I got my american student visa to study aerospace engineering at the lagos embassy , this is my experience ;
Things I Did
I prepared well ; read several interview experiences
I prayed
I arranged all my original documents in a way I found covinient
I got to the embassy early
The interview went this way
V.o: Damilola Isaac right ?
Me: yes
V.o: university of Texas at Atlington
Me: yes
V.o: when did u finish secondary school
Me:2008
V.o: why texas
Me : research blah blah blah
V.o: how many schs did u apply to
Me:three
V.o: which
Me: purdue, old dominion and texas
V.o : why not any of those other two
Me: old dominion was more like a backup ....
V.o: (cuts me short)so u prefer Texas? Y?
Me: the school pays particular attention to research
V.o: (nods his head , continues typing ) so what is it about research?
Me: as a young child I was fascinated by air planes I later went to study mech engr then I found out that I liked d design blah blah
V.o: experimental design
Me: (deemed my eyes cos I dint hear wat he sed)
V.o; rephrases
Me; real design ,construction
V.o: nods his head while typing
V.o: what university did u attend ?
Me:covenant UNi
V.o: have u served ?
Me:yes
V.o: where
Me : Elizade nig....
V.o: who is sponsoring u ?
Me; my parents
V.o: what does your father do ?
Me: he is a director....,,
V.o: where ?
Me; ondo state
V.o : slides a piece of paper across ; pick up ur visa at this location on Wednesday
Things to note
1) be well prepared ( read ppls interview experiences in ur field of interest)
2) keep ur answers short and precise ,as necessary
3) be consistent , a question can be asked in two different ways
4) don't be a yes man; say no if u don't agree with the v.o's leading question
5) know evy piece of info on ur ds-160 and stick to it
6) Keep eye contact and make sure u r audible
7) if u r craming anything make sure u r flexible with it
sould d v.o cut u short ; stop talking.

sarmiie:



Congrats o......we r waiting for d transcript

layo23:
hello pls whiche one is confirmation no u were talking abt,I have been denied once my old ds160 no is d one dt still appears in my new application page AA288***.D online nonimmigrant visa application is AA00***.pls Is dis wat u were talking abt?

JabinodelaRatta:
My interview yesterday at the embassy was just a display of God’s favour and grace. I had always maintained a positive attitude towards the outcome of my interview even when friends and family were hoping that I would be granted the visa, my response to them was that I had gotten it already because of the trust I had in God’s word which is always steadfast and never lie.

One thing I noticed during my interview was that even before I was called up by the VO, the decision had already been made, that is my visa had been granted. This gives credence to what MsNas talked about. That the US embassy carries out a kind of preliminary review on all applicants using the Ds-160 form and Sevis information provided by the intended school of the applicant. How do I know? When I was telling the VO about the funding I received from the school, she looked at her screen and quoted the exact amount of my annual stipends even when she did not ask for my letter of acceptance where the amount was quoted and I didn’t submit it to her. I was shocked!! Note that this amount wasn’t stated in my I-20, it was just the total amount of funding provided by my school that was stated in the I-20.
Another thing I noticed was that she wasn’t really interested in what I had to say because she was talking to the security while I was responding to her questions and also she never allowed me to complete my statements.

My interview was very short and was the fastest of all applicants that went before me. It was less than a minute. I was even getting worried because all applicants before me spent more than 5mins- they were all thoroughly scrutinized and we were more than four hundred. The impression I had from this thread was that the interview, in most cases, was less than 5mins. That raised my adrenaline while waiting!
First and foremost, I give thanks to Almighty God who harkened unto my request, granted me favour and made the interview successful.
My profound appreciation goes to Bigfrancis21 who, among other things, critiqued my sop and taught me how to be more professional in my presentation.

Also, a very big thanks to the prof, Sir Imperiouxx. This bro is something else...lolzz, if he were to be a member of the admission committee, applicants would need the extra grace of God to fully convince and satisfy him. He critiqued my sop line by line in its very details. He made me went into extensive research and reading, sometimes taking three weeks for me to respond. At a point I almost got exhausted and was like “what’s this man own self” lolzz. However, it was worthwhile- it paid off. Thank you very much Sir!!

To my friend, brother and colleague at my intended school, Calmdown, whose brief meeting with me at unilag before he left for the state was a “wow moment” in my life, I say thank you very much!!

I also thank all members of this thread whose contributions have been very helpful.

