ayooluniran:
@ all. Another question please. At the point of submitting doc's to the embassy for legalisation, do I get to keep my originals? If I have to submit my originals as well, then I'd rather back out of the whole process. I'll be submitting the docs for legalisation in the last week in may. Considering the amount of time legalisation takes, It might disrupt some of my other plans in which I will need my originals latest first work day of july


I also learnt the visa fee is free for students.

Good evening. Are you also geting your london degree certified, translated and legalised in Nigeria? would have thought that since it was obtained in the UK, it should be done there. Or is it permissible? Asking because I am in a similar shoe and wondering how to proceed. thanks

Interesting @AcePilot. Care to throw more light on this? I hope its not the shared commonwealth you are talking about though.

drhopeful:
Second offer from University of Virginia. Fully funded with a research fellowship + RAship. Rather late because I already accepted Penn State after waiting on Virginia for soooooo long. Spoke with my super nice POI from Virginia and he really wants to work with me and putting me in a big fix. Lol. Oh! And I already have my I-20 from Penn and paid SEVIS. Ah well... I don't know.

Congratulations drhopeful

iCool:
Decision 3/5

University of Houston, An ACCEPTANCE.


Accepted in the 3 decisions received so far - I am humbled...


Got a $1k scholarship and in-state tuition.

Congratulations. you are on a roll.

To those getting admitted (with or without funding) congratulations
Still waiting to hear back from the universities I applied to. This waiting business is not an easy thing I must say.

@ essayHelp, like i said its good practice to email grad coordinators.
"However, when they say "must have earned a higher/tertiary degree" in countries like the UK, they usually mean a four year bachelors degree. A one year UK master's degree is usually too short for English proficiency exemption.
Am yet to hear any of the schools i emailed say that so i guess thats your interpretation. University of Mississippi waived the english language requirement for me when i sent an email with a copy of my certificate fron a UK uni. For the other school i mentioned, it was automatic on my application page as soon as i completed the fields for my education.

essayHelp:


For US schools that require you to take an English test, a Master's degree in the UK would not qualify you for an exemption.

Georgia Tech and UM College Park do not require an English test. You may search for similar schools, if desired.

This is not necessarily correct. Some schools will exempt one from english language tests if you possess a masters degree from the UK. always check the departmental website or university website if in doubt. Eg, university of mississippi and university of wisconsin will exempt one from IELTS/TOEFL if you have a masters degree from the UK.

As Biddie13 pointed out about herself, those are strategies to a successful application. Good grades (which is something that is gotten by hardwork & within your control), evidence of publications (although the absence of it doesñt hurt an application), evidence of volunteering and/or community services and a well thought out essay as to why you want to study the course you have chosen and what benefits for your home country. @KingJB i hope this answers your questions also.
Her (biddie13) profile is competitive and I believe she will hold her own when pooled with other commonwealth applicants from other countries.

Rather than bickering, i would suggest that all who applied and have yet to hear from the commonwealth look to other scholarships and awards.
Somethings you cant explain and the nomination process by the federal scholarship board is one of them.
Is there merit? Sure. Is there nepotism? Sure. Ultimately luck and God's grace counts.
I would wish the process could be refined so that folks dont have to travel great distances only to receive regret mails. It would definitely hurt given the money and time spent.
The commonwealth shared is currently on and a great number of courses are supported. I went via the fsb route and was unsuccessful receiving the regret mail .
However i got the commonwealth shared scholarship for my msc and returned late 2015.
A regret mail isnt the end. If you are good and competitive, you ll find opportunities.

Good morning and a happy Sunday to everyone. Want to ask especially for those that have submitted applications in the past for masters or PhD(whether successful or not).
How long does it usually take to hear back from schools one applied to especially as an international student?
Thanks

RealtorOtabor:

Was there emphasis on transcript for last year screening?

Transcriprs will be required at the point where you are being screened. Because there is a form that will be given to everyone with tickable boxes.
So when you are before who ll be screening you,it will be asked for. Almost everyone i saw that day had a transcripts cos it was specifically mentioned in the advert

EngrStacia:
Did they allow people without admission letters. I have contacted my schools but yet to get any response from them

Weĺl to the best of my knowledge,i think its a 50-50 thing. You meed evidence of an offer of admission at the screening stage. While some of the people were particular about it,some weren't.
It would be good to go with one,but given that the schools you applied to haven't responded, you could take the risk and go ahead

Perotti:
Hello guys, what's your take on Profs advertising research assistantships (mostly PhDs and PostDocs) in their lab or through other websites? I have been seeing PhD positions related to my field in Netherlands, US, Switzerland,and I have been applying tho no concrete response yet. Has anyone gotten an offer like this in the past, because this route is somewhat slightly different from the usual 'apply to a Department and get admission+TA' because its the Prof that is recruiting altho the Department must assent to the final candidates.

Depending on your field though. I did make it to the interview stage on one particular occasion. We did skype and all. But i was placed on a reserve list if the person chosen rejected the position. And the person didn't. Though it was for a position in Italy.

My opinion though. I attended the interview conducted by FSB last year and it was the most disorganised thing ever. I seriously doubt the CSC folks would be pleased if they had been there. The organisation was poor and confusion the order of the day.
Given the large number of people, many persons should have been involved in the screening and interview. Alas,i think there wew only 5 people doing the interview. And so some people scheduled to do the first day ended up doing thiers on day 2. There were those who did thiers very late in the night.
Hence be prepared to be there for a long time except they have organised themselves.
It is usually oral in nature. Questions like what did you study, waht did you finish with, what area of study? Do you volunteer? There's no specific rule followed in the question asked.
For those without an nysc discharge cert, chamces are slim you'd scale the screening not to talk of an interview. But this is nigeria, anything is possible. But if you must go,best prepare yourself for a rejection.
The entire process could be better organised in my opinion.

Good morning. I do have a couple of questions as it relates to the GRE. I am a PhD hopeful and have taken the GRE. I scored 312(155V and 157Q) and I'm going for the pharmaceutical sciences. My IELTS score is 7.5 (some schools do accept it in lieu of the TOEFL)
I'm just wondering if thats a good score and how competitive that makes me. My undergraduate GPA was 4.72/5.0 and i had a distinction in my Masters.