Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Do you have a minimum of second class lower and yet no Job?

Then, take a few minutes and read this article. Let me be sincere: I have no job to offer you personally but want to introduce you to something which you may not even like after all: Graduate studies. I understand it may be difficult to conceptualize going for graduate studies. Hmm not now. Yes, you are done with undergraduate studies and the next thing in your mind is find a job in a top company, make cool money, and follow a career, and later settle down to an enjoying life with your family. That's the dream of many students graduating each year. Sadly, the above is only true for a select few while majority continue to a life of penury. It has nothing to do with your result as many first class are roaming the streets today searching for non-existent jobs. That’s the prevailing situation in many countries today and Nigeria is not an exception.

But you may ask: what has this got to do with graduate studies? A lot my dear.  What many have not realized is graduate study is a form of job, a rare job where you are paid to develop yourself thus brightening your chances of even finding a better job upon graduation. How about collecting a take home of $1500 dollars monthly after tax as a student for four years following doctoral studies? Not bad for a student roaming the street and wasting away. American is hungry for such students, good students but when will people take this opportunity and open future paths for themselves?

Don’t even think in that direction. You don’t pay any school fees as you are given a tuition waiver scholarship. You don’t need a master degree to apply and it does not cost much to apply either. All you need do is  write GRE/TOEFL, order for academic transcript(s), get recommendation letters from your past lecturers, write a statement of purpose and then submit everything to a number of universities. Yes, that’s all and all you need is just a positive response from one school and your journey to US begins where all is not rosy but all can be made rosy: it all depends on YOU.

The real truth is students from unexpected countries are utilizing these opportunities. In my first year in America, half of my class were Chinese, a substantial number from India, some from South America, a few from Europe while I was the only black African in a class of fifty five students. I was happy but equally sad.  Happy that my dreams of obtaining a PhD in a top university finally came true but terribly sad that a good number of my peers are wasting away in Africa and indeed Nigeria when what needed to be done was taking a step of faith and file applications to a number of appropriate schools . Will you take that step today? Like I said, you may not like it after all, but if it resonates with you strongly, then continue to frequently asked questions and don’t hesitate to leave (email or leave a comment) me a message if you have any question that’s not covered.

info@nairastudy.com

Monday, January 9, 2012

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 15th 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.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Your Choice of University for Graduate School

I know it can be an uphill task selecting from more than three thousand universities in North America to study. How does one even begin when a good number have impressive facilities and serene environment? What should one look for?  What are the fool proof yardsticks to selecting a good school? Is a good school just like beauty that is in the eyes of beholder? 

Well, a lot depends on what you look for in a school. But basically, when cost of tuition is off the list, I mean when the chance of securing scholarship is closer to one than zero, three factors, in my opinion, are essential in selecting university in America.

The first and perhaps the most important is the reputation. By reputation, I mean academic ranking of the university. You don't want to go to a school that's at the bottom of the ladder. The ranking thus measure a lot of activity going on in the university; activity like index of publication by faculties, faculty-student ratio, funding, percentage of alumni that have excelled in chosen fields among others. A number of organizations carry out annual ranking of universities but the most reliable appears to be here  which is acceptable globally and uses yardsticks that are reflective of academic excellence. Other reputable agencies that measure universities performances also include this carried out by Times and this one carried out by US News.  It must be stressed though that a common mistake most students make is to assume a particular university's ranking covers the whole courses that are on offer in the university. For a school like Harvard that has excellent programs in several fields, that may not be far from the truth. But for most schools, the answer in a word is NO. A lowly ranked school (overall) may even have a discipline that is well ranked and well known to the extent of competing with the globally acclaimed of the top ten. Thus, the best way is to look for ranking according to disciplines which of course is well explained here as well.

Besides exposing the strength of universities, ranking can as well be a tool to judge the admissibility of candidates. A student with weak academic credentials will no doubt find it difficult to gain admission in the top and better ranked universities. Thus, based on student's undergraduate performance, test scores in TOEFL and GRE, profile of reference providers as well as contents of their recommendations and statement of purpose, a student can judge where his/her application for graduate studies may likely succeed.

