12/05/2022
PURSUING GRADUATE ADMISSION IN THE UNITED STATES: HOW TO START
· What are the basic requirements for admission?
The basic requirements for US schools, as already listed, include Baccalaureate degree (from the US) or its equivalent from other countries, transcripts, English proficiency test results (TOEFL or IELTS), GRE, CV, statement of purpose (SOP), and recommendation letters. Bachelor’s degrees from African universities meet the above standard; however, HND needs to be evaluated by WES. Most schools require a min of 2.1 for assistantship. If you have 2.2, you may need to show exceptional skills to make up, or you get a PGD. Also, most schools waive GRE, and some schools waive English proficiency tests for some English-speaking African countries, including Nigeria. However, if you do not want to be bound by any requirement, go ahead and write those exams, especially TOEFL.
· When do I apply?
US schools admit graduate students in both Spring and Fall semesters. However, most schools admit more, especially international students, in the Fall semester. Some departments do not admit at all in Spring. Spring semester starts January, whereas Fall starts August (or early September for some schools). The application window for Fall closes from December to February (most schools mid Dec to mid Jan, some will be open till Feb, and only few will close in March). For Spring, application is open till around August. However, if you need funding, which I suppose most of us here do, early application is paramount.
· Which school(s) do I apply to?
There are more than 4000 universities in America, and most of them have funding, depending on your program of choice. The first thing to consider is your choice course. Not all universities offer the course you may want to study; hence, you must search different schools to find those that offer what you want. You may also need to check the research areas, not just the department. The second thing is the rank of schools. US schools are ranked, and higher-ranked schools are more competitive than the lower-ranked ones. To select schools, you have to evaluate yourself and determine where you fit in the most. We advise you spread your applications across schools of varying ranks, but put more weight on middle-ranked schools (B+, B, and B- schools). You can check US school ranking via this link http://www.msinus.com/content/. You can also evaluate your credentials on that site to know the best schools you fall into. If you have financial constraints, you may also want to look for schools that accept unofficial transcripts for admission consideration and maybe can waive application fees. These could help save you some bucks.
· How do I start?
You start by thinking about it. The process is a rigorous one; hnce, you must determine its what really you want to pursue. When you are sure it’s what you want, then, you gather requirements. Get a copy of your transcript, get your TOEFL or IELTS and GRE ready, think of persons to recommend you, and start developing your SOP and CV. Next is to look for universities. It is recommended you send emails to professors to indicate your interest in their areas (this we shall further discuss). After bookmarking several schools, you sieve them and focus on just a few of them. Remember to start saving your application fees as well. Finally, you ensure to submit your applications before the deadlines.
For each of the bullet points above, we shall have a more elaborate discussion and provide you with as many helpful resources as we can lay our hands on. For those that wish to apply against 2024 Spring or Fall, the time to start is now. You need to get yourself ready beforehand. You need to get acquainted with the processes. You need to start searching for potential advisors. You need to start thinking about GRE and/or TOEFL exams, if need be. You do not need to wait till next year.
02/05/2023
11/30/2022