I have no idea where you're getting your information from. And I hope you've gotten your visa and now in the US. If not, I would like you to try what you're suggesting here for yourself. If your top 15 MBAs are offered within the Ivy League schools, which the VO themselves feel jealous and shocked when they see a Nigerian student admitted there, then this is cool. If the top 15 MBAs are not from the Ivy League, well, you know it!

bracelum:


An MBA admit from a top 15 US b-school will HARDLY get visa rejection! And yes, a top 15 MBA program costs $70K-$80K per year for tuition.

The biggest problems for such students is to get the admit (Stanford GSB has ~6-8% admission rate) and to have the RIGHT profiles to land the juicy consulting, investment banking and tech jobs. Visa is the least problematic thing for those students.

Dude, I don hear you!

bracelum:


You are talking based on assumptions. Top 15 BSchools are not normal graduate schools - they run like a well-oiled machine.

Once you get admitted, they offer EVERY INTERESTED STUDENT financial assistance through scholarships, fellowships and loans. They don't leave you hanging like graduate schools do. As long as you present an i20 with scholarship, fellowship or loan from a top 15 bschool, your visa is almost sure!

Visa is not an issue for those students at all... Not at all!

fairheart:
I have no idea where you're getting your information from. And I hope you've gotten your visa and now in the US. If not, I would like you to try what you're suggesting here for yourself. If your top 15 MBAs are offered within the Ivy League schools, which the VO themselves feel jealous and shocked when they see a Nigerian student admitted there, then this is cool. If the top 15 MBAs are not from the Ivy League, well, you know it!

As I said, you are talking based on assumptions.

Top Bschools are very efficiently run. They have structures in place to help students go through the visa process - a lot of them eve offer visa counseling sessions.

As long as you get admitted, your visa is 95% sure!

You have responsibility to educate me, so that I'll no longer see things and talk from assumed perspective. First, give me a list of top 15 MBAs in the US. You don't have to list all of them; just give 5 schools. I am interested in this! And do explain how they help students go through the visa process, so that visas are issued, because you'll be the first to say that since I have been on this thread. To have known they offer visa counselling sessions, you must have gone through the process or seen someone who did.

If you don't know, almost every university in the US offers visa counselling (a sort of ideas on how to tackle the interview (And let me tell you, it hardly works (A young man reach out to me last month, and with all the visa counselling from the school, he was still denied)--except you did not really get in touch with the international students office of your school.

bracelum:


As I said, you are talking based on assumptions.

Top Bschools are very efficiently run. They have structures in place to help students go through the visa process - a lot of them eve offer visa counseling sessions.

As long as you get admitted, your visa is 95% sure!

bracelum:


As I said, you are talking based on assumptions.

Top Bschools are very efficiently run. They have structures in place to help students go through the visa process - a lot of them eve offer visa counseling sessions.

As long as you get admitted, your visa is 95% sure!

@Bracelum, is this only applicable to top biz schools?

Leone26:


@Scot200, Your GPA and GRE are very good. However PhD applications are "very" competitive in top programs. Please remember that you're competing with highly determined Indians here...so mix your school selections better. Maybe look towards 2 or more historically black universities too.

Also, publications and research experience are very vital selection criteria in PhD applications, so did you include any of these?

As someone just advised you, try to reach out to program coordinators and Profs before applying. Profs may not reply immediately, but program coords always do.

It might be late to get funding (full or partial) now, but check out state universities especially in Tennessee.

Cheers mate!

Thanks for the response, I am a fresh graduate no publications or research experience. I am checking Tennessee already

aig01:


@Bracelum, is this only applicable to top biz schools?

Yes - to the best of my knowledge. Getting a visa for a top bschool is not a problem at all. The major problem is getting the admit (you will write tons of essays and do some insane interviews) and having the RIGHT profile to get those business jobs.

