worldwide02:
kudos to gurus in the house keep doing the good work.
I have been trying to create account for my USA Msc application but it keep displaying > the password does not march.
this is the format>
Passwords must be between 8-30 characters, contain at least 1 uppercase letter (A-Z), 1 lowercase letter (a-z), 1 number (0-9), and 1 of the following special characters: !@#$%^&*()_+|~-=\`{}[]:";<>?,./ Spaces are not allowed.
please have anyone experience that? and how do i solve the problem.

Smh..type the same password in notepad or notes, copy and paste it in the two spaces

Gunnerson:
I should use this opportunity to congratulate the lucky pundits in the house that have been offered admission. I’ve been on this platform for a while noticing things as usual. I’m indeed happy because the mission of this platform is being fulfilled. I’m pretty sure potential grad students are seriously looking forward to hearing ‘welcome to America’ but these are the few points you should be aware of before leaving Nigeria. My first question is this, are you sure you really want to accept this admission offer? Oh! You’re surprised right? I’ll explain elaborately on this based on my experience. This time last year, I got a plethora of admission offers that I became bemused on the one to accept, and the ones to let go. I got an undergraduate degree in industrial chemistry from the university of Lagos, but I have never for once cherished what I studied. Throughout my university days, I never gained anything, I was never serious because I hated the smell of chemicals which emanated from the chemistry lab. I’ve always wished I studied chemical engineering. Upon graduation, I said to myself this is the best time to fulfill your chemical engineering dream. The truth is if I had known, I would have applied for an MS in chemical engineering, but because I wasn’t advised and based on ‘do it all by yourself’ phenomenon, I fell into a trap, and it took various deliberations before I was able to get out of the trap I got myself into. I knew I wasn’t going to get into top schools that offer PhD in chemical engineering because of my industrial chemistry background. I applied into 6 or 8 schools (not too sure), I applied for PhD in chemical engineering in three low ranked schools(with research areas that I don’t even like or have a fundamental knowledge of), I was eager to leave this country because I felt this country doesn’t have anything good for the youths. My first admission offer (PhD Chemistry) was from Michigan Technological University with a fully funded, amazing stipend package. I was like ‘wawuu’ I saluted myself, and said to myself, ‘Tobi, welcome to America’ I didn’t even wait for the second offer before I grabbed the first one and accepted it. Seriously, I made the biggest mistakes of my life by accepting that offer because I didn’t do enough research before; (I) showing interest in PhD, because research isn’t my thing, I’m always and will forever be in love with calculations, (II) applying into Michigan Tech, because the research areas are not what I consider funny. Not that I don’t like the research areas, I HATE the research areas. Plus, Michigan is a cold state, I went during summer, but the weather was unbearable for me, it was extremely cold and I’m allergic to cold. There was a day I was coming from school, I cried and said to myself, ‘Tobi, who sent you here! You want to come and die in America right?’ Plus, Michigan is more of a white man state, I was the only black in my department. Michigan is one of the coldest states in US, and that would have been a capital NO for me if I had done my research before leaving Nigeria. Also, I loathe trying new species of food. I’m a typical Ekiti man who’s used to our cultural foods, but it was difficult in Michigan because I couldn’t find any Nigerian store. I had no choice but to result into consuming biscuits, burger and chips for three weeks. There was a day I instructed one of my friends in Atlanta, Georgia to buy our normal foodstuffs in Nigeria for me in Atlanta, because there are quite good African stores in Atlanta that sell Nigerian foodstuffs. By the time I calculated the cost of shipping the foodstuffs to Michigan, I lost interest.
If you’ve made up your mind to leave Nigeria, please and please consider the following piece of advice;
(I) Do a thorough research on the school you’re going to, the state, and means of transportation. I faced a lot of challenges transporting myself because MTU is located in a small town. There was no train(I think train is the cheapest means of transportation in US), no BRT bus. I was left with two options, it’s either I board a taxi(very expensive) or I trek to school. My apartment was far from school, and what I did most was to trek.
(II) Please ask yourself this genuine question, why am I leaving for US? Are you interested in going to US because you’re tired of being jobless or underemployed in Nigeria? Are you going to US because you want to get a green card? Are you going to US because you have flair for international education, and research? Are you going to US because you just want to leave this country? Let me answer the questions one after the other. If the reason is because you’re underemployed or jobless, have you tried being self employed? https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/women-enterpreneurs/affiong-williams-makes-forbes-africa-s-billionaires-list/155376.html Did you know you can get grants to finance your unprecedented ideas? I’m very sure most people know Iroko TV, the CEO got grants to finance his idea and he’s a lionized young billionaire in Nigeria. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/b02cab5e-c378-11e5-b3b1-7b2481276e45 if you’re not called to be self employed, please and please, don’t go there because many are called but few are chosen. On a more serious note, what attracted me to US was the amazing stipends grad students get, but I was wrong when I got there. When I got my I-20, I was uncontrollably happy when I found out that I would be earning close to 500K naira per month after being fully funded. I was like I will have enough savings at the end of the month. Unbeknownst to me, US isn’t Ojuelegba where you can survive on 50K per month. I was staying in a one room apartment (three persons share one bathroom. Bathroom is also known as toilet in US.) and after calculating the yearly rent, I would be paying close to 2 million naira every year in what we call face me and face you apartment in Nigeria. That’s not all, I was also responsible for my health insurance, and other payments that would be made known to you when you get to the school. I realized the pay wasn’t what I anticipated. What’s left was passion, which I never had for the course I was given and the area of research that was available. I give crocodile smile whenever people tell me that they would work their asses off by combining multiple jobs in US. The truth is as a GA or RA, you will never have quality time for yourself coupled with the fact that you have projects you’ll be constantly working on. Disregard any of such information that tells you that as a grad students, you’ll have time for yourself. Especially students with science background (Eyin omo science student) be prepared to spend most of your day in the lab. If the pay is the reason why you’re going to US, please disabuse yourself from such fallacy. If you belong to the second category of people going to US because of green card, please think twice before leaving Nigeria. My first question is, are you ready to deny yourself of true love by marrying a citizen because you want to become a denizen? The bitter truth is not everybody would get citizenship through the means of securing a job upon graduation is US. Do you know how many US citizens are unemployed? The ones amongst us that might be lucky to get a good job in US upon graduation are the ones in top ranked schools. If you’re eyeing an unranked or low ranked school, have you thought of what would become of you upon graduation. Let me share a brief story of two persons with you. When I got to Houghton, Michigan, the only good experience I had was to meet some folks that graduated from Unilag. They told me the story of a Nigerian guy that concluded his PhD in MTU and returned to Nigeria to become a lecturer in Gombe State University. At first, I was like God forbid but on the long run, I saw it coming. I was lucky enough to meet the second guy, (this one is not them say) the guy got an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Unilag and proceeded to MTU for his PhD. He graduated the semester before I clocked in in MTU. We got talking and he said he had to settle for a post doctoral program when he couldn’t secure a job. As I’m talking to you, he’s a post doc student in the department of chemical engineering. My question to him is what next after post doc? Unto my next question, are you going to US because you have flair for research? The people that belong to this category are the ones that would survive the grad school heat in US. Please don’t hesitate to accept that admission offer if you belong to this category.
Conclusions:
(1) I would advise potential admission seekers to apply for an MS program instead of the over prophesied PhD program because you can still bear unforeseen circumstances for 18 months instead of 5 years.
(2) If you’re interested in getting a good job in US upon graduation, please and please target top ranked schools in your individual programs.
(3) If you’re interested in the green Pali, please don’t lead anybody on in Nigeria before leaving because I must confess to you, black Americans are the true definition of beauty. You’ll definitely find a partner in US, but don’t ever make it obvious that you’re interested in them because of your ulterior motive.
(4) If you’re interested in pursuing a PhD program, please be sure that you love research, be sure you’re in love with your area of research because PhD is over demanding. PhD would take everything called life away from you for five years. This is not to scare you. You can do it because many Nigerians that aren’t better than you have done it. But don’t deceive yourself.
(5) If you’re more concerned about being a billionaire, please neglect grad school, and invest in your idea for five years instead of spending it in grad school with nothing positive at the end but a degree.
(6) If you have a good job or earn well in Nigeria, please and please stick to your job, don’t resign o because there’s no assurance that you’ll get something close to that upon graduation.
(7) For those interested in international education, please be very passionate about it. The end result is good. Imagine a situation where Dr would be added to your name. Oh my! it’ll be so sweet being called Dr Tobi Crowns in future. But don’t ever let go of your dreams because of grad school.
Conclusion: grad school is only interested in passionate applicants. PhD program is very demanding and be ready to pay the price. A PhD program in ABC is more demanding than BS in Electrical electronics engineering because you won’t just learn the alphabetical order but you would learn why A is A and why X has to come before Y and why B is called B and why M is an inverted W. Be prepared! Be prepared!! Be prepared!!! Grad school is interesting, but demanding.
Ask yourself this question, ‘why am I leaving Nigeria’? Please be sincere with your response. God bless you.

