Victorjoel:
Hello Gavira. I understand you had three heavy bags and they were not with you at the screening. Please did you have another small hand bag(that had your credentials) with you also? I just want to be sure cos am using AA too. Thanks

gaviria:

You can carry 2 checked bags and a hand luggage that can enter the overhead compartment and not more than 10kg. For those people that'll take connecting flights, you'll pay for your checked bags. For American Airlines it's $25 (plus $5 for the generation of the AA card since you don't have a credit card) a bag and $60 for 2 bags. But if one of your checked bags can fit in the overhead compartment then you can take it inside with you along with your hand luggage. That's something some people don't know. And it saved me $35.

Oseni007:
Hello
Please can you show me a screen shot of what the adapter looks like....
Thanks.

kallowdean:


I beg beans (Ewa Oloyin) dey allowed in to USA
Am actually going to Atlanta

Okusi:
Good evening house, I applied for Msc Civil Engineering at Morgan State University for Fall 2017 but still awaiting decision. Can something still come out from that side since they are resuming on 22nd?

Ice96:
Good day guys pls am trying to book a flight from Lagos to JFK using either wakanow or travelstart,pls has any one paid/booked using a Nigerian master card?thanks in earnest.

Fenix:


Fantastic! I am happy for you, bro. This is good news indeed. I can imagine how you must have felt when you were denied.

There is something that I am noticing about most people who were granted...confidence and preparation. Know your course, know the story you want to tell and do not give up.

All the best!

Nwabu007:
Hello All, I want to commend you all for the quality of conversation on this thread. I have been a silent follower of this thread and I am moved by the stories and experiences being shared. I have an admission offer from SJU New York to study MS Biology. I'm awaiting my I-20 certificate so that I can commence Visa processing. Class resumes on August 30, I hope I'm not too late. Secondly, Is there anyone residing in Queens, New York that could offer advice or suggestions regarding cheap accommodation or possibly shared room. I will appreciate a response. Thank you all.

floraine:

Hian!!!!

Maybe cos you didn't garri foodstuffs and they are like are we sure he is a student??

Ice96:
Good day guys pls am trying to book a flight from Lagos to JFK using either wakanow or travelstart,pls has any one paid/booked using a Nigerian master card?thanks in earnest.

mjksho:


I don't think that's the reason, but I'm coming to that soon.

Oseni007:
Hello
Please can you show me a screen shot of what the adapter looks like....
Thanks.

ecoleco:


Thank you @ecoleco for your response. I am constantly sending out update request as I have already sent out all required documents for consideration. I will try to see if I could request for the SEVIS No via email to enable me pay the SEVIS fee and fill out DS-160 form. Thank you once again.

I believe you can still make it. But you need to keep talking to the person/people who are supposed to process and send out your I-20. In my own case, I was on their tail with frequent emails till they sent it out.

It has also been advised on this thread that you can request the school to send you your SEVIS NO by email ahead of the form I-20. With that you can at least commence filling your DS 160 and paying SEVIS fee.

On the accomodation, it's very likely that your school will have an off-campus website where you can find off-campus housing and roommates. There are also some staff in the university whose responsibility is to help incoming students with off-campus housing.

People in Queens, NY on here can also help. I am not.

All the best.

LagosismyHome:


read previous transcripts and learn how to answer questions intelligently ........... if the main reason is so you can fit into that environment then you don't need to go abroad for that .... many universities for Lagos , Ibadan, Enugu where you can fit in

Abimmbolar:
Hello house,So I reached USA on sunday morning and I thought to share my travel/POE experience.
Left nigeria on 29th on Qatar airways with a 2hrs stopover at Doha.Qatar was great with the flight hospitality and there was soooo much to eat and movies too.At a point,I skipped my meal pack and just said I was fine...make I no go constipate.
Fast forward to JFK POE ....it was a smooth experience,especially after I have read of somany scary experience on here.Got to the officer and he asked wat course I studied in ug..told him.and mentioned wat I will be studying for msc too.He was like cool,looked thru my i-20 probably for my sevis and then took fingerprints and then I got stamped.Customs was so smooth too,my box was not opened and the officers were all nice,although I declared all I had in the form.
My stay at Ny was mind blowing...stayed at queens and visited brooklyn and few days later,I left for missouri(sch).
My advice..pls dont pack toomuch load like me ooo.I escaped paying for extra luggage on qatar but for local flight here,luggage is damn expensive. I paid an extra $60 for extra luggage at the airport after paying $94 for bags when booking my flight,seat fare gaan was only $84.Dont be like me,pack just wats needed.
So far,U.S has been an awesome experience for me since I neva travelled out of the country before.I'm thrilled with the level of advancement,security and quality of life.I wee not say anything abt Murtala mohammed international airport until you people sees Hammad airport(Doha) and luguardia airport that is supposed to be a local airport here.
To all others coming on this journey...Safe trip and best of luck.