Apart from quality of academic program, international graduate students are also concerned about the suitability of the environment in terms of weather, crime rate, cost of living and other sundry issues. At first, these factors may appear trivial, but if you listen to testimonies of several candidates, you may well realize that these are potent factors that can have a very negative bear on student performance if not carefully managed. So, you may want to choose a town with low income tax, or no tax at all, very low cost of living which in effect maximizes your savings potential and an environment where the crime rate is below the national average. A good way to check is to google : crime rate+ name of your town. i.e. name of the town where the university is located.

With a good school selected based on your ability as determined by your academic credentials and right environment chosen, what other potent factors can affect graduate students significantly? The short answer is a lot. But one is particularly obvious: the choice of your adviser, I mean the big boss who you will work with and who will supervise your doctoral thesis. This choice can make or mar your career. So, with all these factors in mind, take a look at the article below and begin research on selecting the best schools for graduate studies.  Don't forget to leave a message or contact me via email if you have any questions.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Estimating my Profile for Graduate Studies

Have you taken the GRE exams or TOEFL? What are your scores? Besides, have you worked in an establishment since leaving school? How many years of experience have you garnered?  The answers to these questions may well define how your applications to graduate schools will be viewed and assessed. But the good news is that no matter your scores, there are schools that fit the profile of each candidate.

You may ask, can’t I just apply to any school and be admitted? Well, you can but it is equally possible to apply to twelve schools and got rejection from them all. So, it is key and essential to know which school to apply to and which school to avoid. To make the selection simple I have provided a broad categorisation of schools based on ranking, students’ testimonies and average test scores over the years. With this guide, I will advice a student apply to five schools, yes five schools. Two schools which are slightly above your profile which can aptly be described as being ambitious schools. The next two should be within the bracket that perfectly meets your profile. In this case, you have more than 60% assurance of being admitted. As a safe bet, it is equally advisable to apply to a school that you are more than 100% sure of being taken. That’s a school slightly below your profile as shown in the table below. Now sum up all your credits and compare with the university ratings to know where to file your application. Also, be sure to leave a comment or contact me via email if you have any question.


Toefl Ibt Scores 
                                                                                                                           Toefl Ibt Scores   Credits
>115 20
110-115 18
100-109 16
90-99 14
83-89 13
79-83 12
70-78 8
<70 0
Undergraduate Records
Performance (%) credit
>90 100
80-90 85
75-79 80
70-74 75
60-69 65
55-59 40
<55 20
Relevant  Work Experience
Years credits
>4.5 10
3-4.5 8
2-3.0 6
1-2.0 4
0 2
Associations
Number credit
>4 5
2-3.0 4
1 3
0 2
Research Papers
Number Credit
3-4.0 15
2-3.0 12
1 10
0 5
Old GRE Scores
Test Scores (old Gre) Credit earned
>1500 100
1380-1500 90
1250-1379 80
1200-1249 70
1150-1199 60
1100-1149 55
1000-1099 50
900-1000 40
<900 0
FINAL ESTIMATION
Total Credits University Rating
230-250 A
215-229 A-
200-214 B+
180-199 B
160-179 B-
140-159 C
<140 D




Thursday, January 5, 2012

Selection based on University Ratings

Have you summed up your credits based on the article methodology explained in the article above? Then it's now time to make selection of choice schools to consider for graduate studies. Be sure you to check the departmental websites of selected school to further familiarize yourself with their requirements. If you have any question, you may leave a comment or send me an email.


Grade A
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
                                                                                            
www.mit.edu 
Harvard University www.harvard.edu 
Stanford University www.stanford.edu 
University of California- Berkeley www.berkeley.edu 
University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign www.uiuc.edu 
University of Michigan Ann Arbor www.umich.edu 
Cornell University www.cornell.edu 
University of Texas at Austin www.utexas.edu 
University of Maryland – College park www.umd.edu 
University of California – San Diego www.ucsd.edu 
California Institute of Technology www.caltech.edu 
University of Wisconsin- Madison www.wisc.edu 
University of California Los Angles www.ucla.edu 
Carnegie Mellon University www.cmu.edu 