Excerpt from a friend's experience

A smart man is one who learns from his mistakes, the wise one is the person who learns from the mistakes of others.

When we ask folks to sit down and take stock of why they are applying for educational programs in the US, they call us haters.

A lot of red herrings in Gunnerson’s post and some other things there are obviously right. My own take is how does someone “settle” for a post-doc? Have you seen the average salaries they earn? That is officially more than what President PMB and VP Osinbajo get in a year.

Then conversion of Naira to Dollar will only make sense if you earned your money in Naira and had to spend it in Dollars. How can someone who earns $2000 a month be angry that he spent $100 (5% of his earnings) on something because it is N36,000 in his head whereas maybe Nigerians buy same thing N30, 000. When the person who paid N30,000 for the said item earns N150,000 (20% of his income).

It is always right to compare your standard of living and ease of earning in the place where you pay N2M per year to the same one in Ojuelegba where you pay 500k.

And BTW, 1 Bedroom apartment where 3 people share one bathroom? Which Tenant Manager allowed you guys stay that way? Traditionally 1Bed rooms are more expensive than 2 and 3 bed rooms shared. If you wanted to be extra prudent you would have stayed in a 3bed room (that is where kitchen and bathrooms are shared) and paid 1/3rd of the price of a 1Bed room.

So you see, you were being hyperbolic just to pass your point. I can also poke holes in the big school talk because there are many people on here who did not go to MIT etc and are in very-well paying jobs but I get why you said it and I partially endorse that aspect of your post.

Understand that just like everything in life, the individuals play a huge role in their ultimate success over and above the school they attended, programs they opted for, luck or even class of degree. Everything should be viewed from the prism of context.

Gunnerson:
Excerpt from a friend's experience

I wish I can read that excerpt from a friend right now but not until weekend.

This is not bad in any way.
Also, it's not so attractive for proposing students.
But that fact remains that it worth pondering on and individual should pick his/ her own side.

