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Travel / Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 6 by Ripleus2: 10:46am On May 02, 2015 |
Gozychuks:Please note that not all U.S. schools accept IELTS (that's de-facto a U.K. English proficiency test). You should first confirm if your intended school accepts IELTS or not, make you no go throway money. |
Travel / Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 6 by Ripleus2: 1:21am On May 01, 2015 |
ebdib:Thanks! I am already applying for rent, one on campus and one just outside the campus gate. I am on a waitlist for both of them, and I am also checking out other options. Ah no my stipend is < 25k and that's even before tax. It might be more by my second year. I know grad school life is a lean life so we go try manage. Thankfully I can cook. I appreciate all the advice, man! One thing that's been on my mind is the harsh cold weather. I hear the winters in Indiana are very long: from like September till late April or even May sometimes, so about 2/3 of the year is winter. This means heavy heating bills... that's one thing I have been planning along with housing options. Edit: I mean, the really nice weather is just like 4 months. |
Travel / Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 6 by Ripleus2: 12:48am On May 01, 2015 |
slimmy05:Thanks bro, all noted! |
Travel / Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 6 by Ripleus2: 12:34am On May 01, 2015 |
slimmy05:Thanks bros. Lol me I no know all the things I need to survive there oh (besides academic and research preparation). Any advice for me? I am generally preparing to move sha. |
Travel / Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 6 by Ripleus2: 11:19pm On Apr 30, 2015 |
dicapino: Congrats diCapino |
Travel / Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 6 by Ripleus2: 11:06pm On Apr 30, 2015 |
slimmy05: Thanks for the correction! I understand better now. |
Travel / Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 6 by Ripleus2: 4:55pm On Apr 30, 2015 |
sealleone: I think summer semester for undergraduates is usually for catching up on studies before Fall semester (e.g. if the student failed courses in that academic year, or the student wants to gain more credit points) and also for REU. For graduate students, it is for more research. Then lastly there are those that go for summer-only short-courses, as I said before. I think applying to a 2 year community college - which are usually inroads for illegal immigration - was the first red flag, and the second one was trying to go during summer semester from another country, which is not a normal resumption time. Usual resumption for first-time international students is Fall, and in some other cases, Spring. 1 Like |
Travel / Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 6 by Ripleus2: 4:19pm On Apr 30, 2015 |
sealleone: Generally, only summer schools issue an I-20 in summer, and it will be valid only for the period of that summer. e.g. a 3 month short course. If your friend was not going for a short-course like that, then the VO is correct. |
Travel / Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 6 by Ripleus2: 9:22pm On Apr 29, 2015 |
ebdib: Thank you |
Travel / Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 6 by Ripleus2: 9:15pm On Apr 29, 2015 |
masquellett: You can reach me at ucookme AT gmail DOT com @Everyone: Thank you. I pray the testimonies will go round. If I may offer some words of advice from personal experience, , ttmacoy is right to a very large extent. If a school will give you admission (let alone funding) they want your profile to have something that sparks their interest. They want something slightly beyond what everyone else is submitting. I am informed that sometimes a department has like 5,000 applications and they need to choose just 10 or 12 people. They might first check your CGPA and whether your application is complete and other things, to reduce the number of applicants. Maybe it is now reduced to 2,000. They use other criteria to reduce the numbers further. After they have reduced the number and they have maybe 400 applicants, they use a software to first filter out some people e.g. those without GRE will get cut out. EVEN THOUGH they said GRE is not compulsory, but they'll rather choose someone that has it rather than someone that doesn't. They go on like that till it's like 100 people. They can read those ones' statements of purpose and reference letters. Cut it down to 50. Then maybe they'll interview the 50 in person, and for international students, interview them on Skype. Finally they have 20. Out of that 20, maybe just 12 will come to that school in the end. It's always better to have the basic things that other students have, if you want a solid chance. If possible, even have other things that can make your profile unique. If you don't have an item in your profile, and other students like you have it, you have set yourself up. Even though the school says it's not compulsory, study, do it and send it. My background is Electrical Engineering but I was applying for a program that almost all my classmates would have been Math Majors or Physics Majors in their undergraduate program. Trust me, Engineers don't know or understand many things that Mathematicians and Physicists play easily with. I knew I was