QUESTION AND ANSWER ON GETTING ADMISSION INTO U.S. GRADUATE SCHOOLS WITH A NIGERIAN FIRST DEGREE
Hello Dr. Taiwo,
Good day, compliments of the season to you, and I hope you’ve been enjoying the festive season.
I am Olu, and have been following you since-I-can’t-remember-now, but I can recollect that I came across your post on “Winning the Wrong Race” on Jarus Hub; for me, it was an inspirational read, concluding that I should set standards for myself, and that, at the end, the wins that matters are those I’m comfortable with, not what others are currently going after.
Thanks to you for that.
As it stands, I just completed my B.Sc. in Agricultural Engineering (OAU, yet to go for NYSC), and intend to be a Fall 2016 applicant to the University of Arkansas Chemical Engineering program.
I got to know about the school from you since you finished from OAU as myself. I have studied your Linkedin profile and I think I like the prospects of Chemical Engineering, especially after PhD studies.
1. I want to know how possible it is for me to ‘cross’ from BSc Agric Engineering to PhD Chemical Engineering program.
2. I had a GP of 3.45/4.0 (in US scale), so I also want to know my chances of getting funding/scholarships from the school
3. Since grad schools place strong emphasis on research experience, I will like to know how I can convince the grad school of my capacity to do independent research
4. Is there any way that my BSc background will affect me, either during admission or when I eventually get admitted?
I’m yet to take the GRE.
Thanks so much for helping me out, as I await your reply.
Best,
Olu.
****
Dr. Michael Taiwo, one of JarusHub’s contributors and mentors, holds a first degree in chemical engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, and PhD in same discipline from the University of Arkansas, United States.
Hi Olu,
I’m proud of your accomplishments. A GP of 3.45/4.00 is impressive! The first step right now is the GRE. For admission purposes, the GRE is more important than your GP because it is a standard exam and therefore they can use it to measure the relative strengths of all the applicants to a program irrespective of what school they go to or what country they are from.
Admission officers know that a GP of 3.45 in School A may be very different from a GP of 3.45 from School B, therefore they rely on GRE to compare candidates. Hence, the GRE is more important than your GP. Please take it seriously and score as high as possible. The nearer to the perfect score you have, the better your chances at getting into any school you want.
Now specifically concerning the question of moving to Chemical Engineering from Agric Engineering: I will say it is quite difficult though not impossible. If you really want Chemical Engineering, I will advise that you apply to a lot of schools (10 is a good number) and one of them might grant you both admission and scholarship if your GRE score is high enough.
But I need to ask: why Chemical Engineering? With your Agricultural Engineering, your options are limitless if you come here to study. You can still apply to a lot of industries, get a lot of jobs and make a lot of money with Agric Eng. So you might want to consider sticking with Agric Eng since that will grant you easier access to a school here.
Lastly, for a PHD program, they want to know if you have done research before. Your final year project in school counts for research so if you did one, then you are fine.
Everything I have said so far applies not only to the University of Arkansas but to all the schools in the US. I wish you the best.
Thanks,
MT***
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Established in March 2013, JarusHub is a Nigerian information hub with focus on career and management. It is rated Nigeria's most authoritative destination for online career resources. It parades an array of Nigerian professionals who share their career experiences with a view to bridging career information gap and mentoring a generation to success. Whether you're a student, a recent graduate or an established professional, or even an executive, you will always find something to learn on JarusHub. All enquiries to jarushub@gmail.com or 0808 540 4500. Facebook: www.facebook.com/jarushub; Twitter: @jarushub or @mcjarus.
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Dear jarus.
I am a regular reader of your blog and I must confess that I have immensely benefited from the rich content therein.
I want to enquire if you know of any BSc. top up program for HND holders in the USA. Most of the ones I have encountered are in the UK and are a bit expensive. If there are, what are the requirements and How can I go about applying for them this year?
Unfortunately, I cant think of any for now.
Sir,
Alongside my 4.5/5 CGPA in Geography, I have 5 years experience as a volunteer teacher and numerous awards including 2014 departmental best graduating student. Am preparing for GRE but limited funds restrict me from TOEFL. Am seeking a geography/planning doctoral program in US or Canada that can offer me full funding and also considering the future prospect of each countries (I.e. aftermath of my graduate study).
Please, kindly advise me in anyway that you can inline with my aspiration. Thank you
I presume your 4.5/5 CGPA is a First Class. If that is the case, you only need to get good score in GRE, you should be able to get scholarship.
Good day sir, what an interesting piece. I am a graduate of civil engineering in OAU with a CGPA of 4.16 and I am interested in doing my masters in any University inCanada or USA but can you advise me on the schools I can apply to that will be offering full scholarship. Also I have started making plans on how to do GRE . And I will like to know if it is necessary for me to write TOEFL. I await your reply. Thank you sir.
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