It's an eye opener.
Weldone

I should use this opportunity to congratulate the lucky pundits in the house that have been offered admission. I’ve been on this platform for a while noticing things as usual. I’m indeed happy because the mission of this platform is being fulfilled. I’m pretty sure potential grad students are seriously looking forward to hearing ‘welcome to America’ but these are the few points you should be aware of before leaving Nigeria. My first question is this, are you sure you really want to accept this admission offer? Oh! You’re surprised right? I’ll explain elaborately on this based on my experience. This time last year, I got a plethora of admission offers that I became bemused on the one to accept, and the ones to let go. I got an undergraduate degree in industrial chemistry from the university of Lagos, but I have never for once cherished what I studied. Throughout my university days, I never gained anything, I was never serious because I hated the smell of chemicals which emanated from the chemistry lab. I’ve always wished I studied chemical engineering. Upon graduation, I said to myself this is the best time to fulfill your chemical engineering dream. The truth is if I had known, I would have applied for an MS in chemical engineering, but because I wasn’t advised and based on ‘do it all by yourself’ phenomenon, I fell into a trap, and it took various deliberations before I was able to get out of the trap I got myself into. I knew I wasn’t going to get into top schools that offer PhD in chemical engineering because of my industrial chemistry background. I applied into 6 or 8 schools (not too sure), I applied for PhD in chemical engineering in three low ranked schools(with research areas that I don’t even like or have a fundamental knowledge of), I was eager to leave this country because I felt this country doesn’t have anything good for the youths. My first admission offer (PhD Chemistry) was from Michigan Technological University with a fully funded, amazing stipend package. I was like ‘wawuu’ I saluted myself, and said to myself, ‘Tobi, welcome to America’ I didn’t even wait for the second offer before I grabbed the first one and accepted it. Seriously, I made the biggest mistakes of my life by accepting that offer because I didn’t do enough research before; (I) showing interest in PhD, because research isn’t my thing, I’m always and will forever be in love with calculations, (II) applying into Michigan Tech, because the research areas are not what I consider funny. Not that I don’t like the research areas, I HATE the research areas. Plus, Michigan is a cold state, I went during summer, but the weather was unbearable for me, it was extremely cold and I’m allergic to cold. There was a day I was coming from school, I cried and said to myself, ‘Tobi, who sent you here! You want to come and die in America right?’ Plus, Michigan is more of a white man state, I was the only black in my department. Michigan is one of the coldest states in US, and that would have been a capital NO for me if I had done my research before leaving Nigeria. Also, I loathe trying new species of food. I’m a typical Ekiti man who’s used to our cultural foods, but it was difficult in Michigan because I couldn’t find any Nigerian store. I had no choice but to result into consuming biscuits, burger and chips for three weeks. There was a day I instructed one of my friends in Atlanta, Georgia to buy our normal foodstuffs in Nigeria for me in Atlanta, because there are quite good African stores in Atlanta that sell Nigerian foodstuffs. By the time I calculated the cost of shipping the foodstuffs to Michigan, I lost interest.
If you’ve made up your mind to leave Nigeria, please and please consider the following piece of advice;
(I) Do a thorough research on the school you’re going to, the state, and means of transportation. I faced a lot of challenges transporting myself because MTU is located in a small town. There was no train(I think train is the cheapest means of transportation in US), no BRT bus. I was left with two options, it’s either I board a taxi(very expensive) or I trek to school. My apartment was far from school, and what I did most was to trek.
(II) Please ask yourself this genuine question, why am I leaving for US? Are you interested in going to US because you’re tired of being jobless or underemployed in Nigeria? Are you going to US because you want to get a green card? Are you going to US because you have flair for international education, and research? Are you going to US because you just want to leave this country? Let me answer the questions one after the other. If the reason is because you’re underemployed or jobless, have you tried being self employed? https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/women-enterpreneurs/affiong-williams-makes-forbes-africa-s-billionaires-list/155376.html Did you know you can get grants to finance your unprecedented ideas? I’m very sure most people know Iroko TV, the CEO got grants to finance his idea and he’s a lionized young billionaire in Nigeria. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/b02cab5e-c378-11e5-b3b1-7b2481276e45 if you’re not called to be self employed, please and please, don’t go there because many are called but few are chosen. On a more serious note, what attracted me to US was the amazing stipends grad students get, but I was wrong when I got there. When I got my I-20, I was uncontrollably happy when I found out that I would be earning close to 500K naira per month after being fully funded. I was like I will have enough savings at the end of the month. Unbeknownst to me, US isn’t Ojuelegba where you can survive on 50K per month. I was staying in a one room apartment (three persons share one bathroom. Bathroom is also known as toilet in US.) and after calculating the yearly rent, I would be paying close to 2 million naira every year in what we call face me and face you apartment in Nigeria. That’s not all, I was also responsible for my health insurance, and other payments that would be made known to you when you get to the school. I realized the pay wasn’t what I anticipated. What’s left was passion, which I never had for the course I was given and the area of research that was available. I give crocodile smile whenever people tell me that they would work their asses off by combining multiple jobs in US. The truth is as a GA or RA, you will never have quality time for yourself coupled with the fact that you have projects you’ll be constantly working on. Disregard any of such information that tells you that as a grad students, you’ll have time for yourself. Especially students with science background (Eyin omo science student) be prepared to spend most of your day in the lab. If the pay is the reason why you’re going to US, please disabuse yourself from such fallacy. If you belong to the second category of people going to US because of green card, please think twice before leaving Nigeria. My first question is, are you ready to deny yourself of true love by marrying a citizen because you want to become a denizen? The bitter truth is not everybody would get citizenship through the means of securing a job upon graduation is US. Do you know how many US citizens are unemployed? The ones amongst us that might be lucky to get a good job in US upon graduation are the ones in top ranked schools. If you’re eyeing an unranked or low ranked school, have you thought of what would become of you upon graduation. Let me share a brief story of two persons with you. When I got to Houghton, Michigan, the only good experience I had was to meet some folks that graduated from Unilag. They told me the story of a Nigerian guy that concluded his PhD in MTU and returned to Nigeria to become a lecturer in Gombe State University. At first, I was like God forbid but on the long run, I saw it coming. I was lucky enough to meet the second guy, (this one is not them say) the guy got an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Unilag and proceeded to MTU for his PhD. He graduated the semester before I clocked in in MTU. We got talking and he said he had to settle for a post doctoral program when he couldn’t secure a job. As I’m talking to you, he’s a post doc student in the department of chemical engineering. My question to him is what next after post doc? Unto my next question, are you going to US because you have flair for research? The people that belong to this category are the ones that would survive the grad school heat in US. Please don’t hesitate to accept that admission offer if you belong to this category.
Conclusions:
(1) I would advise potential admission seekers to apply for an MS program instead of the over prophesied PhD program because you can still bear unforeseen circumstances for 18 months instead of 5 years.
(2) If you’re interested in getting a good job in US upon graduation, please and please target top ranked schools in your individual programs.
(3) If you’re interested in the green Pali, please don’t lead anybody on in Nigeria before leaving because I must confess to you, black Americans are the true definition of beauty. You’ll definitely find a partner in US, but don’t ever make it obvious that you’re interested in them because of your ulterior motive.
(4) If you’re interested in pursuing a PhD program, please be sure that you love research, be sure you’re in love with your area of research because PhD is over demanding. PhD would take everything called life away from you for five years. This is not to scare you. You can do it because many Nigerians that aren’t better than you have done it. But don’t deceive yourself.
(5) If you’re more concerned about being a billionaire, please neglect grad school, and invest in your idea for five years instead of spending it in grad school with nothing positive at the end but a degree.
(6) If you have a good job or earn well in Nigeria, please and please stick to your job, don’t resign o because there’s no assurance that you’ll get something close to that upon graduation.
(7) For those interested in international education, please be very passionate about it. The end result is good. Imagine a situation where Dr would be added to your name. Oh my! it’ll be so sweet being called Dr Tobi Crowns in future. But don’t ever let go of your dreams because of grad school.
Conclusion: grad school is only interested in passionate applicants. PhD program is very demanding and be ready to pay the price. A PhD program in ABC is more demanding than BS in Electrical electronics engineering because you won’t just learn the alphabetical order but you would learn why A is A and why X has to come before Y and why B is called B and why M is an inverted W. Be prepared! Be prepared!! Be prepared!!! Grad school is interesting, but demanding.
Ask yourself this question, ‘why am I leaving Nigeria’? Please be sincere with your response. God bless you.