Grade A-
Purdue University –West Lafayette www.purdue.edu 
Princeton University www.princeton.edu 
Pennsylvania State University –Univ Park www.psu.edu 
Georgia Institute of Technology www.gatech.edu 
Virginia poly Tech www.vt.edu 
Texas A & M College Station www.tamu.edu 
Duke University www.duke.edu 
University of Washington – Seattle www.washington.edu 
University of Minnesota                                 www.umn.edu 
Columbia University www.columbia.edu 
Yale University www.yale.edu 
Ohio State University  www.osu.edu 
University of Pittsburgh www.pitt.edu 
Brown university (RI) www.brown.edu 
John Hopkins University www.jhu.edu 
North Carolina State University www.ncsu.edu 
Dartmouth College, NH www.dartmouth.edu 
Iowa State University www.iastate.edu 
University of California- Santa Barbara www.ucsb.edu 
Case Western Reserve University www.cwru.edu 
Northwestern University (IL) www.northwestern.edu 
Arizona State University www.asu.edu 
University of Iowa  www.uiowa.edu 
Rutgers, State Univ of NJ, New Brunswick www.rutgers.edu 
Rice University www.rice.edu 
University of Rochester www.rochester.edu 
University of Virginia www.virginia.edu 
University of Pennsylvania www.upenn.edu 


Grade B+
University of Delaware www.udel.edu 
University of California – Davis www.ucdavis.edu 
University of Colorado –Boulder www.colorado.edu 
University of Notre Dame www.nd.edu 
University of Chicago www.uchicago.edu 
Lehigh University (PA) www.lehigh.edu 
University of Southern California www.usc.edu 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY) www.rpi.edu 
University of Cincinnati www.uc.edu 
University of Florida; Gainesville www.ufl.edu 
Washington University St Louis www.wustl.edu 
Vanderbilt University (TN) www.vanderbilt.edu 
University of California - Irvine www.uci.edu 
Michigan State University www.msu.edu 
University of Massachusetts – Amherst www.umass.edu 
Kansas State University www.ksu.edu 
University of Alabama- Tuscaloosa www.ua.edu 
University of Arizona-Tucson www.uarizona.edu 
University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill www.unc.edu 
Colorado School of Mines www.mines.edu 
University of Illinois at Chicago www.uic.edu 
University of New Hampshire www.unh.edu 
University of New Mexico www.unm.edu 
Boston University www.bu.edu 
Colorado State University www.colostate.edu 
Auburn University www.auburn.edu 
University of Buffalo www.buffalo.edu 
University of Akron www.uakron.edu 
Drexel University www.drexel.edu 
Syracuse University www.syr.edu 
Oregon State University www.oregonstate.edu 
Clemson University www.clemson.edu 


Grade B
University of Missouri – Rolla www.umr.edu 
University of Nebraska Lincoln www.unl.edu 
University of Connecticut www.uconn.edu 
University of Utah www.utah.edu 
University of Tennessee-Knoxville www.utk.edu 
West Virginia University www.wvu.edu 
University of Kansas www.ku.edu 
SUNY- stony brook www.sunnysb.edu 
University of Georgia www.uga.edu 
University of Missouri-Columbia www.mizzou.edu 
Oklahoma State University www.okstate.edu 
Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge www.lsu.edu 
University of South Carolina www.sc.edu 
Tulane University www.tulane.edu 
Indiana University - Bloomington www.indiana.edu 
University of Oklahoma www.ou.edu 
University of Miami www.miami.edu 
University of Texas – Dallas www.utdallas.edu 
Ohio University –Athens www.ohiou.edu 
University of Houston –Houston www.uh.edu 
Michigan technological University www.mtu.edu 
University of Maine www.umaine.edu 
University of Kentucky www.uky.edu 
George Washington University www.gwu.edu 
University of Central Florida www.ucf.edu 


Grade B-
Northern Illinois University  www.niu.edu  
Indiana University Purdue University www.iupui.edu 
University of Memphis www.memphis.edu 
University of Nevada Los Vegas www.unlv.edu 
University of Alabama-Huntsville        www.uah.edu 
University of Idaho www.uidaho.edu 
Mississippi State university www.msstate.edu 
University of Missouri, Kansas City www.umkc.edu 
University of North Carolina-Charlotte www.uncc.edu 
Oregon Graduate Institute of Science &Tech www.ogi.edu 
George Mason University www.gmu.edu 
University of Indianapolis www.uindy.edu 
University of Nebraska Omaha www.unomaha.edu 
University of South Florida- Tampa www.usf.edu 
Middle Tennessee State University www.mtsu.edu 
Polytechnic University (NY) www.poly.edu 
University of New Orleans www.uno.edu 
University of Arkansas- Fayetteville www.uark.edu 
Tennessee Technological University www.tntech.edu 
University of South Florida    www.usf.edu 
University of Louisiana-Lafayette www.lousiana.edu 
Florida Institute of Technology www.fit.edu 
Illinois Institute of Technology www.iit.edu 
Washington State University www.wsu.edu 
Georgia State University www.gsu.edu 


