For the past few years now, there has been a surge in Nigerian Students leaving the country to the western world, especially, Canada in a bid to further their education and thereby looking for greener pasture after their graduation.
In this aspect, parents strive to do everything possible to send out their children with hope that he/she will be studying and at the same time earning a living.
This is unlike life in Nigeria, where the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) always embarks on what can be described as an ‘annual’ strike to register their anger when their agreement with the federal government is not met.
The strike by ASUU has left most of the promising young and active students with no option, as most of them stay home without no hope. The action of the Federal government and their inability to settle their issues with the University board has, also, left the Nigerian parents with no other option than to gather funds and send out their wards oversea to study, a place where there will be no strike by ASUU.
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However, as many have successfully made out their way out of Nigeria, thousands are nursing the ambition to leave the country. While most of them are students, who strive to further their education oversea, but there are guides which have left many who applied to travel out of the country heartbroken after their application got rejected by the recruiting office.
Twitter user, Tosin AJ, Founder at Welkom-U Inc. revealed some factors behind why most of the travel application by Nigerian students is not successful, especially, with their Statement of Purpose.
Statement Of Purpose?
Yes! Before any school in the western world would approve and accept your application to study at their institution, it has to include your Statement of Purpose.
“Writing a statement of Purpose is standard practice for anybody applying to Graduate school. Most schools ask for this alongside your CV and Transcript,” says Feranmi Ogundeko writer at Medium.
According to Tosin, ‘plagiarism’ is one of the factors behind why most of the applications are not pulling through.
He wrote; “I got a call from the recruitment office at a Canadian university today and the issue was most of the Nigerians who applied there have almost the same Statement of Purpose letters. Please show originality in your applications, use your own words.”
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He continue by saying, “It’s already a sign of plagiarism, how do you intend to get admitted when you’re showing these trends? Get guidance from your peers yes, but don’t use their exact words. Same goes for visa applications.
According to AJ, “The decline for Nigerian applicants has risen by 22.5% between 2015-2019 and that’s not good at all. Please share with your friends and family looking to apply to Canadian schools or any schools at all.
Indeed, plagiarism is one of the factors, but fact-check shows that most of the application is being done by travel agencies and it’s no longer news that they are the one making the mistake of plagiarism, thereby pushing the school recruitment office to reject the applications.
However, for those looking for a good template for how to write SOP, Feranmi Ogundeko has some guidance on what to include in your Statement of Purpose.
Check out the screenshot below.