Excerpt from a friend's experience[/quote]

Scholastica16:
A lot of red herrings in Gunnerson’s post and some other things there are obviously right. My own take is how does someone “settle” for a post-doc? Have you seen the average salaries they earn? That is officially more than what President PMB and VP Osinbajo get in a year.

Then conversion of Naira to Dollar will only make sense if you earned your money in Naira and had to spend it in Dollars. How can someone who earns $2000 a month be angry that he spent $100 (5% of his earnings) on something because it is N36,000 in his head whereas maybe Nigerians buy same thing N30, 000. When the person who paid N30,000 for the said item earns N150,000 (20% of his income).

It is always right to compare your standard of living and ease of earning in the place where you pay N2M per year to the same one in Ojuelegba where you pay 500k.

And BTW, 1 Bedroom apartment where 3 people share one bathroom? Which Tenant Manager allowed you guys stay that way? Traditionally 1Bed rooms are more expensive than 2 and 3 bed rooms shared. If you wanted to be extra prudent you would have stayed in a 3bed room (that is where kitchen and bathrooms are shared) and paid 1/3rd of the price of a 1Bed room.

So you see, you were being hyperbolic just to pass your point. I can also poke holes in the big school talk because there are many people on here who did not go to MIT etc and are in very-well paying jobs but I get why you said it and I partially endorse that aspect of your post.

Understand that just like everything in life, the individuals play a huge role in their ultimate success over and above the school they attended, programs they opted for, luck or even class of degree. Everything should be viewed from the prism of context.

Postdocs don't earn much

biikeys:


Postdocs don't earn much

They earn 2 or 3 times more than PhDs.

Scholastica16:


They earn 2 or 3 times more than PhDs.

Where? in Nigeria?

Scholastica16:


They earn 2 or 3 times more than PhDs.

p

And they earn way more than professors in Nigeria. It’s better than nothing.

biikeys:


Where? in Nigeria?

At all na. In the USA.

Perotti:
p

And they earn way more than professors in Nigeria. It’s better than nothing.

That was my point. Some earn as much as $70k a year. Their average salary is $52k/year.

I have a brother who is currently working with diamond bank and wants to go for his masters in the US and his area of concentration is insurance and risk management please I need advice and affordable schools I already told to register for GRE and tofel

BabaOman:


So you want to abandon your full-time study that you got visa for right?

So you believe everybody that got visa through student package are really going to school?

Good Morning landers... Please i would like to know if it's possible to apply for a school and after getting i20 and travelling, ...if it's possible to do a transfer immediately on getting there, or if one would have to do a semester first before traveling...and how to go about it?

