pato405:

to the above statement in RED

1. I have not generalised in anyway. this is a qualitative dialogue and i've just interpreted your comments. there's no generalisation in qualitative approach [rule of thumb] mind you. I'm equally sure I've not drawn wrong inferences from your transcript. you clearly advised prospective researchers to steer clear without stating valid reasons. as a researcher, I'll label you as being biased. your likes will sample data to suit the end result they wish to achieve. objectivity will eventually get defeated - and this a typical reflection of the kind of studies we have back home. you have extended such prejudice to this forum. I challenge you once again to summarily state valid reasons buttressed with sufficient evidence why you will NOT recommend the Uk.

2. your second statement highlighted in red sounds so nebulous. if there's no academic quality in UK known for outstanding journals and publications, then where else? go check the world best universities and see how UK universities compete keenly for top posts with American UNis. mind you, the Uk isn't a continent and America is one. yet, their impact in standardised education is felt not just in Europe, but all over the world. I'm not advertising UK schools, I'm just being objective based on experience.

pato405:


I can see a lot of students are really scared of coming to the UK. why is the UK not in your list?

your second coments in red:

infact, I couldn't have said it better. I find it very difficult to accept validity and reliability any piece of PhD thesis written in Nigeria. I'm really sorry to say but it's the painful truth. it often lacks depth and quality. more often than not, the principles and precepts of the research paradigms are carelessly flung out through academic windows with utmost disregard. . original contribution to knowledge = Zero! it's just so frustrating!

wakes: @all, thanks for this thread. For me it both an answered prayer and an eye opener to the academic world on NL. Only this week, I did a search on ONLINE MASTERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH to see what is obtainable. Having read all your posts, I am better educated on what to do. I am also passionate about research. I had 3.5 i.e. 2-2 in Biochemistry, un-Jos. So with my result, @ T22 and others, what would you advice? Plus I read about TOEFL & GRE, must I do them if I want to study abroad? And finally about funding, that is good news, please tell me more especially for MPH that I want to run. Many thanks, great minds!

tanimola22:

You did not generalize, yet you said I recommended Naija Universities over those in the UK. Very nice conclusion. I wonder why you keep on attacking the quality of my education. You don't even know me, nor have you seen the quality of my work. Anyway, you see Mr, I am not here to drag UK issues with you, and I will definitely not be forced to prematurely declare anything. Please read my post very well.

As a last response to your post, I will reiterate that I 'do not' hold the UK high up there, definitely 'not' because of academic quality.

The last time I lived in the UK, the language of anything was the English language. Perhaps things have changed, I would not know sha.

This thread is meant to answer a specific question asked by a poster and other related questions asked by other posters.

If you have any contribution, please go ahead and make it. And thank you very much for letting me know that the United States of America is a continent. I thought the US was a country in North America.

T22.

ahamdiheme:
It is not fear but being real. The UK schools are not bad but why pursue something I have to pay so much for when I can get the same and most times better for free? Please correct me if I wrong but I do not think emphases are made on publishing work in the UK. I know it is three years but again why should I do a PhD, pay so much for it and at the end there is no single publication to my name? I rather spend 4-5 years and come out with top notch publications that will earn me Assistant Prof. upon completion.

wakes: @all, thanks for this thread. For me it both an answered prayer and an eye opener to the academic world on NL. Only this week, I did a search on ONLINE MASTERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH to see what is obtainable. Having read all your posts, I am better educated on what to do. I am also passionate about research. I had 3.5 i.e. 2-2 in Biochemistry, un-Jos. So with my result, @ T22 and others, what would you advice? Plus I read about TOEFL & GRE, must I do them if I want to study abroad? And finally about funding, that is good news, please tell me more especially for MPH that I want to run. Many thanks, great minds!

Mcleo007:

I can't appreciate u enough sir!

Here is my email for the contact; [email]mcleodavids2@yahoo.co.uk[email]

God bless.

trueman1: @ Tanimola 222 and Pato pls don't argue again. U guys are very intelligent pple. Please advice me on the best schools I can do my PhD-Business Admin or Int'l Business in US or Canada on scholarships. I have my Msc in Business Administration with a grade above 4.0. Please assist with cost implications and website adresses if possible.

Thank you.

trueman1: @ Tanimola 222 and Pato pls don't argue again. U guys are very intelligent pple. Please advice me on the best schools I can do my PhD-Business Admin or Int'l Business in US or Canada on scholarships. I have my Msc in Business Administration with a grade above 4.0. Please assist with cost implications and website adresses if possible.

Thank you.

trueman1: @ Tanimola 222 and Pato pls don't argue again. U guys are very intelligent pple. Please advice me on the best schools I can do my PhD-Business Admin or Int'l Business in US or Canada on scholarships. I have my Msc in Business Administration with a grade above 4.0. Please assist with cost implications and website adresses if possible.