@fairheart, I will reply you in a few minutes

bracelum:


Yes - to the best of my knowledge. Getting a visa for a top bschool is not a problem at all. The major problem is getting the admit (you will write tons of essays and do some insane interviews) and having the RIGHT profile to get those business jobs.

@fairheart, I will reply you in a few minutes

What about top masters program?

Yes

Milkshakes01:
Does having an admission from an Ivy League University without funding look good to the VO?

aig01:


What about top masters program?

I don't really know - that was why I said to the best of my knowledge. If you notice, I don't jump into comments I have no knowledge about because I don't want to mislead anyone. Other well-informed people in the house can throw more light on that.

fairheart:
You have responsibility to educate me, so that I'll no longer see things and talk from assumed perspective. First, give me a list of top 15 MBAs in the US. You don't have to list all of them; just give 5 schools. I am interested in this! And do explain how they help students go through the visa process, so that visas are issued, because you'll be the first to say that since I have been on this thread. To have known they offer visa counselling sessions, you must have gone through the process or seen someone who did.

If you don't know, almost every university in the US offers visa counselling (a sort of ideas on how to tackle the interview (And let me tell you, it hardly works (A young man reach out to me last month, and with all the visa counselling from the school, he was still denied)--except you did not really get in touch with the international students office of your school.

First, I will appreciate you don't quote me multiple times for one comment I make. It doesn't look professional and it gives me a hard time collecting all the facts to give you an informed response. So, one quote per comment makes a lot of sense. Thanks for understanding!

So, I said you were making bschool assumptions based on the general grad school experience but those experiences and situations are different. That is why I try as much as I can to quench wrong comments here so that we don't end up giving wrong notions.

Yes, top bschools run like a well-oiled machine and they assist their students much more than regular graduate schools do (that is one reason they are more expensive). Of course! all graduate schools give their students assistance through the international office but top bschools give a more personal service through their offices as well. And guess what, a bschool student can use the service offered by BOTH the bshool and the general international office of the university. However, they most times do not need those offered by the general university because they have a better and more personalized service from their bschools + the bschool experience is not offered to nonbschool students.

Are these services effective? Yes they are. I know a couple of Nigerians (about 10 - 12) within the past three years that had some issues with the visa process (not visa denial), but they worked with their offices to sort the issue. I can't go into details of the issues here but trust me, visa is not a problem for those folks because you have to be a geniune student to even get admitted.

Another thing those bschools have is a solid career center independent of the school's career center. These schools organize their own career events, bring tons of companies to recruit their students and offer personalized career services to their students. These students can still enjoy the general service offered by their universities but they often do not because the business school provisions are far better.

In Wharton for instance, newly admitted students are asked to submit a draft of their resumes before they even resume on campus. They are assigned personal career coaches to work on their resumes and get a very sound draft before recruiting commences in the fall. UPenn itself has a great career center but Wharton has an even better career center that offers more personalized services to students. Same applies for the top 15 bschools.

You mentioned assistantships and I treated it earlier but it appears you missed it. Elite bschool students do not seek for assistantships especially in their first year. These folks are the most career-focused 20-29 year olds you can see on the planet. They generally spend their first years doing class work and networking. A lot of them spend ~ $10K in their first year networking their way to Wall Street. So, they generally do not have the time for assistantships. So, assistantships are generally ruled out for those students.

Now, I'm not saying this for you to open an application portal and start applying to a bschool. Before you apply to a bschool, two things must click - first, have the right profile (not for admission but for jobs) and second, have the internal drive. That internal drive does not come from a nairaland conversation. It comes from within and unless those two things click, you might end up wasting $200K on a bschool degree.

Most people that couldn't utilize their bschool experiences lack one or both qualities.

fairheart:
I have no idea where you're getting your information from. And I hope you've gotten your visa and now in the US. If not, I would like you to try what you're suggesting here for yourself. If your top 15 MBAs are offered within the Ivy League schools, which the VO themselves feel jealous and shocked when they see a Nigerian student admitted there, then this is cool. If the top 15 MBAs are not from the Ivy League, well, you know it!