Gunnerson:
I should use this opportunity to congratulate the lucky pundits in the house that have been offered admission. I’ve been on this platform for a while noticing things as usual. I’m indeed happy because the mission of this platform is being fulfilled. I’m pretty sure potential grad students are seriously looking forward to hearing ‘welcome to America’ but these are the few points you should be aware of before leaving Nigeria. My first question is this, are you sure you really want to accept this admission offer? Oh! You’re surprised right? I’ll explain elaborately on this based on my experience. This time last year, I got a plethora of admission offers that I became bemused on the one to accept, and the ones to let go. I got an undergraduate degree in industrial chemistry from the university of Lagos, but I have never for once cherished what I studied. Throughout my university days, I never gained anything, I was never serious because I hated the smell of chemicals which emanated from the chemistry lab. I’ve always wished I studied chemical engineering. Upon graduation, I said to myself this is the best time to fulfill your chemical engineering dream. The truth is if I had known, I would have applied for an MS in chemical engineering, but because I wasn’t advised and based on ‘do it all by yourself’ phenomenon, I fell into a trap, and it took various deliberations before I was able to get out of the trap I got myself into. I knew I wasn’t going to get into top schools that offer PhD in chemical engineering because of my industrial chemistry background. I applied into 6 or 8 schools (not too sure), I applied for PhD in chemical engineering in three low ranked schools(with research areas that I don’t even like or have a fundamental knowledge of), I was eager to leave this country because I felt this country doesn’t have anything good for the youths. My first admission offer (PhD Chemistry) was from Michigan Technological University with a fully funded, amazing stipend package. I was like ‘wawuu’ I saluted myself, and said to myself, ‘Tobi, welcome to America’ I didn’t even wait for the second offer before I grabbed the first one and accepted it. Seriously, I made the biggest mistakes of my life by accepting that offer because I didn’t do enough research before; (I) showing interest in PhD, because research isn’t my thing, I’m always and will forever be in love with calculations, (II) applying into Michigan Tech, because the research areas are not what I consider funny. Not that I don’t like the research areas, I HATE the research areas. Plus, Michigan is a cold state, I went during summer, but the weather was unbearable for me, it was extremely cold and I’m allergic to cold. There was a day I was coming from school, I cried and said to myself, ‘Tobi, who sent you here! You want to come and die in America right?’ Plus, Michigan is more of a white man state, I was the only black in my department. Michigan is one of the coldest states in US, and that would have been a capital NO for me if I had done my research before leaving Nigeria. Also, I loathe trying new species of food. I’m a typical Ekiti man who’s used to our cultural foods, but it was difficult in Michigan because I couldn’t find any Nigerian store. I had no choice but to result into consuming biscuits, burger and chips for three weeks. There was a day I instructed one of my friends in Atlanta, Georgia to buy our normal foodstuffs in Nigeria for me in Atlanta, because there are quite good African stores in Atlanta that sell Nigerian foodstuffs. By the time I calculated the cost of shipping the foodstuffs to Michigan, I lost interest.
If you’ve made up your mind to leave Nigeria, please and please consider the following piece of advice;
(I) Do a thorough research on the school you’re going to, the state, and means of transportation. I faced a lot of challenges transporting myself because MTU is located in a small town. There was no train(I think train is the cheapest means of transportation in US), no BRT bus. I was left with two options, it’s either I board a taxi(very expensive) or I trek to school. My apartment was far from school, and what I did most was to trek.
(II) Please ask yourself this genuine question, why am I leaving for US? Are you interested in going to US because you’re tired of being jobless or underemployed in Nigeria? Are you going to US because you want to get a green card? Are you going to US because you have flair for international education, and research? Are you going to US because you just want to leave this country? Let me answer the questions one after the other. If the reason is because you’re underemployed or jobless, have you tried being self employed? https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/women-enterpreneurs/affiong-williams-makes-forbes-africa-s-billionaires-list/155376.html Did you know you can get grants to finance your unprecedented ideas? I’m very sure most people know Iroko TV, the CEO got grants to finance his idea and he’s a lionized young billionaire in Nigeria. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/b02cab5e-c378-11e5-b3b1-7b2481276e45 if you’re not called to be self employed, please and please, don’t go there because many are called but few are chosen. On a more serious note, what attracted me to US was the amazing stipends grad students get, but I was wrong when I got there. When I got my I-20, I was uncontrollably happy when I found out that I would be earning close to 500K naira per month after being fully funded. I was like I will have enough savings at the end of the month. Unbeknownst to me, US isn’t Ojuelegba where you can survive on 50K per month. I was staying in a one room apartment (three persons share one bathroom. Bathroom is also known as toilet in US.) and after calculating the yearly rent, I would be paying close to 2 million naira every year in what we call face me and face you apartment in Nigeria. That’s not all, I was also responsible for my health insurance, and other payments that would be made known to you when you get to the school. I realized the pay wasn’t what I anticipated. What’s left was passion, which I never had for the course I was given and the area of research that was available. I give crocodile smile whenever people tell me that they would work their asses off by combining multiple jobs in US. The truth is as a GA or RA, you will never have quality time for yourself coupled with the fact that you have projects you’ll be constantly working on. Disregard any of such information that tells you that as a grad students, you’ll have time for yourself. Especially students with science background (Eyin omo science student) be prepared to spend most of your day in the lab. If the pay is the reason why you’re going to US, please disabuse yourself from such fallacy. If you belong to the second category of people going to US because of green card, please think twice before leaving Nigeria. My first question is, are you ready to deny yourself of true love by marrying a citizen because you want to become a denizen? The bitter truth is not everybody would get citizenship through the means of securing a job upon graduation is US. Do you know how many US citizens are unemployed? The ones amongst us that might be lucky to get a good job in US upon graduation are the ones in top ranked schools. If you’re eyeing an unranked or low ranked school, have you thought of what would become of you upon graduation. Let me share a brief story of two persons with you. When I got to Houghton, Michigan, the only good experience I had was to meet some folks that graduated from Unilag. They told me the story of a Nigerian guy that concluded his PhD in MTU and returned to Nigeria to become a lecturer in Gombe State University. At first, I was like God forbid but on the long run, I saw it coming. I was lucky enough to meet the second guy, (this one is not them say) the guy got an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Unilag and proceeded to MTU for his PhD. He graduated the semester before I clocked in in MTU. We got talking and he said he had to settle for a post doctoral program when he couldn’t secure a job. As I’m talking to you, he’s a post doc student in the department of chemical engineering. My question to him is what next after post doc? Unto my next question, are you going to US because you have flair for research? The people that belong to this category are the ones that would survive the grad school heat in US. Please don’t hesitate to accept that admission offer if you belong to this category.
Conclusions:
(1) I would advise potential admission seekers to apply for an MS program instead of the over prophesied PhD program because you can still bear unforeseen circumstances for 18 months instead of 5 years.
(2) If you’re interested in getting a good job in US upon graduation, please and please target top ranked schools in your individual programs.
(3) If you’re interested in the green Pali, please don’t lead anybody on in Nigeria before leaving because I must confess to you, black Americans are the true definition of beauty. You’ll definitely find a partner in US, but don’t ever make it obvious that you’re interested in them because of your ulterior motive.
(4) If you’re interested in pursuing a PhD program, please be sure that you love research, be sure you’re in love with your area of research because PhD is over demanding. PhD would take everything called life away from you for five years. This is not to scare you. You can do it because many Nigerians that aren’t better than you have done it. But don’t deceive yourself.
(5) If you’re more concerned about being a billionaire, please neglect grad school, and invest in your idea for five years instead of spending it in grad school with nothing positive at the end but a degree.
(6) If you have a good job or earn well in Nigeria, please and please stick to your job, don’t resign o because there’s no assurance that you’ll get something close to that upon graduation.
(7) For those interested in international education, please be very passionate about it. The end result is good. Imagine a situation where Dr would be added to your name. Oh my! it’ll be so sweet being called Dr Tobi Crowns in future. But don’t ever let go of your dreams because of grad school.
Conclusion: grad school is only interested in passionate applicants. PhD program is very demanding and be ready to pay the price. A PhD program in ABC is more demanding than BS in Electrical electronics engineering because you won’t just learn the alphabetical order but you would learn why A is A and why X has to come before Y and why B is called B and why M is an inverted W. Be prepared! Be prepared!! Be prepared!!! Grad school is interesting, but demanding.
Ask yourself this question, ‘why am I leaving Nigeria’? Please be sincere with your response. God bless you.