Now to the interview proper: I got to the embassy past 6am, did the normal screening and waited for my turn. My number flashed at window 2, one young white lady who didn’t smile at all, and the interview went thus:
Me: hello, goodmorning
VO: goodmorning, you are going to Georgia State University
Me: yes
VO: why this school?
Me: when I was researching on schools to apply to, there were two factors I considered which for me are what make a university (she was just nodding her head) and these are research and creaa...creativity discovery...lolzz( I got tensed and off balance wanted to say creative discovery)...I think she understood. Continuing...this school focuses so much on research. I chose this particular school because of its highly distinguished faculty, research-oriented curriculum and access to cutting-edge research facilities ( i don’t think she allowed me to finish this statement)
VO: what do you want to do with this program?
Me: my country nigeria...my country nigeria...I got off balance here because of her disposition (I think she wasn’t interested in what I was saying...meanwhile one security guy came and she was talking to him. In my mind i was like why is this lady acting like this? I stopped talking) while the guy was still by my side, she looked at me...i think expecting me to continue talking...continuing...the vision of my country for the year 2020 is to become one of the world largest leading economies. And as you know, health status is correlated with productivity. No country can be productive if her citizens are not healthy. Therefore, I intend to come back and apply the knowledge, skill and versatility I will have acquired into the health sector as my own way of contributing towards the realization of that vision. Although, she did not allow me to finish.
VO: what faculty will you work under?
Me: I almost messed up here...thinking about faculty as related to our university system, though I didn’t say it out. I quickly processed it and said Dr Donald
VO: which area?
Me: he focuses on medicinal chemistry
VO: looked at me and said, what is medicinal chemistry?
Me: medicinal chemistry is simply the design and development of drugs and my research is going to focus on designing and developing drugs for the treatment of diseases like cancer and anaemia...she nodded her head.
VO: did you apply to other schools
Me: yes
VO: name them
Me: Oregon state uni, north Dakota state uni, uni of newhampshire, uni of southern Mississippi...she was just nodding her head...she didn’t allow me to finish
VO: how many admitted you
Me: in my application to the different schools, it was fall 2015 I applied for. However, gsu gave me admission for fall....spring2015. The rest have not made decision on my application
VO: how many admitted you?
Me: was looking into her eyes with boldness...only gsu, no decision yet from the rest
VO: did you write any examinations
Me: yes
VO: which one
Me: gre and toefl
VO: may I see...guess she wasn’t really interested in seeing it because while I was searching for my gre, the question on the number of schools and how many admitted transpired between us.
VO: what did you do to prepare for this course
Me: i have been teaching, teaching in a secondary school.
VO: you did nysc
Me: yes
VO: when did you graduate? I noticed she was looking at her screen
Me: November 18, 2010 as I stated in my ds-160
VO: what did you study
Me: biochemistry
VO: who is sponsoring you?
Me: the school gave me funding and assistantship. The remaining balance which is just the living expenses will be supplemented by my sister
VO: what does she do?
Me: she manages one of the branches of her husband’s company and in addition to that, she imports African fabrics from Senegal.
VO: place the 4 fingers of your right hand on that and also the left
Me: i did accordingly....she didn’t say anything again. She was typing and reaching out for the white paper that was when I remembered she asked for my test scores. I gave her the gre. She just held it, didn’t look at it and threw it back to me..gave her the toefl, she threw it back.
VO: gave me the white paper and said pick up....that was the only thing I held
Me: thank you and left in a joyous mood...she responded but I didn’t hear what she said exactly
This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in my sight!!

