cophild:

Congrats bro, Pls share your experience

webstradamus:

I got it!!! It was surely the Lord's doing. Details to come when I return to the office.

[b]I ended up spending the whole day at the airport no thanks to Aero , I got back to base a lil after midnite but the joy of my interview overwhelmed all the frustration Aero wanted to put me through. Anyways here's how my interview went at the Abuja embassy:

After all the normal fingerprinting and stuffs, we sat down on the queue waiting to be interviewed. I observed there were 4 VO's and cubicle 7 was the cubicle to avoid  (she is the new "chinko" and was denying everyone and impatiently too). I secretly prayed against getting her but God refused my prayer cos He had already placed my Visa in her hands.

VO: Pass me your documents.

Me: (Passed my travel documents, educational documents and financial documents)

VO: (Picks up my passport and looking into my I20) Why did you choose to study IT at Minnesota State University Mankato? (she seemed to have a problem pronouncing "Mankato" so I corrected her and told her the correct pronunciation).

Me: I chose MSU Mankato because their MS IT program has a flexible, practical-oriented curriculum designed to address and proffer cutting edge solutions to the ICT needs of businesses and organizations which suits me perfectly as a working professional. The curriculum allows a perfect blend of my major interests: Software, Networking, and Databases. Moreover, my present job requires expertise in these areas which means I will be able to immediately apply the skills acquired during the program on my return to Nigeria.

VO: What do you do?

Me: I work as a Systems Analyst at the University of XXXXX. I manage and maintain web projects, servers, email and elearning systems.

VO: What are your plans after graduation?

Me: I'll have to return immediately to my job as I'll be on a study leave throughout my program duration. I'll also have to work with my present employer for at least 2 years after my program which is a condition for granting the leave. In the not-too-distant future, I intend to start up my own IT consulting firm.

VO: Your visa is approved. Take this form ,  bla bla bla (I no hear the rest cos of happiness).
Me: Thank you (forming calmness)

Note that she didn't check any other document apart from my passport and I-20. No questions about finances/sponsor, transcripts, GRE/TOEFL (which I didn't even have). Looking back now, I know it was just God's favour. People were shocked she finally gave someone but them no know say na Baba God sign am. Special thanks to Square65 for putting me on my toes with the mock interview and also for your prayers and encouragement. Also want to thank imperiouxx for always willing to share ideas and perspectives. The Lord who did mine will favour you also. Many thanks to all who have contributed to this thread in one way or the other, your contributions helped a great deal in building my confidence!!!
[/b]

webstradamus:

[b]I ended up spending the whole day at the airport no thanks to Aero , I got back to base a lil after midnite but the joy of my interview overwhelmed all the frustration Aero wanted to put me through. Anyways here's how my interview went at the Abuja embassy:

After all the normal fingerprinting and stuffs, we sat down on the queue waiting to be interviewed. I observed there were 4 VO's and cubicle 7 was the cubicle to avoid  (she is the new "chinko" and was denying everyone and impatiently too). I secretly prayed against getting her but God refused my prayer cos He had already placed my Visa in her hands.

VO: Pass me your documents.

Me: (Passed my travel documents, educational documents and financial documents)

VO: (Picks up my passport and looking into my I20) Why did you choose to study IT at Minnesota State University Mankato? (she seemed to have a problem pronouncing "Mankato" so I corrected her and told her the correct pronunciation).

Me: I chose MSU Mankato because their MS IT program has a flexible, practical-oriented curriculum designed to address and proffer cutting edge solutions to the ICT needs of businesses and organizations which suits me perfectly as a working professional. The curriculum allows a perfect blend of my major interests: Software, Networking, and Databases. Moreover, my present job requires expertise in these areas which means I will be able to immediately apply the skills acquired during the program on my return to Nigeria.

VO: What do you do?

Me: I work as a Systems Analyst at the University of XXXXX. I manage and maintain web projects, servers, email and elearning systems.

VO: What are your plans after graduation?

