Good morning,

I want to tell you how you can get admitted into a MS or PhD program in the USA with a Nigerian HND or its equivalent.

Also, If you finished your BSc with a Low GPA (< 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, for example), you might still have a chance at your choice program.

Thread.

With what I am going to explain to you, be rest assured that you are not going to do anything out of the ordinary.

Information is power and with this, you are going to be fine.

You may not need to worry about your low grade. With your HND, you may just be on your way to USA.

This is what you are simply going to do. You are going to consider re-evaluating your HND or/and Bachelor of Science degree via an education service.

You are going to submit your current HND or BSc Transcript to a reputable and accepted organization for a credential evaluation.

According to @usnews, “a credential evaluation is a report that provides a comparison of a student's academic credentials earned in another country to the U.S.A. educational system”.

See it like this: After the evaluation, you are basically applying to USA schools with the...

...Bachelor Degree equivalent of your HND, in form of the “evaluation report”. This eliminates the dichotomy.

Let me stress that you SHOULD contact the school prior to determine if they accept credential evaluation reports, and which organization’s report they prefer.

Speaking of organizations that offer this service, most commonly used evaluators in the United States include International Education Research Foundation, Inc. (IERF), Academic Evaluation Services (AES), World Education Service (WES), Educational Credential Evaluators, (ECE).

For a detailed expose on Choosing a Credential Evaluation Service, see: https://www.internationalstudent.com/study_usa/application-process/credential-evaluators/choosing-a-service/

Now, let us consider the process in layman terms. I will discuss intently using one of the organizations as a case study.

Remember to contact the school (via an email to the Graduate School) prior to choosing the service and starting the evaluating process at your end.

I am going to be exploring the process and service provided by @WESPicks @WESAdvisor. They are one of the major highly reputable organizations utilized for credential evaluation.

Before, I move into the Course Evaluation process in-depth, please consider two talking points below.

1. You SHOULD do a “Course-By-Course Evaluation” instead of a “Document by Document Evaluation”. See at as all your courses done being paired with same offered in USA schools.

Remember all those external department courses you took back in the days (that probably reduced your CGPA)?

There are cases where they are ignored in the course evaluation (because they are not offered in your program in the USA). This can lead to an INCREASE in your Final CGPA.

This is where people (HND/BSc holders) with low GPA can get a much desired increase. In summary, the GPA of your course evaluation report may be HIGHER than what you currently have.

These testimonies have previously been recorded. See: https://www.nairaland.com/370346/what-hnd-equivalent-usa/4

For example:
CGPA from your School: 3.46/5.00
CGPA from WES: 3.90/5.00

2. Most USA schools require a First Degree GPA of at least 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale). If your degree was on a 5.0, 6.0 or 7.0 scales, you may convert them using the service below:

https://applications.wes.org/igpa-calculator/

NOW LET US TALK ABOUT THE EVALUATION PROCESS

- Cost (Fee Required)
- Step-by-Step Process

I will be using the @WESPicks platform to illustrate this.

Stay with me.

The First Step is to visit https://www.wes.org/evaluations-and-fees/education/graduate-admissions/#

Here, you should select Education > Graduate Admissions

Typically, at @WESPicks, Your evaluation will be completed in seven (7) business days after receipt, review, and approval of all documents, and payment in full.

- You WILL need to send A Copy of your Transcript from your University/Polytechnic to WES!

Here is what a Sample Evaluation report look like.

From: https://www.wes.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/sample-CE-US-cxc.png

FEES

The recommended WES ICAP evaluation costs USD 205.

According to @abokifx (May 10), $1 equals NGN 437 max. (For online payment using Debit cards). Therefore, this service will cost N89,585.

Each additional duplicate report costs at least $30

After the evaluation, send it to your proposed school as part of your admission documents.

You are good to go.

Before I end this, let me share an article by @farooqkperogi that allows you “Look at American Education with Nigerian Eyes”. See: https://www.farooqkperogi.com/2009/12/hnd-and-american-universities.html?m=1

The End