gaviria:
So I got to my final destination(Illinois) like an hour ago.
My flight from Lagos to Casablanca was scheduled for 6:30am but got delayed till 10am on Wednesday morning, so I had gotten to the airport around 12am not knowing they had rescheduled the flight, so I stayed at the airport till the next morning with sleeping at all. So we left Lagos for Casablanca around 10:20 and got there around 14:30, meanwhile my stopover was to be 4 hours in Casablanca and we had already used that up in the Lagos delay, so as soon as we alighted those of us with the 4 hour stopover had to rush over to the departure terminal to leave immediately. So we left Casablanca around 15:20 and got to New York(JFK) at 7:30pm local time. The POE queue was freaking long. People of different color, race and gender all queuing to enter the US. We were sha moving small small till I got to the front. By the way I don't know why I've just been having that thought of secondary screening and each time it pops up in my head I just reject it. So I was put on a queue in front of one white CBP officer where I had some Asians and Europeans in front of me. The guy took one Asian and one European for secondary screening. I just said it cannot happen to me in my mind. Gbam it got to my turn
Me: Good evening sir
CBP: Good evening sir
I gave him my passport,i20 and SEVIS without him asking.
He stared at the passport and looked into my eyes, asked me to put my four fingers on the scanner, Checked my i20, stamped my passport, gave it to me and said "Next". He didn't ask me a single question. Not even why are you here? Or where are you headed? Or do you have garri and so? So I cleared immigration around 9:30pm at JFK. Moved to baggage claim, carried my 2 heavy boxes and my heavy hand luggage to luggage storage because my flight to St. Louis was for 5am in the morning and I can't be carrying heavy bags up and down the very big airport that someone can lost inside. So I had already checked online and saw that it's only in Terminal 4 that the luggage storage is run 24hours, so I moved from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4 using AirTrain which is free within the airport. I stored my luggage, they don't weigh luggage o, they use the height of the box/bag to tell you how much you'll pay. Anyways I paid $16 to store the 3 boxes. I then proceeded to look for Terminal 8 which is where my American Airlines flight is. I went there and they told me check-in starts by 3am. So I went to Dunkin Donuts and bought Turkey with bacon and cheddar in flatbread and I ate it with iced coffee. Everything was $8.64. Then I used the free internet for 30minutes which was quite fast. Time went by and American Airlines delayed their flight till 6:30am, I waited again, meanwhile throughout my trip which was over 30hours by then I hadn't got more than 5 hours of sleep, noting that I didn't sleep the night before the day I left Nigeria because I was happy.
Cutting the story short even though it's very long already.lol. I left JFK to my destination around 7:00am Thursday and I got to my apartment around 13:00. The time is 14:58. And I really need to sleep.

gaviria:

I don't understand what you mean by screening. I had 2 boxes(1 big, 1 small) and a small bag. The 2 bags were checked in for my international flight and the hang luggage with me on the plane(there was no space in the hand luggage, so I had to put my documents in a file that I also carried with me.
And for AA because one of my boxes was small and could fit in the overhead luggage, I didn't pay for it.

