congrats. Hardly surprised though. Did you still apply to MIT Sloan?

UT Austin will be the best value for money considering Texas is cheap to live in and I doubt the tuition will be as humongous as Cambridge, Boston and the Durham environs.

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.

tescoman90:


Spring or Fall

Starts in the Summer. Another B-school peculiarity, MS starts June/July, MBAs start in August.

Epithet:
So I had my GRE today at Galaxy Uniprep Abuja.
Reported my scores 162V 164Q 326

Sent my scores to four schools
Purdue, Pennstate, Louisiana state university and University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Profile
GPA: 3.75/4 Wes conversion
Course: Chemical Engineering
Research interest: Renewable Energy
TOEFL: Yet to give

#Fall 2018 Yes we can

Congratulations bro. Very nice scores and nice selection of schools. I wish you the best in your TOEFL and applications. #Fall2018 #Yeswecan

Scholastica16:


How did you think of paying for it before? Are you paying via PayPal or an agent?

The answer to the question is important as Walspring's offer which helped subsidize GRE payments to 37k has elapsed. But there are others on here that can do it for 45 or 50k depending on you which of them you are willing to trust.

Please connect me to a trusted agent.

Scholastica16:


Oga himself. Care to educate us more on what a PhD entails in the US? We crave your indulgence sir.

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's 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 seats all over campus with charging ports, there is always an event or small talk on campus. The staffs are always willing to help. 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.

IstandWitBuhari:


Please connect me to a trusted agent.

cc Pon Pon

What more can I say? As detailed and informative as ever. Thanks.

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.

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.

Vanderbilt is regarded as the Ivy of Tennessee or something of the sort; deeply selective - someone even said he thinks they only accept aliens - and I know, atleast for engineering, the credit hours is like $1840 per credit which puts it as expensive. I can only imagine what it would be for MFin which schools see as a sure route to earning >$110k per annum pay cheques.

I understand your decision with respect to UT Austin. What I would give to go there for my course though.

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.

Bro I sent you a pm

Scholastica16:


You definitely have the GPA for it. Are you talking to potential advisors?

Not yet, for now I'm working on my SOP, but I have the format you gave to adaeze the other time and popon's own too, so I would work with that.

Guitarlife:

Thanks bro, can I have you on whatsapp ?

Sure thing send me a PM

MasterforceII:


Congratulations bro. Very nice scores and nice selection of schools. I wish you the best in your TOEFL and applications. #Fall2018 #Yeswecan

Yeah thanks your scores are really nice too, concerning TOEFL any personal experience would be worthwhile.

Epithet:


Yeah thanks your scores are really nice too, concerning TOEFL any personal experience would be worthwhile.

Wrote the TOEFL on friday. It was uhm.. interesting. The notefull videos on youtube really helped especially for the speaking section. Find a speaking template that works for you and keep practising with it. Try to give a good answer within the given time. During the exam, test takers may take different sections at different times. Someone might be taking the speaking while you're taking the listening. This can be distracting. So concentration is key. I believe you can get a decent score.
#Fall2018

Scholastica16:


cc Pon Pon

Please help me register gre

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.

The aspect of the PI cannot be over emphasized!!!...

IstandWitBuhari:


Please help me register gre

cc ponpon, your attention is needed.

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.

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.

congratulations on your score.
would be glad If u can share d strategies u used for d exam including textbooks. did u watch notefull video? thanks

stainless91:

congratulations on your score.
would be glad If u can share d strategies u used for d exam including textbooks. did u watch notefull video? thanks

I made use of the official guide and the practice software. I did watch notefull videos to get a general idea of responses, I however didn't follow their format strictly. During my test I spoke freely like I would do normally. I think the notefull videos are good to watch anyways don't just follow it to a T.

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.

Wonderful scores dear. Congratulations!

I pray we all get raptured in this admission cycle. You no less. Cheers.

Y'all just blasting this exams like it's nothing...makes me wonder if the exam got easier or you guys just got smarter

Scholastica16:


cc ponpon, your attention is needed.

Please can I have his number or email address ?

PhD opportunity in Biological sciences in the US.
This PhD is free tuition and provides a $30,000 stipend to those admitted

http://www.biomed.emory.edu/admissions/apply.html

Goodluck to those qualified

Epithet:


Not yet, for now I'm working on my SOP, but I have the format you gave to adaeze the other time and popon's own too, so I would work with that.

Please can I have a copy of the format? Thanks.

IstandWitBuhari:


Please can I have his number or email address ?

Private Message (PM) him. If you are not keen on waiting, then Google B.Y MAFIT, get their contact numbers online and call them. Theirs is 5k higher but they are legit as well.

ugonna1054:
Y'all just blasting this exams like it's nothing...makes me wonder if the exam got easier or you guys just got smarter

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

ElDeeVee:


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

In Nigeria or over there?

One could get lucky with the nature of their questions (if the first 2 Qs in my first GRE counted as my graded tests I am sure I would have clocked that score above). However, some are just incredibly skilled at Mathematics such that no matter the level of difficulty, they would get the answers in record time. I sometimes watch the Cowbellpedia and I see these Junior Secondary School students pulverize word problems in seconds. With that type of background, many of them will get near perfect GRE quant scores - I have no doubts.

The senior secondary category is even slightly above the nature of GRE questions (devoid of the traps ofcourse). I get tempted to write down their names to Google it few years forward in a bid to see what they would have done with such skillery in mathematics. I might still do it.

There is one silent viewer on this thread who got a cool 170 in his Quants in August. The guy is such a genius that he is going to retake the tests just so he could up his verbal reasoning scores. This particular guy will easily replicate > 165 again in his Quants. He is that good.

IstandWitBuhari:


Please can I have his number or email address ?

Patrick.jimoh60atgmaildotcom