I got my american student visa to study aerospace engineering at the lagos embassy , this is my experience ;
Things I Did
I prepared well ; read several interview experiences
I prayed
I arranged all my original documents in a way I found covinient
I got to the embassy early
The interview went this way
V.o: Damilola Isaac right ?
Me: yes
V.o: university of Texas at Atlington
Me: yes
V.o: when did u finish secondary school
Me:2008
V.o: why texas
Me : research blah blah blah
V.o: how many schs did u apply to
Me:three
V.o: which
Me: purdue, old dominion and texas
V.o : why not any of those other two
Me: old dominion was more like a backup ....
V.o: (cuts me short)so u prefer Texas? Y?
Me: the school pays particular attention to research
V.o: (nods his head , continues typing ) so what is it about research?
Me: as a young child I was fascinated by air planes I later went to study mech engr then I found out that I liked d design blah blah
V.o: experimental design
Me: (deemed my eyes cos I dint hear wat he sed)
V.o; rephrases
Me; real design ,construction
V.o: nods his head while typing
V.o: what university did u attend ?
Me:covenant UNi
V.o: have u served ?
Me:yes
V.o: where
Me : Elizade nig....
V.o: who is sponsoring u ?
Me; my parents
V.o: what does your father do ?
Me: he is a director....,,
V.o: where ?
Me; ondo state
V.o : slides a piece of paper across ; pick up ur visa at this location on Wednesday
Things to note
1) be well prepared ( read ppls interview experiences in ur field of interest)
2) keep ur answers short and precise ,as necessary
3) be consistent , a question can be asked in two different ways
4) don't be a yes man; say no if u don't agree with the v.o's leading question
5) know evy piece of info on ur ds-160 and stick to it
6) Keep eye contact and make sure u r audible
7) if u r craming anything make sure u r flexible with it
sould d v.o cut u short ; stop talking.

jenns:



#congrat bro...send me your phone digit or pin, seems we've got the same course in common. Let's chat ..need to find out somethings from you.

Walspring:


Congrats and enjoy your stay in Obamaland...

Hope my wife dem give her too

Where you wan go shayo? Because i dey around your house ooo

I got my american student visa to study aerospace engineering at the lagos embassy , this is my experience ;
Things I Did
I prepared well ; read several interview experiences
I prayed
I arranged all my original documents in a way I found covinient
I got to the embassy early
The interview went this way
V.o: Damilola Isaac right ?
Me: yes
V.o: university of Texas at Atlington
Me: yes
V.o: when did u finish secondary school
Me:2008
V.o: why texas
Me : research blah blah blah
V.o: how many schs did u apply to
Me:three
V.o: which
Me: purdue, old dominion and texas
V.o : why not any of those other two
Me: old dominion was more like a backup ....
V.o: (cuts me short)so u prefer Texas? Y?
Me: the school pays particular attention to research
V.o: (nods his head , continues typing ) so what is it about research?
Me: as a young child I was fascinated by air planes I later went to study mech engr then I found out that I liked d design blah blah
V.o: experimental design
Me: (deemed my eyes cos I dint hear wat he sed)
V.o; rephrases
Me; real design ,construction
V.o: nods his head while typing
V.o: what university did u attend ?
Me:covenant UNi
V.o: have u served ?
Me:yes
V.o: where
Me : Elizade nig....
V.o: who is sponsoring u ?
Me; my parents
V.o: what does your father do ?
Me: he is a director....,,
V.o: where ?
Me; ondo state
V.o : slides a piece of paper across ; pick up ur visa at this location on Wednesday
Things to note
1) be well prepared ( read ppls interview experiences in ur field of interest)
2) keep ur answers short and precise ,as necessary
3) be consistent , a question can be asked in two different ways
4) don't be a yes man; say no if u don't agree with the v.o's leading question
5) know evy piece of info on ur ds-160 and stick to it
6) Keep eye contact and make sure u r audible
7) if u r craming anything make sure u r flexible with it
sould d v.o cut u short ; stop talking.

JabinodelaRatta:
thanks Amecanada...canafrica...lolzz

jenns:


#Congrat bro.... With GOD all things are possible.

layo23:
Pls how will I go about it cz have alrdy submitted my ds160 .Pls can u add me on bbm if u don't mind pls 2B2EB19E

I got my american student visa to study aerospace engineering at the lagos embassy , this is my experience ;
Things I Did
I prepared well ; read several interview experiences
I prayed
I arranged all my original documents in a way I found covinient
I got to the embassy early
The interview went this way
V.o: Damilola Isaac right ?
Me: yes
V.o: university of Texas at Atlington
Me: yes
V.o: when did u finish secondary school
Me:2008
V.o: why texas
Me : research blah blah blah
V.o: how many schs did u apply to
Me:three
V.o: which
Me: purdue, old dominion and texas
V.o : why not any of those other two
Me: old dominion was more like a backup ....
V.o: (cuts me short)so u prefer Texas? Y?
Me: the school pays particular attention to research
V.o: (nods his head , continues typing ) so what is it about research?
Me: as a young child I was fascinated by air planes I later went to study mech engr then I found out that I liked d design blah blah
V.o: experimental design
Me: (deemed my eyes cos I dint hear wat he sed)
V.o; rephrases
Me; real design ,construction
V.o: nods his head while typing
V.o: what university did u attend ?
Me:covenant UNi
V.o: have u served ?
Me:yes
V.o: where
Me : Elizade nig....
V.o: who is sponsoring u ?
Me; my parents
V.o: what does your father do ?
Me: he is a director....,,
V.o: where ?
Me; ondo state
V.o : slides a piece of paper across ; pick up ur visa at this location on Wednesday
Things to note
1) be well prepared ( read ppls interview experiences in ur field of interest)
2) keep ur answers short and precise ,as necessary
3) be consistent , a question can be asked in two different ways
4) don't be a yes man; say no if u don't agree with the v.o's leading question
5) know evy piece of info on ur ds-160 and stick to it
6) Keep eye contact and make sure u r audible
7) if u r craming anything make sure u r flexible with it
sould d v.o cut u short ; stop talking.