Excerpt from a friend's experience

Deep one. May God enrich your medula more and more



NAIRALAND POST OF THE YEAR

whatever you do try to avoid Salimae. It's quite easy to get but I think they have the highest rates and they dont even refinance.
I refinanced to Laurel Road. I found them to be way cheaper than what I had before. my old loan was at the rate of 8.5% got it down to 6% now.

rate usually depends on your credit score, credit score of cosigner and the lender. Will also advise you chose the fixed interest rather than variable

elbeee:
Please who can shed some light on private student loans. I have a ready cosigner but im not sure of how it works in terns of repayment and interest rates. Also what companies offer the best rates.
Thanks

Just reading this in this thread. I must say it's the best transcript I have read ever! this is where preparation meets opportunity. This one no be luck. it is intentional preparation executed to perfection!!!!!!!!!! well done

lydia19:
Wao, u r really so prepared. Nobody will hear all these and not give u the white paper congrats
quote author=Messibliss207 post=63241245]Hello fam. You guys are the bomb. My visa was approved this morning 13th... Lagos.
I got into Lagos yesterday and lodged at New World hotel in Obalande. It's less than 10 minutes to the embassy. I was interviewed by the black woman in window 4. She was sharing blue paper like biscuit. She denied my friend who I went with. Here's my transcript

VO: (smiling back at me) good morning ma'am

ME: good morning ma

VO: pass your passport and i20. Where are you going to in the US

ME: i'm going to Ball State University in Muncie Indiana

Vo: what's your major

Me: Computer Information Systems

VO: what's your highest degree

ME: BA English Language

VO: why the change to Computer Information System

ME: I caught a passion for IT while in the uni. And as the media director in school I had a lot to do with the computer. Also Nigeria is transferring her business processes from manual to automated so acquiring technical skills will make me remain relevant in the Nigerian business world. I hope to build business modules and softwares that will revolutionize the Nigerian business world. (she was nodding at this point so i continued) I hope to run projects with organisations like Andela that are promoting ICT to women in developing countries like Nigeria to close the gender gap between the male and females in the ICT field in Nigeria. This is because according to the Nigerian National Bureau of statistics, the ratio of male to female in the ict field in Nigeria is 3:1 so I hope to work with these organizations to run projects that will close this gender gap. (at this point she was smiling widely)

VO: how did you hear about Ball State University

ME: the first time I heard about ball state uni was at an education seminar in port Harcourt in 2015. (she nods in agreement like say she follow me go) Then my uncle also recommended it

Vo: (cuts in) how did your uncle hear about this school

Me: he stays in Indiana though in forte Wayne but he told me the school is one of the best in Indiana. (she nods) (I continued) I also carried out a research about the school and the community where ball state is situated

Vo: whos paying

Me: my uncle. He's a Medical Consultant and the CEO of

VO: (cuts in) oh the same person that recommended the school (I said yes and continued spilling my uncle's profile) why is he paying instead of your parents

Me: (smiling widely) he's actually paying back. My parents trained him in medical school so he decided to train me as a way of giving back

Vo: (smiling and nodding) what area will you specialize in

Me: information security system. This is because of the high rate of cyber crime in Nigeria. Actually someone close to me lost a huge sum to cyber crime recently.

Vo: what are some of the courses you will be doing
Me: business application development, Info security system ,computer networking for business, database management system.

Vo: do you do c++ or is not part of it
Me: c++ is for computer science major. The difference is while computer science major is concerned with technology and it's improvement, computer Information systems is concerned with technology as a strategic tool that promotes business.

Vo: I can see you're already working in the IT field, did you get some certifications?

Me: yes ma'am. I did a short course on Data and statistical Analysis and also on computer networking, Cisco networking to be precise
She kindly puts my passport in the basket and brought out the white paper (she kept it far away and was busy giving people the blue paper).

