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

Is 3.5 a 2.2?

tanimola22:



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hope this story story story helps.

Truly yours,
T22

Does Saudi gave so much emphasis on Grade point, with a 3.5 can have a chance to get a scholarship in Saudi Arabia?

tanimola22:


Mhen, I am very ecstatic that you are seriously looking to pursue graduate level studies in economics. Just a few months ago I had an exchange of posts with one nairalander whose username is chamber2 (see the economics and economists thread). In those posts, I lamented that very few economics graduate in naija are ambitious enough to take on graduate studies in economics outside the shores of naija. But here you are today, signifying interest in some wonderful areas of economics and generally contradicting my previous submission. Well done.

Engineering math is not bad for a starter. Just make sure you cover almost everything on calculus, partial differential equations and ordinary differential equations. However, not every relevant topic in covered in engineering math. For example, multivariate calculus is not fully covered there, and this is an important math tool we use in both economics and finance. For this reason, I suggest you also take a look at further engineering math written by the same guy. That book sufficiently covers multivariate calculus. It will really be of immense value to you. There is another math tool which I did not mention. It is called optimization (static and dynamic optimization). This is a very important math tool because you will need it to understand macroeconomic models. Without this tool, you will find it difficult to understand the Bellman equation (BE), the Hamilton Jacobi Bellman equation (HJB), inter-temporal consumption theory and other very important macro concepts . A very good book to learn the basics of optimization is Simon and Blume's mathematics for economists. http://library.northsouth.edu/Upload/Mathematics%20for%20Economists%20SOLUTION.pdf. With your level of ambition, I guess understanding how to use these basic math tools is within your reach.

No, doing heavy research in development economics will not hurt you, provided you get a fine grasp of as many relevant math courses as you can get and also make good grades in the three most important foundational economics courses: macro, micro and econometrics. In reality, what admissions committees want to see in an applicant's profile is his/her ability to think conceptually and analytically, potential to do research as well as the ability to pass first year PhD coursework. Having nice grades in your math courses and the aforementioned economics courses is enough to signal your innate potential to adcoms. Moreover, to seal the deal, you will need strong letters of recommendation from people who are willing to sell your abilities. As an example, I know a chick who did her BSc in math, and whose MSc thesis concentrated on game theory. This chick got into Michigan (Top 13 PhD econ) and was treated as if she never concentrated on anything. She started PhD year 1 courses with those who never even completed an MSc thesis nor took MSc courses.

To do mathematical finance/mathematical economics, you have to be heavy on mathematics. These fields are not funny, I must confess to you. You can well achieve your aim, but you need to know that mathematical finance/mathematical economics both require more than the minimum level of mathematics. You have to be above averagely conversant and be trained in strong math courses like measure theory, stochastic processes, distribution theory, probability theory, functional analysis and some other very specialized math, statistics and programming courses. If you are really desirous of specializing in one of these fields, then you must go above the minimum math requirements. This is the truth!

Schools in both countries are great. You should apply to schools in both countries, as well as schools in other countries where the courses and research are done in the English language. Most German schools will fully fund your studies if they admit you, and so do most US schools. In fact Yale or/and Princeton, for example, do not admit students they cannot fund. Depending on what your MSc grade turns out to be, I would suggest that you apply to top 80 US schools and very few top 30 US schools. Then apply to all schools in Europe, don't restrict yourself to Germany. I am looking at about 150-200 applications in total. I am almost sure that you will get one, especially if you are able to get good grades in your coursework, demonstrate strong math skills, demonstrate strong research potentials and have your professors sing your praise. Don't forget to set aside some thousands of naira for payment of application fees; almost all US schools demand application fees from applicants.

Economic development and quantitative finance are both great career wise. However, in my experience, quantitative finance requires approximately 45% programming, 40% mathematics and 15% finance. It is mathematically heavy. Economic development, on the other hand, requires a balanced combination of economic theories, math, statistics plus the ability to use languages (Stata, R, Matlab, or what have you). Using your previous training as the main reference point, I think you will be better off going for economic development. All the people I know doing quantitative finance PhD previously obtained their BSc degrees in math, statistics, mathematics-economics, physics and engineering. This is not to discourage you O. Zeal is everything. This is just my assessment of the situation at hand. Meanwhile, many US universities successfully place their students in top public and private sector jobs. Depending on how good you turn out to be, how well you are able to impress your supervisor and how sound your PhD research seems, you could be placed in some of the best development organizations in the world. University of Pennsylvania, for example, successfully placed almost all of its PhD econs graduates last year. You may want to take placement record into cognizance when choosing a school.

Again, I am happy that you are considering a PhD in econs/finance. Just do your MSc well. I mean really, really well. Provided some universities are willing to judge your applications based more on your current academic standing(Msc), I can almost surely assure you that you will get a fully PhD position somewhere. The pay is enough to take care of you and two other persons. My very smart Ife guy who is doing his PhD in mathematical finance/ financial econometrics has his wife with him.

Good luck.

T22

** For US schools, your GRE scores must be nice. Economics departments focus on good quantitative scores. Quantitative scores of 89th-99th percentile are termed competitive. Some would need you to present a TOEFL score.

Sir I don't get you do I need my lecturers recommendation before I get a scholarship abroad? And please most it really be my lecturers from where I graduate? Because I was very frustrated in my academic career in university, I don't want anything to do with any lecturer there.

