happyday:


@ bolded, he was trying to be funny. Obviously, you weren't in the mood! Congrats!!

Don't mind me. The sentence I was expecting to hear was supposed to start with "I'll be approving.." and not "Sorry". lol

OluDare01:
chuksGilb congrats and welcome to America. Syracuse is a good school, my cousin just graduated from that same department.
We chemistry folks don dey plenty small o
Hope you don't mind if I send you a pm?

Ah! I definitely do not mind.

I have no doubt benefitted immensely from this forum. Thank you to everyone. My Visa was approved 18/5/2017 at the VI consulate. I hope this helps someone as much as some of the transcripts I saw prior to my interview helped me.
VO: Good morning
Me: Good morning
VO: Please pass me your passport and your I-20
VO: Why are you going to the US
Me: I am going for my Doctorate degree in Chemistry at Syracuse University
VO: what is your highest education qualification?
Me: BSc Chemistry
VO: Oh. How did you manage to get into a straight PhD Program?
Me: A combination of high undergrad GPA and research experience gained from working with one of the research-oriented faculty members in my Department. Gave her a breakdown of my prior research experience and my research interest.
VO: Tell me about your school application process to your chosen school?
Me: Well, when I discovered SU, my next point of call was the website of the chemistry department, after reading about the department, I went ahead to visit the web page of all the faculty research groups to know what research they were into. I requested for copies of recent journal articles from two faculty members with similar research interest after an initial electronic correspondence. They gladly obliged. Then I discovered that a particular professor had an ongoing research work that had a wonderful overlap with my research interest. I sent an e-mail to this professor, indicated my interest in joining her research group and requested to know if there would be space available in her lab for fall 2017. After this, I prepared and sat for the GRE exams, then I prepared my SOP and requested for letters of recommendation from my lecturer after which I completed and paid for an online application.
VO: Good. How are you going to fund your studies?
Me: I received a full tuition scholarship in an addition to a TA position during the school year and RA during the summer.
VO: Wow. Congratulations. Do you have any family member in Nigeria?
Me: My whole nuclear family resides in Nigeria.
VO: Oh. Okay. Sorry, my computer is freezing. If you had studied computer science, you would have been able to help me out with this. But, I think chemistry is better for you.
Me: *almost faints upon hearing "sorry"* Well, I like to think that chemistry is life, everything around you is chemistry, but Computer science is a decent course too, computer scientists are like the doctors of today.
VO: *takes her hand across the stack of blue papers into a cabinet and pulls out one of the “whites”* your research sounds very exciting, pick up your visa on Tuesday.

I give all the Glory to God. God is good. While I was on the queue waiting for my turn to be interviewed, I could not help but notice a number of responses from people that were being interviewed seemed crammed. I think it is important that prospective applicants appear calm and confident. I do not think that the interview transcripts posted here are not meant to be crammed, but to serve as guidelines for preparation. Good luck to all future applicants.

sirRiddy:

Lol congratulations.
But that Auburn is one useless school. With your scores, they still waitlisted you. O ga. Good luck in your interview

Na dem sabi. I got a very decent offer from Syracuse. That's where I am headed come fall 2017 by Gods grace once visa clicks. I must say, I have benefited immensely from a number of your posts among those by other awesome members of the GRE thread and US student visa thread. I am new to making posts on this forum, I tried setting up correspondence with you yesterday; would like to get a few tips on the life of a Phd student from this part of the world over there.

ridsan4real:

congratulations chuksGilb. you can schedule your interview around june. I would appreciate.....if you can share your profile( i.e GRE, TOEFL, GPA, schools etc) for others to benefit from you.
thanks!

Thank you so much for your contributions. Thanks to you too, LagosismyHome and Analytics. I think I would opt for the May interview date. It gives me more time to prepare especially with regards to getting really good air fares.

My profile:
GRE: 317
GPA:4.86/5
Schools: Auburn University(Waitlisted), University of Toledo(Accepted) and Syracuse(Accepted).

I have gone through some of the transcripts posted on previous parts. I am concerned however, with my chances of getting my visa approved since most of the ties I have with Nigeria is in the form of my relationships (family and friends).

Greetings Everyone,

I just recently got admitted to a fully funded Phd program in the US, I have received my I-20 and made my SEVIS payment. I would like to submit my DS160 and schedule an interview for my VISA but my school start date is the 28th of August. Can I go ahead with picking an interview date or should I wait for the 120 days window. Would scheduling an interview date before the 120 days window affect my chances of getting my VISA approved?