First Class Graduate Rejected by Nigerian University, Accepted by a US University

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@R_Saintdc

Many young Nigerians dream of traveling to the United States for further studies and greener pastures; as a current PhD student in the U.S., I want to share my little story.

A thread! @segalink@AishaYesufu

In 2016, I bagged my first class degree in Microbiology from UNN, and as per the norm, I thought the world will fall at my feet in terms of job security.

I was posted to Bauchi for NYSC but due to a serious illness that left me unconscious for about four days, I was redeployed.

I ended up serving in my alma mater and gave my best throughout my service year. As expected, I applied to the school to be retained as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in my dept and then the stories began.

We are not recruiting, no vacancy, meanwhile appointment letters were rapidly flying over my head to 2.2 and 3rd class graduates (my issue? I had no connection, neither did I have the 700k to settle for the job as requested)

But despite that, I knew what I was working towards - further studies beyond the shores of Nigeria! I continued working for my alma mater for close to two years WITHOUT PAY! sustaining myself with tutorials here and there.

Why? I wanted to be in an environment where I could at least add something significant post-B.SC to my CV. So, I engaged in self funded research and co-authored several scientific papers. All these while, still applying 2 UNN n getting denied!

In 2018, I applied for and got the EducationUSA grant funded by the US Department of State through the US embassy in Abuja and consulate in Lagos that caters for the application of indigent Nigerian students to US schools.

The application period was an arduous process, GRE, TOEFL and uncountable emails to potential professors and schools had to be dealt with. My grant required that I had to come to Lagos periodically and since my side hustle was in Nsk, I made numerous Nsk-Lagos trips, as much as four in a 6 weeks period at one point. All these in pursuit of the better life I wanted for myself and which my own country was effectively trying to snuff out. To cut the long story short, I got PhD offer letters with full scholarship from several US schools with a position as Graduate teaching assistant also. Why did I write all these? As first class graduates, the last thing you want to have on your mind is self-entitlement and for every other youth, there is no quick and easy fix towards actualizing your goals (except you have people at the top to bend the rules for you as is the norm in 9ja and as I painfully found out).

Feel free to send me a mail via reward.eleazar@wayne.edu and I will send a pdf guide I co-authored with some friends to aid you in the application process.

You can alternatively send your mails to gu8894@wayne.edu