I don't know about graduate for these big schools but for the undergraduate degree. When you're applying you're going to indicate whether you need a "need-based" Scholarship or not.

If you indicate that you need a "need-based" Scholarship and you're admitted. They'd meet 100% of your financial needs and it will reflect in your I-20

Good evening, please I got two text messages and two email messages from the embassy that my Visa interview has been rescheduled to 5th of April but I was meant to be interviewed on 9th April

Secondly my sponsor is in USA and she refused to give me her statement of account reason dat the embassy can check it through the state security service

Please any say in this

molosfaith86:
Good evening, please I got two text messages and two email messages from the embassy that my Visa interview has been rescheduled to 5th of April but I was meant to be interviewed on 9th April

Secondly my sponsor is in USA and she refused to give me her statement of account reason dat the embassy can check it through the state security service

Please any say in this

Well she doesnt want to give you and just stating a reason. .... that all . But i understand. Financial details can be sensitive info to share out and can show you either have too much or too little .

LagosismyHome:


Well she doesnt want to give you and just stating a reason. .... that all

Is dat acceptable?
Wat of the change of date?

fcnaxo:
Na The school have me options I chose DHL

Wow...I used $102 to request for I-20 via UPS.
Which University is that?

molosfaith86:

Is dat acceptable?
Wat of the change of date?

Change of date ... i am not sure hence i didnt comment. There should be a number you can call to verify

fairheart:
You have responsibility to educate me, so that I'll no longer see things and talk from assumed perspective. First, give me a list of top 15 MBAs in the US. You don't have to list all of them; just give 5 schools. I am interested in this! And do explain how they help students go through the visa process, so that visas are issued, because you'll be the first to say that since I have been on this thread. To have known they offer visa counselling sessions, you must have gone through the process or seen someone who did.

If you don't know, almost every university in the US offers visa counselling (a sort of ideas on how to tackle the interview (And let me tell you, it hardly works (A young man reach out to me last month, and with all the visa counselling from the school, he was still denied)--except you did not really get in touch with the international students office of your school.

top mba rankings

Scott200:


Thanks for the response, I am a fresh graduate no publications or research experience. I am checking Tennessee already

Try MSc programs. PhD is only something u apply for AFTER a Prof. gives u a PERSONAL green light. Except u hv something special.

I use the word personal because some greenlights are generic.

U r probably competing with people who have one or more MSc, n u don't also have publications which would have given u a front seat.

@fairheart

And I forgot that you asked for MBA rankings - that is why I said you shouldn't give multiple mentions for one comment I made.

The most reliable rankings for US schools is the USNews MBA ranking (link attached).

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/mba-rankings

LagosismyHome:


Well she doesnt want to give you and just stating a reason. .... that all . But i understand. Financial details can be sensitive info to share out and can show you either have too much or too little .

@molosfaith86

Please, if u r not ready for d interview, don't rush it.

bracelum:
@fairheart

And I forgot that you asked for MBA rankings - that is why I said you shouldn't give multiple mentions for one comment I made.

The most reliable rankings for US schools is the USNews MBA ranking (link attached).

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/mba-rankings

Something are not how it appears to be oooo. I personally have 2 friends, although yes it not recent and was in my time. Wharton MBA both girls were denied visa. Yes Wharton intervene and they were given on second interview and resumed slightly late..... but the fact still remains both girl have seperate interviews for wharton and were denied in Lagos.. .

LagosismyHome:


Something are not how it appears to be oooo. I personally have 2 friends, although yes it not recent and was in my time. Wharton MBA both girls were denied visa. Yes Wharton intervene and they were given on second interview and resumed slightly late..... but the fact still remains both girl have seperate interviews for wharton and were denied in Lagos.. .

Yes, I agree with you on that and I'm glad you also said that Wharton intervened for them to get their visas. I also know of someone (I don't know if it is the same person) that had a similar problem and shared it on GMATclub. Wharton also intervened and the person got the visa. For a bschool to intervene and call some shots for someone to get a visa shows how far they can go to sort visa issues for students.

