Frequently Asked Questions

I want to study in US and Canada. Does it even make sense?

It depends on what you want in life. Graduate study is not for everybody but it’s not out of place to continue to self improvement which is what is on offer in graduate school. US and Canada have more than three thousand universities with many of them highly ranked and well equipped with modern facilities lacking in many developing countries. US and Canada education opens doors of opportunities in terms of job placement after graduation and networking with people from different parts of the globe. Degrees from these countries are highly regarded the world over.

 What should be my first step?  

The first step is to do a solid research about your interests and schools that align well with them. A convenient way to start is to Google, “US Universities + your course of study” if you are interested in the US. Similar procedure is applicable to Canadian schools.  It will bring out several schools and you can go through these schools one-by-one. Alternatively, you can simply click on this link www.braintrack.com to check universities in US as well as other countries in the world. You can as well click on these ranking institutions to further explore universities of interest to you. Once you have a list of universities of interest to you, take a step further and Google, “name of university + your course of study” to access the departmental website directly. Then click on graduate studies, graduate program or prospective students as may be appropriate to acquaint yourself with department requirements.

What are the requirements for getting into the US and Canadian schools?

Requirements differ from schools to schools and from discipline to discipline. That’s why it’s extremely important like I stated above to visit the website of your discipline directly. This is even more necessary as departmental requirements may be different from that of University or Graduate School. Some school specify this type of requirement as “Program requirements”. Generally, the following are required: the major requirements for admission into US and Canadian schools are the results of your undergraduate degree, letters of recommendation, transcripts, a Statement of purpose and for most of the schools (most especially in the US and some schools in Canada), the GRE (Graduate Record Examination).

Are any of these criteria more important than others?

I would say it depends on the school in consideration. Most schools look at application individually and in its entirety in which case an excellent performance in one criterion may compensate for deficiency in other. But generally, a lot of premium is placed on undergraduate records as well as GRE scores when funding consideration is under evaluation.

Some schools even place more emphasis on your performance in the GRE than your undergraduate record. This is because the educational system varies from one country to another. So the GRE creates an avenue to evaluate students from diverse educational background and finally helps the admission committee to evaluate and rank applications to their program. Admission and funding (scholarships) are given to applicants based on this ranking. Once funding is exhausted, other applicants are given an alternative to either fund themselves, or they are denied admission.

What’s funding and will I be considered for one?

Funding in all essential point is the same as scholarship. It’s not a loan that will be paid back. It’s a grant in form teaching or research assistantship. In exceptional cases where your application is considered outstanding, you may be awarded a fellowship in which case you are paid for no duties at all. Funding given in form of teaching or research assistantship or fellowships consists of remission of most or all of your tuition, with payment of monthly stipends or salary to you. Your own part of the deal is to teach undergraduate students (don’t panic, this is very easy as all training and facility to do this successfully will be provided for you) some classes especially in your first year. In later years, you work with a professor helping him or her on a research work while you also work on your PhD. It’s a win-win as you get paid working on your PhD. This includes tuition waiver, health insurance and monthly stipend/salary. In most schools in US, once you are offered admission, it comes with funding.

I meet all the requirements except GRE.  Are there schools in US and Canada that do not require GRE?

GRE is comparable to JAMB/UME. How? All students that meet the minimum GPA are qualified but not all can be taken due to limit of what facilities and funding can support. GRE then becomes more of a yard stick to weed some candidate out. So the more excellent scores you have on GRE, the brighter your chances of being admitted. GRE is required by most schools (in US and some in Canada) to help in admission decisions. However, there are schools that do not require GRE. As a result, I think these schools receive a lot of applications from all over the world which makes it highly competitive due to their less stringent criteria (As regards the GRE). Schools in this category in most cases are also not well ranked. (Compare schools that do not require JAMB in Nigeria, they may not be well ranked).

I am not bothered about ranking that much. I understand I can apply to another school when in US. Do you still encourage me to apply to these schools without GRE?

I will suggest you write GRE and have ample opportunity of applying to more than two thousand universities than chasing less than say hundred schools that do not required GRE. Also, because it does not cost much to apply to these schools, a lot of applications are received which make admission unnecessarily tough in a not well ranked university. You may also have a tough time during your visa interview if you are admitted to this type of school. In all honesty, I will advise that you write GRE. That does not negate the fact that students all over the world still come to these universities and then switch to another in second year.

GRE, GRE and GRE! Please tell me more about it?