Grade C
Texas Tech University www.ttu.edu
Wayne State University www.wayne.edu
California State University, Sacramento www.csus.edu
Missouri State University      www.missouristate.edu
New Mexico State University www.nmsu.edu
North Dakota State University www.ndsu.edu
University of Texas-Arlington www.uta.edu
Clarkson University www.clarkson.edu
Wright State University www.wright.edu
University of Tennessee Chattanooga www.utc.edu
University of Tulsa www.utulsa.edu
Portland state university www.pdx.edu
University of Vermont www.uvm.edu
Baylor University, Texas www.baylor.edu
Villanova University www.villanova.edu
University of Tampa www.utampa.edu
Louisiana Tech. University www.latech.edu
New Jersey Institute of Technology    www.njit.edu
Idaho State University www.isu.edu
Wichita State University www.wichita.edu
University of Mississippi www.olemiss.edu
Northeastern University www.northeastern.edu
Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville www.siue.edu
University of Alaska- Fairbanks www.uaf.edu
Pace University, NY www.pace.edu
Chicago State University www.csus.edu
South Dakota State University www.sdsu.edu
East Carolina University www.ecu.edu
University of North Texas www.unt.edu
SUNY Institute of Technology www.sunyit.edu
University of Missouri at St Louis www.umsl.edu
University of Northern Iowa www.uni.edu
University of Toledo www.utoledo.edu
University of Illinois at Springfield www.uis.edu
Old Dominion University, Virginia www.odu.edu




Grade D
Northwest Missouri State University www.nwmissouri.edu 
Lamar University www.lamar.edu 
 Illinois State University, Normal www.ilstu.edu 
University of Louisville www.louisville.edu 
 Texas A & M University, Commerce tamu-commerce.edu 
Colorado Technical University, Colorado Springs www.coloradotech.edu 
Boise State university, Idaho www.boisestate.edu 
Montana State University, Bozeman www.montana.edu 
South Dakota School of Mines & technology www.sdsmt.edu 
North Carolina Agricultural & Tech State University www.ncat.edu 
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale  www.siuc.edu 
Florida International university www.fiu.edu 
North Dakota State University www.nodak.edu 
Western Kentucky University www.wku.edu 
Bradley University www.bradley.edu 
Cleveland State University www.csuohio.edu 
University of Bridgeport –CT www.bridgeport.edu 
University of Dayton –Ohio www.udayton.edu 
Texas A & M university, Kingsville www.tamuk.edu 
University of West Florida, Pensacola www.uwf.edu 
Eastern Michigan University www.emich.edu 
 Minnesota State University, Mankato www.mnsu.edu 
Suffolk University, MA www.suffolk.edu 
University of North Carolina, Greensboro www.uncg.edu 
New Mexico Institute of Mining &Tech.  www.nmt.edu 
University of Central Arkansas www.uca.edu 
Southeastern University, DC www.seu.edu 
University of Hawaii www.hawai.edu 
University of Texas, Tyler www.uttyler.edu 
Eastern Washington University www.ewu.edu 
Southern Oregon University, Ashland www.sou.edu 
University of Texas at San Antonio www.utsa.edu 
State University of West Georgia www.westga.edu 
Ball State University www.bsu.edu 
University of Texas El Paso www.utep.edu 
Columbus State University www.colstate.edu 
Arkansas State University www.astate.edu 
University of Denver www.du.edu 
North Dakota State University www.ndsu.edu 
New York Institute of Technology www.nyit.edu 
California State University, Chico www.csuchico.edu 
Dakota State University www.dsu.edu 
St Cloud State University www.stcloudstate.edu 
Marquette University www.marquette.edu 
Howard University www.howard.edu