already disadvantaged so I knew I had a point to prove. TOEFL 116/120. Then the usual GRE, I scored 800/800 in the Math section (before they changed the scales, now that's like 170) though my verbal was just 590/800, now like 152). But I still felt it's not enough cos the people I'm competing against have stronger backgrounds. I decided to meet them on their level so I registered for the Subject test GRE in Mathematics. Yet, all the (advanced) mathematics I did in Engineering school was not up to 15% of the syllabus in this GRE. I decided I'll study and take the exam anyway, so I pushed myself and even after over a year of hard study, my score was just like 60%. Other applicants like me, that I talked to in various forums online, they said the dullest among them scored from 85% above. Most of those topics, they have done since undergraduate study. I was discouraged but I sent the score anyway. I also knew I had to prove that I cope with the research studies, in another way. So I contacted people already doing their own research / Masters abroad (by email) and I offered to help them do research and computation. For free. They let me help them, and one of them wrote a reference for me. Another one, his paper won an award in London so I wrote it inside my statement of purpose that I helped in that research, that they can ask the school. I'm not taking glory for myself, it belongs to God, but I know that they couldn't have seen my profile and not realized that I was actually trying hard. So that's probably why they gave me a chance. Stanford rejected me anyway, because I'm sure the competition there was even much tougher than at Notre Dame. 13 Likes |
Travel / Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 6 by Ripleus2: 10:00am On Apr 29, 2015 |
sirRiddy: Thanks bro. I think I over explained some things cos I was tense, but when she smiled I was able to relax. DeeTus: Thank you. No it was at Walter Carrington, Lagos. |
Travel / Re: General U.s.a (student) Visa Enquiries-part 6 by Ripleus2: 9:40am On Apr 29, 2015 |
I am back, as I said I would come back to Nairaland to give details after my interview (even though some notorious people here wanted to tear my head off just because I didn't mention the name of the school / program, as if say I wan chop am! Na wa for patience). I got my visa this morning, thankfully. Here is my transcript as I remember it. The whole thing took like 3 to 4 minutes. VO: Good morning, how are you today? Me: I'm fine thank you. Good morning. VO: May I see your passport, I-20 and SEVIS documents? Me: (hands them over) VO: Please place your right four fingers on the scanner... Me: (does as requested) VO: I see you're going for a PhD in Computational and Applied Mathematics. Why the University of Notre Dame? Me: There are only a small handful of programs in the world with my current research interest i.e. in silico research in Computational Haemodynamics. Of the better programs, Notre Dame is one, and Stanford is another. Stanford is just beginning its own Computational Medicine program this Fall. I applied to Stanford as well but sadly I didn't get in. On the other hand, I got into Notre Dame with full funding and it has my exact research interests. VO: Computational Haemodynamics? Me: Yes, the study and computer simulation of the Mathematics and Physics / Motion of Fluid-Structure Interaction in Blood Flow. It has diverse applications in the treatment of cardiovascular ailments and in other heart monitoring therapies. VO: (smiles) Wow, the Mathematics and Motion of Blood Flow? (typing fast on the computer, probably googling to see if I was bullshitting) Me: Yes indeed, the Mathematics and Motion of Blood Flow. VO: Okay, do you already have a Masters degree? Me: No, I don't. I got admitted on merit into the University of Lagos for an MSc this January but just as I began registration, I also got the Notre Dame admission in February so I didn't bother resuming at UNILAG. VO: I see. What was your undergraduate degree in? Me: Electrical / Electronic Engineering. But I have been working as a programmer and self-studying postgraduate mathematics since I finished at the University, so I have the required background for computational and applied math. VO: (smiles) How do you hope to fund your way through school? Me: I received full funding from the department I applied to. It covers a tuition waiver, stipends and health insurance. VO: (Flips through my passport) So you've never left Nigeria before? Me: (smiles) No, I've never left Nigeria before. VO: Congratulations, I'm glad to tell you that your visa application has been accepted. Please pick up your documents at this location (circles location on my documents). Have a nice day! Me: Thank you. Have a nice day as well. P.S. I just took all sorts of documents to the place for nothing, she didn't even look at them. I was also worried about two things but she didn't even ask: (a) Worried I'd be asked about strong ties to Nigeria, which I don't really have. (b) Bothered I'd be asked how I will intend to apply my study when I come back to Nigeria (cos I didn't want to lie... well, it's possible sha) I'm really grateful, especially after seeing her deny every single person that went to her own dock ahead of me. Last last sha, na God win. 13 Likes |
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