Me: I'll have to return immediately to my job as I'll be on a study leave throughout my program duration. I'll also have to work with my present employer for at least 2 years after my program which is a condition for granting the leave. In the not-too-distant future, I intend to start up my own IT consulting firm.

VO: Your visa is approved. Take this form ,  bla bla bla (I no hear the rest cos of happiness).
Me: Thank you (forming calmness)

Note that she didn't check any other document apart from my passport and I-20. No questions about finances/sponsor, transcripts, GRE/TOEFL (which I didn't even have). Looking back now, I know it was just God's favour. People were shocked she finally gave someone but them no know say na Baba God sign am. Special thanks to Square65 for putting me on my toes with the mock interview and also for your prayers and encouragement. Also want to thank imperiouxx for always willing to share ideas and perspectives. The Lord who did mine will favour you also. Many thanks to all who have contributed to this thread in one way or the other, your contributions helped a great deal in building my confidence!!!
[/b]

cophild:

@Web, Congrats once again, Dis is indeed d Lords doing
@Square u shld Ve checked Turkish airline na, 23hrs plenty o, Connecting time for 1 of d Turkish airlines is jst like 1h 45mins and d diff in price WI qatar is jst 15k or so,

@Web, do u think d dressing thing helped d matter a bit, Jst curious

rowlandoo:

i think its better to go study MS in the Usa rather wasting time on undergrduate , people what u think i think unergraduate has got slim chances of acquiring visas

mysterysng:

Dressing ke, na God do every oh. I no sure say she look that side. One thing i realized though is that your first minute counts alot. Start confidently and always have something to say about any question. But most importantly let God go before you because:


Hey Congrats!

looking at the bolded text from your quote, I think I once mentioned it here that the first 1 minute goes a long way to determine if you will be issued a visa and someone practically insulted me to shut up. Put yourself in the VO's shoes, you are interviewing a whole lot of people and some of these people are damn FRUSTRATING!!!!, You want to dismiss the person in front of you as early as possible so the first few words that come out of the person's mouth matter a lot. Another point worthy of note from this interview is , you hit a 12 feet long nail on the fact that you are coming back to Nigeria(even if you do not, lol). I admire smart guys like you. You seem to know what you are doing.

Guys, I believe in God, I believe favour got me my Visa as I was the first to be issued after 15 people denied that day but at the same time, it's important that we really know what we are doing when we go for interviews. Imagine when people ask " what should I say when asked why I chose my school", seriously, Don't you know the reason for applying to your school? Or someone who does not know what ranking his school is or the website through which to access school rankings? Forget about if you have traveled before or not, your dress code, the VO was in a bad mood e.t.c, pull out your strongest points, office affiliations, societal affiliations, your accomplishments, school rankings, e.t.c

I am not trying to sound all miss perfect here and I really enjoy posts (especially success stories) from this forum but at the same time, let us try impress too!

I really wish those going for interviews in the next couple of days good luck.
Happy holidays y'all.


P.S: Hmm, I am going to advertise for emirates here , lol, those guys I think have the best services ever at very affordable prices!

keneyinks:

hello guys.

My brother was denied on saturday. Though he was able to print the online sevis receipt. He had his interview in abj. Except.

VO: You have travel for a J1 program before can u tell me your experience
Ans: explain the benefits of the program in details

VO: You are applying to so so school
Ans: yes

VO: how do you get information about the sch
Ans: through online research.

VO: am sorry am denying you visa at this time.


The interview didnt last up to a min. It was a new young lady that interview him on saturday in abuja.

keneyinks:

hello guys.

My brother was denied on saturday. Though he was able to print the online sevis receipt. He had his interview in abj. Except.

VO: You have travel for a J1 program before can u tell me your experience
Ans: explain the benefits of the program in details

VO: You are applying to so so school
Ans: yes

VO: how do you get information about the sch
Ans: through online research.

VO: am sorry am denying you visa at this time.


The interview didnt last up to a min. It was a new young lady that interview him on saturday in abuja.

rowlandoo:

@gboyega

How do you mean , what kind of mindset