Career counselling: questions and answers

Q1: Dear Mr Abidi, I have done three years of Electrical Engineering with 3.47 CGPA. I would appreciate your guidance as to which subject I should study in my final year either Power, Telecommunication, Electronics or Computer? (Ahsan Afridi, Multan)

Ans: Dear Ahsan, you have got a good CGPA/percentage. If you study hard and achieve 3.5 or more CGPA; then you will have a lot of opportunities for scholarships in foreign institutions. With regard to your selection, there are many popular and emerging areas in the power sector. When you get your bachelor’s degree completed, there are various streams within power which include, Transmission & Distribution Engineering, Electrical Power Systems & High Voltage Engineering, Future Power Networks, Sustainable energy etc. I tell you that all these areas are going to give you a successful professional career and more opportunities to grow in future.

Q2: Dear sir, I got 755 marks in my BCom which I passed in 2019. I’m willing to do a masters now either MCS or MBA? Please suggest if I should do MCS or MBA? (Ibrahim Siddiqui, Islamabad)

Ans: Dear Ibrahim, in my opinion, when you want to do a masters without having the experience you should opt MSc Financial Management, Banking or Commerce. Whereas, at this stage, I will suggest you to gain two or three years’ relevant experience prior to starting an MBA.

Q3: Respected Mr Abidi, I passed my bachelors in 2017 with Islamiyat, Political Science and Persian. Now I’m planning to study in a foreign country like England, Switzerland or Germany. Sir, can you please advise how to cover my study gap and which of the above countries would be a good choice? (Usman Arshad, Gujranwala)

Ans: Dear Usman, remember that if you want to study in a foreign country, a gap in education/ study is very important. This is because nearly all countries now want more information on what an applicant has been doing in his gap years before issuance of visa? The degree which you have done is not enough. I suggest you should do a masters either in Political Science or International Relations. You can consider doing a postgraduate degree after that in any of your above mentioned countries, especially Germany, as it is easy to get in and in addition to that; there is no tuition fee in Germany. But on the other hand, you would be required to produce an IELTS of 6.5 for most of the institutions.

Q4: Dear sir, I wanted to request your expert advice in the selection of a course for me. I passed Intermediate with Computer and Economics. I’m good at computer subjects and I’m more interested in doing Computer and Business. Please let me know which one of the subjects from BBA, BSc or BS-Information Technology would be better for me. (Amna Iqbal, Karachi)

Ans: Dear Amna, I will advise you to do bachelors in Business and Information Technology keeping in view the subject you have studied in your Intermediate. This is commonly known as BA Business and IT. Of course, this is a better degree blended with both Business and IT. After successful completion of this degree you should consider studying Business Information Systems (MSc) as it has a very good career scope not only in Pakistan but in foreign countries as well. I think the above information will be very useful and helpful in making a decision for future subjects/ degrees.

(Syed Azhar Husnain Abidi is a renowned educationist in Pakistan, with more than 20 years of experience as provider of education counselling services. He has represented Pakistan in over 100 national and international seminars, conferences and fora. He is a recipient of the most coveted civil award Tamgha-e-Imtiaz).