Advice for an International Student

[naija chux]

Hello!

I just finished my undergraduate studies this year (february) with a GPA of 3.5 (on a scale of 5) from one of the best universities in Nigeria (Obafemi Awolowo University) in  Computer Science with Maths and I'm planning to start my masters in Information Management in  the fall of 2014. I have special interests in  Social Networks, Data Mining and Network Visualizations. I have been doing a lot of "research"about graduate school in the US or UK. Infact I visit the website of my dream school (iSchool, University of Michigan) almost every day since I graduated reading everything there . I've got some few questions and I need some advice please.

 

Firstly, do US universities reckon with degrees from African Universities especially Nigerian Universities because the standard of education here is very low when compared to Universities in developed nations?

 

Secondly, my GPA is average at most (because converting it to a scale of 4 which is used in most US universities, it becomes 2.8). Most of the schools I hope to apply to state a GPA of 3.0. I have read that a good GRE and LOR helps those with average GPA's but I guess that's for those who graduate from reputable schools. Please correct me if i am wrong.

 

I also learnt that publishing research papers would also give you and edge or working in a research lab. Errrmmmm, I live in Nigeria and research is not as common as it is in other nations. Research labs barely exist and the system of education does not really support research because there is little or no funding for Universities. I wrote a paper to be published in the Journal for Social Computing and it was turned down with horrible comments . What I basically do as a hobby is mine tweets and create network diagrams of followers (I just love creating and visualizing networks). I have great interersts in anything Networks and Graphs but no "official research" to show for it. Is that also an handicap to my application?

I have some work experience. I was an Intern for 6 months in a software firm as an undergraduate and I'm presently working as a software developer in the same firm now that I have graduated (i feel lucky in a country where employment rate is 43%. That shows how hard it is to find a job here ).

 

Looking forward to some advice and answers   Thanks!