A brilliant Nigerian lady, Islamiyat Ojelade has achieved a major feat in the United States after getting 7 PhD scholarships in 7 top US universities with HND.
It was gathered that Islamiyat majored in Chemistry at the Federal Polytechnic Ilaro where she bagged an HND in Science Laboratory Technology.
In an interview with Legit.ng, Islamiyat said a mistake in her admission form got her a major in the course. She got into school and gave it all her best and aced it and graduated as best in her class. "After the completion of my National Diploma at the Ogun State Insitute of Technology in 2015, I went for my Industrial Training. Thereafter, I enrolled at the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro for Science Laboratory Technology while majoring in Chemistry. I honestly didn't want to major in Chemistry, but an error in my application got me Chemistry. But immediately I saw my name on the list of Chemistry students, I fell in love with it."
Achieving a rare feat Islamiyat said her success in getting scholarships for PhD without going through a masters came with a lot of hard work and many years of consistency. She however said it is a great milestone in her life and that she is excited about it.
Ordinarily, it would be thought that Islamiyat must have to go through a master's, or pre-masters course before climbing the academic ladder, especially with the HND/Degree dichotomy in Nigeria.
But it is amazing that the scholarships are for PhD, straight from HND. Her story has gathered a lot of attention on LinkedIn where she shared it.
She wrote: "Considering the dichotomy between HND and BSc in Nigeria, I was scared and confused on what next to do after my undergraduate studies. "I am so elated to inform you all that I will be starting my PhD program in Chemistry at the Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA this Fall, having received full scholarships from 7 universities in the United States of America with my Higher National Diploma in Science Laboratory Technology (Chemistry Major)."
The schools she got into are Florida State University, University of Massachusetts Armherst, University of Kansas, University of Kentucky, University of North Texas, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Marquette University.
Reacting to the feat, a journalist, Israel Usulor wrote on Twitter:
"This is Islamiyat Ojelade, a Nigerian lady who got 7 PhD scholarships in 7 universities in USA.
She only has HND! Meaning she went straight to PhD without masters.
I interviewed her and wrote about her amazing story.
She is a graduate of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro where she studied Science Laboratory Technology.
She is now pursuing a PhD in Chemistry at Florida State University, USA."