The best way to learn about GRE is to visit this website www.gre.org . But I offer the summary here: GRE (Graduate record examination) is a computer adaptive test taken to get a chance of gaining admission to US, Australian and Canadian graduate schools. It’s a useful diagnostic tool in selecting students for funding as well. In all essential points, it’s more of an aptitude test (most aptitude tests in Nigeria are more or less GRE questions) which consists of Verbal and Quantitative sections. A third section testing your writing ability is also included under the name Analytical Writing. All I have described is meant for General Test. There is individual subject test in disciplines like Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics etc, but are not required by most schools. You can read more about the GRE from www.gre.org

Is GRE very hard or tough? Do I have to attend lessons for it?

It depends on your ability. In general, science students tend to do well in the quantitative section and not so well in verbal and reverse is the case for art students. But science students who read widely will also find the verbal section very easy as well. Based on my experience, GRE is very simple and cannot in all honesty be described as very hard. For instance, the quantitative section is comparable to senior secondary school mathematics. What’s key is your time management skills. That’s not to say GRE is also very simple, if it is so, every dumb student will be in US. It’s just like aptitude test, if you prepare well, you will smile at the end of the whole show. A lot of good textbooks are available to help students prepare and excel in this exam. But for copyright issue, I would have uploaded some here. But you can send me an email if you want some. (I don’t request for money from people).You can write the GRE on any working day throughout the year. Once you are ready, you can schedule your exam date yourself and go take the exam on the scheduled date. You do not need to go to an institute for lessons on the GRE. All you need are good study materials that will help in adequate preparation for the exam.

When should I write the GRE?

I will advocate you write GRE such that you have ample time to deliberate on schools to apply to or not. I will suggest you take the exams latest by September so you have one or two months before application deadline. Application deadline to most schools in US and Canada is 15^th December each year for fall semester.

How do I register for the exam? Where can I take the exam in Nigeria as well?

Due to fraud and scam issues, GRE do not allow Nigerians to register online which is easiest way to register anyway. Any card that bears Nigerian address may not be allowed. The best way to do it is to look for a FRIEND in US or UK to help you. S/he will just register on your behalf for the day you want to write the exam and the confirmation page for the registration will be sent to your email automatically. A print out of the confirmation page is needed for you to be permitted into the exam. By Friend, I mean someone you can trust. Otherwise, if you use fraudulent card to register, GRE will seize your results. You can also contact some centers in Nigeria. Expectedly, these centers will charge more (more than the required $190) to make a little profit. The key word is to use a genuine outfit so as not to have your results seized. Also note that a means of identification in form of an international passport is needed for you to be admitted into the exam. You can check all the requirements by clicking on this link http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/test_day/. The exam can be taken at First Logic, No 30 Oba Akran Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. There are also centers at First Logic in Abuja, Nigeria.

You’ve said a lot about GRE but not one word on TOEFL.  Do I also need to write TOEFL?

It depends on which school you are considering as a lot of school will grant you waivers while some will insist on having your TOEFL scores despite the fact that you are from Nigeria, an Anglophone country. The best way is to mail the graduate coordinator of your prospective department and intimate him or her that you have been taught in English in all educational institutions you’ve passed through and politely request for a waiver. I am sure many schools will oblige you. If your dream school requires and insists on having your TOEFL scores, then you have no choice that to write the exam. You can read more on Toefl including registration, test format on www.toefl.org

I learnt most successful applicants have 2:1 and above. What’s my fate with 2:2? Do I stand a chance of getting admitted and funded?

The truth of the matter is a First Class may be rejected while a 2:2 offered admission. A lot depends on packaging and working with a good guidance during the application process. You need to know how to write a good statement of purpose, what to be written in your recommendation and statements to avoid in your application. That can make a lot of difference. (I intend to post a number of articles on this in future). The reality is I have a couple of friends with 2:2 from even state universities in Nigeria who are studying in US with full funding. Generally, a CGPA of 3.0 on a US scale of 4.0 is required. That corresponds to 3.75 out of 5.0 and 5.25 out of 7.0 (if you graduated from the University of Ibadan). If your CGPA is slightly lower than this, I suggest you use WES evaluation to boost it. A Nigerian 3.4 (out of 5.0) has been evaluated to be equivalent to US 3.0 out of 4. Good guidance can really point out some stuff to you. You can read more on WES by clicking www.wes.org.

What most school requires is a CGPA of 3.0 on a US scale of 4. This guy had a 3.4 out of a scale of 5.0 from one of the Nigerian Universities which is a 2:2 and it is directly equivalent to less than 3.0 on the US scale of 4.