Na so I take Waka today. Thanks to @drocks and @Jerrypeacelinks you guys are too much. Jerry may God give you an approval moro. You're a really nice person. Thanks everyone... You guys made this happen. Lemme go to Balogun market and start my winter shopping. �
All glory to God.. He's so faithful. When you do your part (preparation) God will do his (grace). Bless you all

Ijebuboy525:

So you believe everybody that got visa through student package are really going to school?

Good that you are telling us your intention

Scholastica16:


That was my point. Some earn as much as $70k a year. Their average salary is $52k/year.

You are right
Pay depends on the placement. Private companies pay more than than Universities. The recommended minimum Post doc payment from NIH for universities in 2017 is $47,484, While this will not make someone rich by any stretch of the imagination, it is enough to live comfortably.

Everything has to be put in perspective, the median US household income is $59,000, So most single Post doc will be making close to more than half of US families in a year. This is in addition to the fact that it is an apprenticeship like medical residents and the pay is comparable but without the $400,000 students loan burden. The pay after Post doc is close to six figures across the board and those in industries hardly ever make less than that.

If someone looking to make quick money and be extremely rich, it is better to start a company (be ready to work for 20h/day at the onset and you will probably still fail) or go to Wall Street.,, and PhD is not advisable. But for someone looking to live a comfortably and steady life, that seeks to have skills that are in demand and transferable the world over, then PhD is one of the best paths to toll.

Finally, It is important to remember where we are all coming from, it is easy to become un appreciative after getting to the US.

Hi people, I greet una.
I am new in the house and need your help and clarification.
1. Starting from now is there a time that is too early to schedule for interview for fall 2018?

2. I applied to just 1 school and was offered admission, is there a problem with this, do I have to lie to the Vo?
3. My uncle and my brother are my sponsors my uncle does not bear same last name as I, will this be a problem?

4.If one has been denied visa before in Abj can he go to Lagos in subsequent time and vice versa?

Time2Smile:


Finally, It is important to remember where we are all coming from, it is easy to become un appreciative after getting to the US.

Fact. That's just human nature, I suppose.

Lizzy55:
Hi people, I greet una.
I am new in the house and need your help and clarification.
1. Starting from now is there a time that is too early to schedule for interview for fall 2018?

2. I applied to just 1 school and was offered admission, is there a problem with this, do I have to lie to the Vo?
3. My uncle and my brother are my sponsors my uncle does not bear same last name as I, will this be a problem?

4.If one has been denied visa before in Abj can he go to Lagos in subsequent time and vice versa?

INTERESTED!

Lizzy55:
Hi people, I greet una.
I am new in the house and need your help and clarification.
1. Starting from now is there a time that is too early to schedule for interview for fall 2018?

2. I applied to just 1 school and was offered admission, is there a problem with this, do I have to lie to the Vo?
3. My uncle and my brother are my sponsors my uncle does not bear same last name as I, will this be a problem?

4.If one has been denied visa before in Abj can he go to Lagos in subsequent time and vice versa?

No
No
No
Yes

folmus:


Good that you are telling us your intention

I was only saying the reality which we both understand, and If saying it makes that my intention, i got nothing to argue about, just have it at the corner of your mind that ijebuboy said nothing but the truth,

davidlogan:
Good Morning landers... Please i would like to know if it's possible to apply for a school and after getting i20 and travelling, ...if it's possible to do a transfer immediately on getting there, or if one would have to do a semester first before traveling...and how to go about it?

Please

Great job guys.

I've been a silent follower but I've benefited immensely.

Please what do you think about my profile?
BSc Medical Biochemistry 3.71/5
Last 60 credit 3.34/4(Required)
GRE Q 156 V 152
Experience:Present- Own my Business
Previous- Sales Executive

Plan to apply for Business Analytics, Fall 2018.
Please suggestions and constructive criticisms are welcome.

davidlogan:
Good Morning landers... Please i would like to know if it's possible to apply for a school and after getting i20 and travelling, ...if it's possible to do a transfer immediately on getting there, or if one would have to do a semester first before traveling...and how to go about it?

Pls kindly reframe the question ,I don't think this was clear enough to understand...

Adeish:



Pls kindly reframe the question ,I don't think this was clear enough to understand...

Thanks

I mean on arrivals to the school I applied to in the U.S. will I be able to transfer from the school to a different cheaper school? Or will I have to do a semester before transferring...

davidlogan:
Good Morning landers... Please i would like to know if it's possible to apply for a school and after getting i20 and travelling, ...if it's possible to do a transfer immediately on getting there, or if one would have to do a semester first before traveling...and how to go about it?

Yes you can, but it depends on the transfer policy of the school, you might be required to do a semester there before they approve your transfer while some will allow you to transfer almost immediately. I am assuming your end goal is a community college because I don't know why you can not just use the i20 of the school you want to transfer to, to save you some stress. Do your research well so you don't get stuck.