A random graduate school will keep you hanging...

So, we are still saying the same thing - that getting visas isn't a problem for such students. In worse case scenarios, the school intervenes but this happens in very rare cases. If you do a deep study of those scenarios, it might be that they refused to use state their loans on their i20s or probably because they just wanted to do things on their own.

In summary, a student at such schools shouldn't be worried about getting the visas.

LagosismyHome:


Something are not how it appears to be oooo. I personally have 2 friends, although yes it not recent and was in my time. Wharton MBA both girls were denied visa. Yes Wharton intervene and they were given on second interview and resumed slightly late..... but the fact still remains both girl have seperate interviews for wharton and were denied in Lagos.. .

I was expecting you to give me something I have never seen before. Take care of yourself.

bracelum:


First, I will appreciate you don't quote me multiple times for one comment I make. It doesn't look professional and it gives me a hard time collecting all the facts to give you an informed response. So, one quote per comment makes a lot of sense. Thanks for understanding!

So, I said you were making bschool assumptions based on the general grad school experience but those experiences and situations are different. That is why I try as much as I can to quench wrong comments here so that we don't end up giving wrong notions.

Yes, top bschools run like a well-oiled machine and they assist their students much more than regular graduate schools do (that is one reason they are more expensive). Of course! all graduate schools give their students assistance through the international office but top bschools give a more personal service through their offices as well. And guess what, a bschool student can use the service offered by BOTH the bshool and the general international office of the university. However, they most times do not need those offered by the general university because they have a better and more personalized service from their bschools + the bschool experience is not offered to nonbschool students.

Are these services effective? Yes they are. I know a couple of Nigerians (about 10 - 12) within the past three years that had some issues with the visa process (not visa denial), but they worked with their offices to sort the issue. I can't go into details of the issues here but trust me, visa is not a problem for those folks because you have to be a geniune student to even get admitted.

Another thing those bschools have is a solid career center independent of the school's career center. These schools organize their own career events, bring tons of companies to recruit their students and offer personalized career services to their students. These students can still enjoy the general service offered by their universities but they often do not because the business school provisions are far better.

In Wharton for instance, newly admitted students are asked to submit a draft of their resumes before they even resume on campus. They are assigned personal career coaches to work on their resumes and get a very sound draft before recruiting commences in the fall. UPenn itself has a great career center but Wharton has an even better career center that offers more personalized services to students. Same applies for the top 15 bschools.

You mentioned assistantships and I treated it earlier but it appears you missed it. Elite bschool students do not seek for assistantships especially in their first year. These folks are the most career-focused 20-29 year olds you can see on the planet. They generally spend their first years doing class work and networking. A lot of them spend ~ $10K in their first year networking their way to Wall Street. So, they generally do not have the time for assistantships. So, assistantships are generally ruled out for those students.

Now, I'm not saying this for you to open an application portal and start applying to a bschool. Before you apply to a bschool, two things must click - first, have the right profile (not for admission but for jobs) and second, have the internal drive. That internal drive does not come from a nairaland conversation. It comes from within and unless those two things click, you might end up wasting $200K on a bschool degree.

Most people that couldn't utilize their bschool experiences lack one or both qualities.

Sarcasticmofo:
hello, thanks for the responses so far.

First of all the remaining cost of living is about $8K and it's me and my guy that both got the full tuition Scholarship and we're planning to stay alone in one room apartment for this first year which costs $500 per month...

The work study program of the school is $9.50 per hour for a maximum of 20 hours per week and that is $190 per week and $760 per month. Then for two of us that is $1520 per month. Neglecting alot of hours we'd have to work in Summer and still going by normal 20hours, that is $18240 for both of us at least for a year. Our rent for a year is $6000 and feeding let's say $5000 combined that's leaving us with $7240.