Femmyy90:


Thank you for the advice class start by Aug 21 can I still refire

Victorjoel:

Sorry, what I mean is this. You said after stamping your passport you then proceeded to claim your three lugages. My question is where did you package the file containing your passport and I20. Is it in another small hand bag?

emmayodata:
To God be the glory, my visa was approved yesterday Thursday. My interview was scheduled for 6:30am.

vo: Good morning, pass me your i20 and passport
me: Good morning sir (with a smile and composure), I was told to include my ds confirmation (included ds confirmation)
vo: ok (scanned my ds 160)
vo: what are you going to study?
me: computer and information sciences
vo: where is that?
me: ETSU - East Tennessee State University
vo: how did you hear about this school?
me: A patience who was admitted at mum's clinic told me about the school, he had a son who was a student in that school. I got the son's contact, we talked and he (the son) spoke greatly about the school, the weather in Johnson city and how good the environment is for learning.
vo: did you apply to other schools?
me: yes: Troy University Alabama and Geogia State University.
vo: How many gave you admission?
me: Apart from ETSU only Troy university.
vo: why don't you want Troy University?
me: Two reasons mainly: one, my friend at ETSU will help me settle down, two; Troy university gave me computer science alone while ETSU gave me computer and information sciences, which is the course I really desire to study.
vo: why, what's special in it?
me: (This is my selling point) The information science included is an interdisciplinary course that deals with the collection, dissemination, analysis, retrieval and protection of information.
vo: so how is this relevant to you?
me: with the little time I spent at my mum's clinic, I discover that patient's record are kept manually, not only in her clinic but in most local hospitals around. So, I'm looking towards introducing something called EMR - Electronic Medical Record (Vo started looking in my eyes and seemed interested, so I continued). This is a systematized collection of a patient's electronically,( I paused because I wanted saying it word-for-word but had forgotten, for like 8 seconds I was mute, vo was staring at me and my hand but I held my handkerchief with my both hands, so I decided to explain it my way), The collection of a patient's medical information electronically, this record can be shared across different health settings, the information includes: A laboratory test results, immunization status, medical history, allergies, personal statistics like age and weight etc.(I thought I had lost it)
vo: What will they do with this information?
me: This information has been proven to aid treatment by 5%, it makes the medical personnel's work easy as they'll know the approach to take, thats it.
vo: Do you have any qualification after high school?
me: yes, I have OND in computer science.
vo: can you tell me courses you took during your study?
me: Introduction to statistics, calculus and some computer basics. The Nigeria school curriculum focuses more on theoretical part (I know he didn't ask, but he nodded in agreement).
vo: What is your plan Post-graduation?
me: (At this point I was a little relieved cos I didn't expect to get that far) I want to introduce the EMR I told you about(he noded again), first, to my mum's clinic, then with the help of the government, reach out to other local hospital around and make realize the benefit of this method.
vo: have you traveled out before?
me: I've not had a reason to until now.
vo: Who is your sponsor
me: My mum is my sponsor.
Lo and behold, a white paper was staring at me. I was so happy no document asked, nothing.
I was so happy that when I got to the door I forgot how to open it, the security man said press, I pressed but it didn't open, so he started smiling and came to open it for me.

Tips: Most of those people know the kind of problems we face in this country, so look for a that thing related to your field of study that has been eluding this country.
Benefits of this:
i. You indirectly dictates the direction the interview will take
ii. you give them the notion that you plan to come back after your study even before you get to that part.
iii. they see you as a visioneer.
Above all, pray, only God made it possible I'm sure, because I messed up big time.
Thank you all for your effort on this thread.

Victorjoel:

Sorry, what I mean is this. You said after stamping your passport you then proceeded to claim your three lugages. My question is where did you package the file containing your passport and I20. Is it in another small hand bag?

Femmyy90:
VISA DENIED!!! 7:00AM BATCH
By the woman at window 8

Vo:good morning
Me:good morning
Vo:what is your highest degree
Me:high school
Vo: when did you graduate
Me:2013
Vo:what have you been doing since then?
Me: I volunteered working with my uncle who works as machine installation at Dangote cement
Vo:How many schools did you consider
Me: 2
Vo: why this school
Me: I choose to study in college because this would let me to adapt to US educational system before transferring and also the school has more international student from Africa so I know I would fits in the environment

Vo: sorry bla bla bla


Thinking to refire back.... any suggestions in the house

ecoleco:


Very unlikely. They should have given you the documents you need to apply for your visa by now. Contact the school and find out what happened. Also ask of the possibility of deferring your admission till Spring 2018.

Best of luck.