THE 'M' IN STEM: Emmanuel
While in High School at Badagry Grammar School, Lagos State, Nigeria, I wished to do my undergraduate studies abroad. However, I could not even afford the fees for Nigerian Universities. I was considered by some as insanely ambitious. Sadly, I had to perish the thought of studying abroad at that time due to the potential financial cost of my lofty ambition.
After my Bachelor degree studies in the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Nigeria, I did not want to go on Youth Service, a mandatory one year national service, because I felt it would amount to a waste of my precious time. My hope was high since I had applied to the Paris Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences until it was dashed in March 2011. I did not make the final list of awardees. Against my wish, I ended up in Katsina State, Nigeria for the National Youth Service. Interestingly, that year was one of the best years of my life because I went to a totally new environment and met a lot of great people. All of that came with interesting life lessons!
Before rounding off Youth Service, I applied to Oxford University hoping to get the Clarendon Fund scholarship and things were looking up indeed. I had a telephone interview in Akure in February 2012, the same month I returned from the Youth Service. Guess what? The response letter, which was well packaged, started with "We are sorry to inform you". That was indeed devastating!
After the two experiences with Paris and Oxford, I just went on to undertake my Master degree programme in FUTA while making applications to Hong Kong, Canada, USA, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Singapore, Senegal, Malaysia, South Africa, Australia, Germany Portugal, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, Japan, etc. In the process, I started a PhD programme in FUTA, albeit grudgingly.
Some kind of consolations came when I had admission offers at Loughborough University, UK; Washington State University, USA; Memorial University, Canada; Universities of Porto and Coimbra, Portugal and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. However, there was either insufficient or no funding for my studies in those places.
In writing Professors, writing GRE and IELTS and applying for admission and scholarship, I must have made well over 500 attempts. I already gave up at different times but I always found inspiration to keep trying. In the long run, I applied for the Government of Japan MEXT Scholarship in June 2016 just like every normal application in the past. Fortunately, I was selected as 1 of the 8 people from Nigeria out of about 450 applicants. The scholarship turned out to be far better than the best I had ever applied for as it comes with visa, return ticket and monthly stipends!
So, guys REMAIN STUBBORN; THAT IS THE ONLY GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL BREAKTHROUGH. According to John C. Maxwell, “the only guarantee for failure is to stop trying ”.
ABOUT ME
Emmanuel Jesuyon Dansu was born in Ajara Vetho, Badagry, Lagos State, Nigeria. He attended Local Authority Primary School, Ajara, Badagry, Lagos State; Badagry Grammar School, Badagry; Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology, Victoria Island, Lagos (National Diploma in Marine Engineering) and Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria (Bachelor and Master of Technology in Industrial Mathematics). He did his mandatory National Youth Service in Katsina State, Nigeria from 2011 to 2012 and resumed as a Graduate Assistant in his alma mater (FUTA). He became an Assistant Lecturer after obtaining his Master degree in 2014.
Emmanuel is currently a Government of Japan MEXT Scholar in Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan where he studies for a PhD in Mathematical Biology with interest in Population Dynamics in Ecology, Epidemiology and Sociology.