Thank you.

babeface3: I graduated from a state university in Nigeria, and currently running my LLM in Europe, I have spoken to a professor at UNILAG concerning a possible lecturing assistance job while I run a PHD in the school and he answered in affirmative. I am wondering how easy and effective this option could be.

pato405:


I can see a lot of students are really scared of coming to the UK. why is the UK not in your list?

your second coments in red:

infact, I couldn't have said it better. I find it very difficult to accept validity and reliability of any piece of PhD thesis written in Nigeria. I'm really sorry to say but it's the painful truth. it often lacks depth and quality. more often than not, the principles and precepts of the research paradigms are carelessly flung out through academic windows with utmost disregard. . original contribution to knowledge = Zero! it's just so frustrating!

collyno200: helo great scholars in the house.i've rily enjoyd d educative post of forum members here.am a final year studnt of mining engineering fed univ of tech akure.i currently av a cgpa greater than 4.6 as at nw.wel i intend going 4 my masters in petroleum engineering.i rily like d course any one with useful info abt scholarshp opportunitier in usa canada n eu countries should pls update me.also wat do u tink abt graduate assitant positn in nigerian univ nw cos as as a rule in futa prospective first clas graduates r retained upon graduation.dou i lv teachn bt wld luv to do that later in my life after i have gotten industry experience and in petroleum engineering field.thanks

chuqudy: All these masters and PhD are they for free? If they are free I am very much interested. If not, how much would it actually cost to do MSc and Phd abroad like in Eurasia? I mean the total cost.

tanimola22:

Gba be! Take it or leave it, you can study up to any level without having to pay 10Naira. If fact, they will pay you sef.

Eurasia= Europe and Asia? Which course? What is your background like?

tanimola22:

Gba be! Take it or leave it, you can study up to any level without having to pay 10Naira. If fact, they will pay you sef.

Eurasia= Europe and Asia? Which course? What is your background like?

Mujinho4b: im stil in ma 2nd year, studying education biology.. Bt lecturing job on ma mind, wuld like 2knw u more incase in future i might nid ur help.. Tanks.

sunky644: Good job by you guys most especially Tanimola and Pasto405, you really ve the knowledge and correct info to impact. @Pasto405, you can't completely rubbish what we do in Nigeria here as not all Profs and Researchers here are bad belle and local champion. I am currently a Masters student in Nigeria and precisely FUTA, I can boldly tell you my supervisor is one of the best you can think of in this country as he has some of his Masters students with one or two international publications from their research project and presently one of his Ph.D students who is tutoring me and will be awarded the degree this year already have 6(six) international journals published by him. So what more exceptional performance do you need from young upcoming researchers than these? Pls try to appreciate what we ve in Nigeria as we are not all dumb ass.......

tanimola22:


This is very nice, and your preference of wanting to first gather some industry experience in the field of petroleum engineering is almost surely consistent with those of other engineering grads that I know. My friend who studied petroleum engineering had your view, and he luckily landed a job with Total few months after concluding NYSC. He is on 11 Million Naira per annum; so you may want to try your luck there too, when you graduate as a petroleum engineer.

I don't know how higher than 4.6 your GPA currently is, and I also don't know the level you are at the moment (whether 300L, 400L, or even 500L), but I believe, from experience, that it is possible to improve your GPA above what it is now. Try as much as possible to do that. A high GPA is always an advantage. In fact, it would be nice if you could target and achieve 5.00 from now on till you graduate. Trust me, this is very possible. And the good thing about this is that many schools in North America, especially schools in Canada and the US, specifically look at the grades you obtained in your last two years of studies as a way of evaluating your transcript(s). I have seen cases where boundary first guys (4.5-4.55) got very nice offers from top schools around the world because, even though they did not start very well, they had almost 5.00 in the last two years of their studies. Please take note of this, and take advantage of it. I would not have said this if you had already graduated, but I am saying this because you are still an undergrad and you can still make your situation better.

In case, upon graduation, you are not able to secure a very nice job that suits your taste, and you still desire to pursue a Master's in Petroleum Engineering, then I would advise that you take up the graduate research position, preferably work as a research assistant to a prof who is heavy in any research area that interests you, do it for one year and apply to all those top schools around the world. Of course, if you are gunning for the US, you first must have gotten very nice scores on the GRE and TOEFL tests. The reason I suggest working as a research assistant for one year is that the very top engineering schools around the world, such as MIT, Stanford and others, very much value research experience. Again, I have heard of cases where students were accepted into top research schools in the US and elsewhere just because they previously worked as research assistants in very relevant fields. So you may want to take very good advantage of this.