coobboy:

sa wale thanks oh
na u remain oh n my sis lol....... den return am cos her ds160 no correspond with the one for appointment page

coobboy:
0My appointment today was scheduled for 9:30, left home around 6:30 got to the embassy 8oclock, due to the horrendous hold up on the island.... When we got to the embassy, we had to take a new passport photograph, cos ours was old.
Fastforward, waiting for our appointment time to be called sheesh.... We then started checking out our ds-160, mine correlated with my appointment printout, but my sister's didn't, so she was sent back not to enter, she was adviced to book another appointment, which she has done( so y'all should make sure your ds-160 confirmation page should correlate with your appointment page, or else you would be sent back home) I then went in alone.
So whilst waiting in the waiting room to the embassy. Before it got to my turn , it took like an hour or 2..... The embassy was filled up so we had to wait, to make everywhere cleared up.
Inside we were asked to remove our belts and any metallic object, dontcarry anymetallic object when going for an interview: my comb was confiscated, whilst checking in. In the embassy room I had to wait in line for so long before I could get my biometric done, finally my number popped up, while thumbprinting I was looking around to sit up front checking out for available seats, looking left and right, the nigerian woman was like this one ur looking side to side hope no problem, better face me, then you'll face them later, told her I was nervous.
Sat down and waited for my number A335 waited for so long..... One black young girl was just denying irrespective of how u answer your question and all chai see gbege, I was no praying not to go to her her window oh. Finally my name popped up (surprised my name came up before people that came in 8:30am (numbers from 24x... The lords doing ), over confindence dey worry me after I don cram finish.... As I reach. Forget everything wey I Cram

ME: hey, how you doing
VO: I'm good, how are you?
ME: I'm alright
VO:can I see your I-20?
VO: why did you choose troy university
ME: (things started to get back to me) first all, troy university is a prestigious university......,also it was one of the places I visited in the US and also got a chance to speak to prof eric watson(na big lie) he is into a research program, for OLED in gps and other computerized device. (The oga no let me finish)
VO: what course
ME: computer and information sciences( the guy dey find fault, think say I go just talk computer science cos that's the real major..... Make sure u say and fill what was written on your I-20)
VO: how many schools did you apply to?
ME: I appliedd to 3 schools in the US, 1 in canada,1 in nigeria ( lie lie) Colliin college, southwest minnesota state university, troy university, prince edward island university in canada (saw it online few minutes back), university of lagos.
VO: I see you are in yabatech
ME: yes I finished my OND in yabatech last month, which I did computer engineering(lie, I justdey second semeser ND2 oh).
VO: what is OND?
ME: ordinary national Diploma
VO: when did you finish secondary school?
ME: 2011
VO: did take the SAT?
ME: yes I did
VO: who would sponsor you?
ME: my dad
VO: what does he do?
ME: he is an essstach....an estate consultant, he is the CEO of ............ Buys and sells..( Cuts me off)
VO: when did you travel to the US?
ME: last month november9 with my family and also last year october15
VO: alright
TAKE YOUR I-20 COS YOU WOuLD BE needing it...... I have approved your visa, you will receive it on monday blah blah, can't remember again( caught up with shayo).
ME: when would I receive my passport?
VO: on monday certainly
OMO as dem gimme paper I show them for back say omo me don collect visha oh.... As I commot look back saying their mama. Felt normal
One boy almost destroy the door coshe had his visa. Lol
As I saw my pop c I just gave him thumbs up.
No documents was asked for!!!!
HINTS
1. Always jesticulate small small( although mine was like an omo ita own oh)
2. Don't rest on the counter seems rude
All these sir, ma oyinbo no fancy am, I no call the guy sir upon him bald head.
3. Look directly in his eye
4. Talk loudly so he can hear, when you don't hear him ask him to repeat or say uhn
5. Don't bring any out document when not asked to,and don't divert the question
6. Dressing matters a lot( girl wore jumpsuit and house clothings and all she looked ratchet you know, upon answering all the question correctly she was denied) dressed like say ko ri'n kan je