So the loan I wanted to take was about $2000 each for both of us, so that we can use it for small feeding, on ground transport and cover our settling there. Once we settle there and start work study. We would definitely be fine... Not to mention outside scholarships and grants.

I also don't have any relative in the US. I am also in STEM

Glad to see you have plans on how you intend to settle however, for the living cost, your dreams are not unrealistic and for now, you have to think of the best way to cross the hurdle of the visa interview. For this, it is not advisable you take a loan for undergraduate studies. Try think far and near of relatives or even older friends that could have about $8000 and act as your sponsor. Since you plan on living modestly, I am sure you both will be okay with an on-campus job.

When you are droping information here, always try to be concise. Intervened? Did they call the embassy because this school is top 15 bschool?

bracelum:


Yes, I agree with you on that and I'm glad you also said that Wharton intervened for them to get their visas. I also know of someone (I don't know if it is the same person) that had a similar problem and shared it on GMATclub. Wharton also intervened and the person got the visa. For a bschool to intervene and call some shots for someone to get a visa shows how far they can go to sort visa issues for students.

A random graduate school will keep you hanging...

So, we are still saying the same thing - that getting visas isn't a problem for such students. In worse case scenarios, the school intervenes but this happens in very rare cases. If you do a deep study of those scenarios, it might be that they refused to use state their loans on their i20s or probably because they just wanted to do things on their own.

In summary, a student at such schools shouldn't be worried about getting the visas.

Sarcasticmofo:
By God's grace I will not come back to Nigeria.

I also don't have any relative in the US.

My parents are not that bouyant and I don't want to stress them when I can get just get a small loan

The loan I need is just about $2500 maximum.

I have responded on your response to @bracelum. I understand you not wanting to stress them but you should also remember that the visa officer while conducting your interview makes his decision based on information available to him. You do not want to tell him of your plans to work on campus to raise funds or how you intend augmenting with loans. Over the years, we out of our desperation as Nigerians have soiled our reputation and you we cannot blame a VO for not being reasonable if he doesn't see the logic in your pursuit which makes sense to me and many other Nigerians who knows the bulk of the cost is on tuition and who also knows there are more potentials for more scholarship.

Sponsor in the US and not willing to release statement of account is a clause you should remove before your interview.

molosfaith86:
Good evening, please I got two text messages and two email messages from the embassy that my Visa interview has been rescheduled to 5th of April but I was meant to be interviewed on 9th April

Secondly my sponsor is in USA and she refused to give me her statement of account reason dat the embassy can check it through the state security service

Please any say in this

LagosismyHome:


time has gone sha. A child born then would be finishing secondary school soon , yet it feels like yesterday

Twale mama! I have always thought you are so young alas, my guess was very wrong.

GboyegaD:


I have responded on your response to @bracelum. I understand you not wanting to stress them but you should also remember that the visa officer while conducting your interview makes his decision based on information available to him. You do not want to tell him of your plans to work on campus to raise funds or how you intend augmenting with loans. Over the years, we out of our desperation as Nigerians have soiled our reputation and you we cannot blame a VO for not being reasonable if he doesn't see the logic in your pursuit which makes sense to me and many other Nigerians who knows the bulk of the cost is on tuition and who also knows there are more potentials for more scholarship.

True talk!

bracelum:


An MBA admit from a top 15 US b-school will HARDLY get visa rejection! And yes, a top 15 MBA program costs $70K-$80K per year for tuition.

The biggest problems for such students is to get the admit (Stanford GSB has ~6-8% admission rate) and to have the RIGHT profiles to land the juicy consulting, investment banking and tech jobs. Visa is the least problematic thing for those students.

A question though, how would one go for such MBA without scholarship? Not when the likes of Harvard, Cornell and co tell you how they have over $2m worth of scholarship. I think what @fairstone is raising is how do you intend self sponsoring for such programs that are worth over $150k for the two years. That is so much an investment for a self sponsored student to risk.