After I completed my undergraduate program in 2010, I had no idea how to secure funding for a master’s or PhD. The reason is that I wasn’t exposed to that side of the world. In fact, nobody even whispered it to me. Although I had a good grade from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, I wasn’t aware of it.
In 2013, I applied for my Master’s in Physics at the University of Ibadan, driven by a burning desire to upskill and specialize in a particular field of physics. However, I wasn’t sure which specialization to pursue. My undergraduate research work was on atmospheric physics, but my heart was drifting towards a trending field (condensed matter). During that time, materials science was the talk of the moment, and I was like, ” This field will land me in high-paying companies after my program”. Because of the field’s appeal, I chose to abandon my atmospheric physics research to pursue a newfound love (condensed matter).
After completing my Master’s, I got a job at one of the leading Cambridge A-level preparatory schools in Nigeria (Educational Advancement Center). This job helped me to gain a better understanding of the fundamentals of physics. This is where I was able to fill some of the gaps in my basic physics understanding. From there, I secured a lecturing job at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic as an associate lecturer in 2016. In a way, I have started developing an interest in atmospheric physics again and have been conducting research with my students.
In 2020, I started hearing about the possibility of studying in the US on a full scholarship. However, I don’t know how to go about it. I did some research to know what I will need to do to secure full funding. I learned that I must send cold emails to professors whose research interests me, write a strong statement of purpose (SOP), and take the GRE. I started applying in full in 2022 after I had my transcripts evaluated by WES. But that year, all my applications were denied. I applied again in 2023, but I did something different; I took the GRE and TOEFL. I was denied again by all the schools I applied to.
In 2024, I realized some of my mistakes, and I would like to share what I learned. The programs I was applying to were condensed matter. So, in my SOP, I didn’t pour my heart into it. This is just a field I like because of the trend, not because I have done much research in it. Although I had one publication on the structural and thermodynamic properties of selected alloys, that wasn’t in a field in which I have done so much work, both personally and with my students. When I realized that, I decided to go to a school that offers atmospheric physics. The SOP I wrote was different from others I had written because I was able to discuss my research work in the field from my undergraduate level through to the time I was an associate lecturer at MAPOLY. I believed that the tone in my SOP was genuine and showed someone who is not only passionate about the field but also has a solid foundation to succeed in it.
When my school offered me full funding, I knew I had done something right in my application, unlike in the others I had submitted. This write-up is intended to encourage anyone who has faced several rejections to look inward to identify what might be making their application unsuccessful. During the review process, the professors are looking at your whole application. And what they are looking for is whether you are capable of succeeding in the graduate program through your passion, academic record, and life experience.