I earnestly believe that you have little to no problems at all. Try to up your already great GPA, take and ace the GRE and TOEFL. For the GRE, I suggest you concentrate more on the quantitative section because this is the area most programs are interested in. Don't kill yourself on the verbal part, although it would be nice if you could make a great score there. I guess someone with your IQ should score nothing less than >94th percentile on the quantitative section, >70th on the verbal section and perhaps >4.5/6 on the analytical writing section( I don't know how well you write, but you can always practice and score well). When you are armed with all these things, make sure you have some money to pay application fees. The application fee for each university in the US can be as high as 60$-100$. At times it can be more sef. However, if you know a prof who is ready to stick his neck out for you, then you escape paying the application fees at some universities. I for one did not have to pay any fees because I was familiar with some profs who aggressively supported my application .

The following schools should be your main focus:
Cambridge University: I am not sure if Petroleum Engineering is offered there, but I know they have Chemical Engineering. Also, the Gates Scholarship for very qualified students like you is not bad. You can get it, although the competition is fierce. Four people I know got it; 2 studied Mathematics, the other 2 studied Chemical Engineering. I particularly like Cambridge University because the academic work there is rigorous. You either shape in or shape out! I will not divulge more information than this, which is in fact what you need

Stanford University: A nairalander and one of our proud alumni did his PhD there. It is almost sure that you will land a top oil job in the US soon after your studies at Stanford University. For an instance, the said nairalander (username withheld) is a researcher at Mobil and, from what he has remarked, chances of getting top oil jobs are high after graduate studies at Stanford. The monthly stipend they give to graduate students is usually not bad. You can be a teaching assistant/research assistant, which means you have to teach undergraduates/do research with a prof before you earn the stipend, or you can get a fellowship, which means you don't have to teach nada. All you need to do is sit down and make a high GPA hahahaha. But getting a fellowship can be a pain in some US schools.

MIT: This one is among the best of the best engineering schools around the world, if not the best sef. Do your best to enter this one. This is the more reason why you have to make your GPA as high as possible, get great letters of recommendation from the best profs you can approach, score highly on the standardized tests and generally package your application very well. In my experience, a well packaged application will always not hurt you. I have had some academic opportunities, which other more able and qualified people could not have, simply because I have consistently packaged my applications very well. Use this trick.

Other very excellent schools you should try are Oxford University (UK), University of California at Berkley (US), Texas A&M (US), University of Houston, Caltech (US), Yale (US), Colorado School of Mines (US), TU Delft (Holland----a nairalander who graduated from your school FUTA did his MSc there and afterwards got 3 oil jobs and 6-11 PhD positions. He rejected all PhD positions. hahahaha. You too can surely achieve the same feat or even better), Manchester (UK), Toronto (Buhari ),Mc Gill(Canada). In fact, the list goes on. Another strong advice I would like to offer is that you certainly should not apply to only the very top schools. You have to diversify your applications. Endeavor to apply to schools that are not very high up there. You may still get a good offer after your studies. For instance, Louisiana may not be the best university to study your course. However, oil companies have consistently visited the university to recruit graduating students. In the same vein, I have two senior colleagues who completed their fully funded PhD programs at Heriot Watt University. One works for Schlumberger, the other works for Total. Don't look down on some schools.

In my experience, I have found that Nigerian students who graduated tops in oil and gas engineering related programs in the US got more oil job offers than their fellow Nigerian counterparts in the UK. For example, one of the Cambridge guys I earlier spoke about came back to naija after his studies because he was unable to get a juicy job and never applied for any PhD position. Till now, it has not been easy for him to land the big oil job he envisaged. The other one successfully got a place at Shell UK. Many others I know, they had to accept PhD positions in Chemical/Petroleum Engineering because the juicy jobs just weren't forthcoming and they needed to get a steady source of income. A PhD offers that steady source of income for the duration of the PhD program and even beyond. That is why I am an advocate of using a PhD to hedge against one's inability to get a juicy job. Nonetheless, I am sure that you may also give many examples based on your experience in which many UK trained Nigerian graduates got juicy jobs after graduation. There is no one hard and fast rule; nothing is particularly straight.

On a last note, if you desire to get very close to the major oil company in Saudi (Saudi Aramco), if you desire to get into a graduate program that funds your studies without your having to pay for accommodation, bills, taxes, transportation and other utilities, if you are strongly looking to earn about 20k$-30k$/year while studying, without having to spend a dime from this money other than feeding yourself, then look no further than KAUST (Saudi). In my view, and based on my research and information from friends there, KAUST offers the best funding package anyone can ask for. I am yet to see an institution that funds as much and still pays for bills and provides a very nice accommodation for all of its students, all at the same time. However, and very sadly so, the downside to KAUST is that it is relatively new university and has zero track record. You may want to strongly consider this very important shortcoming.

Hope this story story story helps.

Truly yours,
T22