Nigerian Man Whose Visa Was Earlier Denied, Succeeds, Starts PhD At Oklahoma State University

A man named Chrisantus Eze has taken time to share his experiences while trying to apply for his PHD program.

He said the journey towards securing and starting his graduate study was a long and arduous one.

However, God’s presence was always with him and it kept him going.

Sharing the lengthy story on LinkedIn, he wrote:

A friend once said to me many years ago, “Chris, if we stay the course, in no distant time, we shall color the sky with our beautiful rhapsodies and bask in the tale of our triumph”.

However, this isn’t a tale of triumph, but a prologue to it.

I am delighted to share that this month, I started my PhD study in Computer Science at the Oklahoma State University. During my time here, I would be researching ways to apply artificial intelligence to fields such as human-robot/computer interaction and virtual interactive environments.

My journey towards securing and starting my graduate study was a long and arduous one. However, God’s presence was always with me and it kept me going.

It all started in late 2019 during my youth service. Being ill-prepared and struggling to beat the various deadlines as a result of taking the GRE late, I submitted half baked applications to just a few programs. Surprisingly, I got an offer, but without funding. So I declined it.

In 2020, I decided to get serious and ready early enough. So, I began sending cold emails as early as July to faculty members in the schools I had planned to apply to. I got some positive feedbacks where I was encouraged to apply, but without a promise of an assistantship due to insufficient funds to take in new students. Also, as usual… I got lots of “love letters”.

Despite that, I still submitted my applications and was accepted by six programs:

  • University of Missouri-Columbia, PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (No Funding)
  • University of Cincinnati, M.Sc in Electrical Engineering (Partial Funding)
  • Drexel University, M.Sc in Computer Science (Partial Funding)
  • Colorado State University, M.Sc in Computer Science (No Funding)
  • University of Kentucky, PhD in Computer Science (No Funding)
  • Oklahoma State University, PhD in Computer Science (Full Funding **)

These offers with partial or no funding came with mixed feelings as I couldn’t decide whether to feel excited or sad. But fortunately, the offer at OSU came with a full funding; tuition waiver and a generous stipend.

However, there was a deficit of approx. $4,000 (Honestly, I don’t know the need for this since my stipend already covers my living expenses and other needs). This later became an issue during the visa process. The offer from OSU which was the last came in a bit late – very close to the start of the Fall semester, so I had to defer my admission to Spring 2022.

My first Visa interview was scheduled for August 26 at the Abuja Consulate, and unfortunately, I was denied visa. I guess the V.O was not convinced of my ability to fund the $4k deficit even though I told him I worked as a Software Engineer for more than two years and the balance on my bank statement was way above the deficit. I returned to Lagos feeling really terrible. I had to change my plans and rescheduled my flight to return to Lagos the same day.

The story was lengthy and so he concluded it at the comment section.

Congrats to him.

Source: linkedIn

Email: elora.akpotosevbe@yahoo.com