Kudos to all that are yet to get theirs oh may God see you through and always have faith, have it in mind ur not going to collect a visa but permission to travel. Walspring that put me althrough oshey, zeezahbee try too by introducing me troy, mrroyce, graviton2,stevecrun...and all other transcripts I read that was helpful, eshey oh. And mind, I read from part 1 to 4 oh last year e no easy.

JabinodelaRatta:

One thing I noticed during my interview was that even before I was called up by the VO, the decision had already been made, that is my visa had been granted. This gives credence to what MsNas talked about. That the US embassy carries out a kind of preliminary review on all applicants using the Ds-160 form and Sevis information provided by the intended school of the applicant. How do I know? When I was telling the VO about the funding I received from the school, she looked at her screen and quoted the exact amount of my annual stipends even when she did not ask for my letter of acceptance where the amount was quoted and I didn’t submit it to her. I was shocked!! Note that this amount wasn’t stated in my I-20, it was just the total amount of funding provided by my school that was stated in the I-20.
Another thing I noticed was that she wasn’t really interested in what I had to say because she was talking to the security while I was responding to her questions and also she never allowed me to complete my statements.

MsNas:


Congrats bro. Welcome to the Land of the free. As per what I said, my roomate, who is a GA with the International Students Office was the one that gave the the gist. She even told me that the schools knows who will get visas and who will never get it and those who just needs to convince the VO to give them the visa.

Why I'm saying this is so prospective applicants can put in the utmost best into their applications. She gave me example of a Nigerian guy who's SOP has a ton of grammatical errors!! He even swapped using he for female and she for male Such was the error. Yet this person claimed he was coming in for graduate studies and had nailed a 97 in TOEFL. How manage? She said the International Students Coordinator just pointed out the errors in the SOP before uploading into the SEVIS website and told her categorically that[b]"This guy can never get a visa"[/b]

Your visa decision starts from the moment you put in the application for admission. Don't do standardized tests for embassy's sake. The VO will know you never used the test in securing the admission, cos it won't be among the documents the school uploaded unto the SEVIS website. Be consistent, any information you use in securing the admission should barely change from the one used for visa interview. I don't know it all. Just chipping in my bit.

Once again, Congrats JabinodelaRatta. You deserved it, so do shakara today

repsin:
For guys that wants to fly Qatar, they almost have cheap fares on weekends.

MsNas:


Congrats bro. Welcome to the Land of the free. As per what I said, my roomate, who is a GA with the International Students Office was the one that gave the the gist. She even told me that the schools knows who will get visas and who will never get it and those who just needs to convince the VO to give them the visa.

Why I'm saying this is so prospective applicants can put in the utmost best into their applications. She gave me example of a Nigerian guy who's SOP has a ton of grammatical errors!! He even swapped using he for female and she for male Such was the error. Yet this person claimed he was coming in for graduate studies and had nailed a 97 in TOEFL. How manage? She said the International Students Coordinator just pointed out the errors in the SOP before uploading into the SEVIS website and told her categorically that "This guy can never get a visa"

Your visa decision starts from the moment you put in the application for admission. Don't do standardized tests for embassy's sake. The VO will know you never used the test in securing the admission, cos it won't be among the documents the school uploaded unto the SEVIS website. Be consistent, any information you use in securing the admission should barely change from the one used for visa interview. I don't know it all. Just chipping in my bit.

Once again, Congrats JabinodelaRatta. You deserved it, so do shakara today

kpolli:


I had a feeling about this when I was in school, the way ISO liked reporting to SEVIS was too much

MsNas:

Na so o. They report every tiny thing to SEVIS. Lmao. They called me one day say dem go report me to SEVIS cos I no do vaccination. Shoo? I go do am outside sharp sharp cos they were doing MMR for $70 while health dept was doing it for $9. Awon ole.

niyimeg:
please how much balance does the bank statement i want to use to apply for the visa has to show and can a family friend be my sponsor with no common surname?

Faraidi:
cancel it and do it yourself.