Christine01:
I read all the posts in this thread and I'm so excited.
I'm a graduate of Biochemistry with a CGPA of 4.42. I'm presently a corp member, will be passing out by june. I wish 2 have my M.Sc & Phd in Biochemistry within the shortest time possible. I really do have a passion to impact knowledge. I've applied for several scholarships abroad as funding is a bit of a challenge and I'm still going to pick a PG form in UI but I do hope I get an offer abroad.
I'll appreciate more scholarship alerts as a foreign degree cannot be matched with a local one. My email is anuanuloveu2@yahoo.com. Thanks.

What do you want to do with a PG after graduating with a CGPA of 4.42

Plshavmercyamen:
. If you finish with a 2:2 you are not eligible to be employed in the university academia even if you have a masters. That's the rule. You have to go as far as a Ph.D. Pls can anybody in the know confirm these?

God in heaven are you serious??

olatricia:
My people, i so appreciate the fact that you guys know and you are willing to share what you know. I hold in no light esteem the good that all the information i read on this tread has done to me, in terms of reawakening my zest and passion for the learning. But my plights are these: I'll be 28 later this year, I ve a B.Sc in Economics from the University of Jos, with a 2.2 grade. Actually, I was the best amongst the worse and the worse of the best. thats becos i had a GPA of 3.49 (you know how marginal that is). Am an AAT holder, I had a brief lecturing experience with an ICAN tutorial centre. a professional student of the ICAN, final stage with just SFM paper to go. I am a pro in SPSS, Excel and Peachtree and I do very well at my Job.I wrote several undergraduate projects for my colleagues while i was in school and many of them landed no grade less than a "B", I understand research and project writing very well, simply put. I work with a financial consulting firm, i earn a gross of 100k monthly. I fend for me (in all its ramifications) and need to drop some for my parents who did a lot to see me through school. I have a passion for research and ultimately lecturing. I'll like to further as early as possible and if possible study outside Nigeria. Passing exams is not my problem, If i read, i'll pass. My girl friend is 26 an accounting graduate with a strong 2.1 from same school. She is currently serving. She is pressing for us to settle down immediately after her service year (probably because we have been dating for about 3 years now and the clock is ticking). My people, with a 2.2, no financial backing whatsoever and responsibilities beckoning daily. Please, how do I go about studying abroad, achieving my dream of being who i really want to be. What can I do to be better with the little resource and opportunity before me. Please i really need as much advise as i can get because am begining to loose it in bits.

Thanks.

You can get a scholarship with that grade but you you will be subjected to rigorous examination, before you are selected. Good luck

tanimola22:


Hello,

I stumbled on one postgraduate programme in Economics and even asked one or two people to apply. They did and got admitted, receiving 80% scholarship. One of them had 2:2. Painful that this programme's deadline passed two months ago. Do me an email next year let's take it from there.

Meanwhile, try these below. Hope your luck shines.

http://pse-application.eu/

https://www.uni-jena.de/master_online_application/privacy_statement;jsessionid=1E448587FC5F30D9259C69C22C8CD2FA.

Which country please

tobloj:
Yes sir. 1.8 mil is much but I think it's a price am willing to pay. In as much my G.P of 2.8 doesn't come in the way.

Lol which course do you study?

2rutalk1:
Do Schools in Nigeria consider Msc grade while employing someone as a lecturer, if the person is applying with Msc degree? I finished with 3.01 in my Msc (Economics), which is below the requirement for admission into PhD programme in almost all Nigerian Federal universities . However, I am considering taking up an Assistant Lecturing Job before proceeding to Mphil/PhD. Will my Msc grade affect my chances of getting the job?

What is the requirement for PhD in Nigerian universities

Damolux01:
@tanimola22 @pato504 What chances do I have as a graduate of international relations? I'm actually thinking of Lecturing in international relations, Sociology or Law as a career. Law to me isn't a possibility as i'll need to start from scratch...Sociology on the other hand, to me might be possible if I decide to take BSC in it starting from 200 level applying with my poor grades from international relations...I really need to you to put me on track. I sometimes feel I've waisted those years. Advise me please...Thanks! Email is damolux01@gmail.com

International relations is better than sociology in any university

otabuko:
So grateful I found a thread this enlightening on NL, have always wanted to pursue a career in Academia, somehow in the undergraduate, I think I messed up really bad, CGPA 3.32...Though currently running a masters in Educational Technology.... But then house, is this field a prospective one Academia wise?

You didn't mess up my dear you think making 3.32 is easy, since you can apply for your masters degree straight you are good to go

Hassanmaye:

You didn't mess up my dear you think making 3.32 is easy, since you can apply for your masters degree straight you are good to go

Thanks. I'm already rounding up PhD oh!

otabuko:
Thanks. I'm already rounding up PhD oh!

Lol good luck

Hassanmaye:

Lol good luck

thanks so much!

Hello everyone. Please can someone with a Bachelor of Arts degree (2:1) from a private university in GH ( affiliated to a government uni) with an MSC in a university in Nigeria be accepted for a lecturing job in Nigeria?

Qualifying UGC NET makes you enable to apply for assistant professor over whole country. Once you qualify the UCG NET exam it only ensures your entry to lectureship to private as well as government institutions.

Coming to the second part of your question, YES you can become an assistant professor directly. But if anyone is interested to go for PhD, he can peruse that and do PhD.

One important point to note here that, qualifying UGC NET only ensures the eligibility for the lectureship but selection to any institutions shall be govern by the eligibility criteria provided by the respective institutions.

Hope it helps.
Thank you.

H