Career counselling: Questions and answers

Q1: Respected Mr Abidi, I would like to request some information regarding my daughter. She has applied in Biochemistry and Biotechnology in Punjab University for BS Honours. Please guide which she should choose? Can she apply for lectureship in any college after completing these or can she only serve in special department? (Sameer Qureshi, Lahore)

Ans: Dear Mr Sameer. Both Biochemistry and Biotechnology are emerging subject areas/specialism. In addition to this, if she can find BS in Molecular Biology or Genetics this would be even better. Once she completes her bachelors she can have two routes towards her career one by doing an MS and applying within the industry or an MPhil where she could look up to finish as a researcher and become an academic within this domain. In all cases, she should have ample career opportunities.

Q2: Sir, I am a graduate student and it’s around eight months that I am still jobless. I have done my BS in Computer Science with special field of Networking as well as I am also certified CCNA (R&S) and Red Hat Linux form Corvit System, Lahore. I also attended a five-day workshop of Network Designing. Sir, I need your help to get a career entry level job. Thanking you in anticipation. (Burhan Ahmad Tiwana, Gujranwala)

Ans: Dear Tiwana Sb, you have got the necessary academic and professional qualifications. However, it is just a bad patch to your life that you are not getting a response from your employers. At this point I would recommend that you look at an internship in a software house which will help you to develop contacts and get bit of a hands-on experience within your own specialism and I’m sure you will then be able to get a entry level career job.

Q3: Dear Mr Abidi, I am O-level student and weak in subjects like English, Urdu, Pakistan Studies and Islamiat but my main subjects are strong. I cannot afford a private university and so DOW is my best option. (Musa Gulrez Siddiqui, Karachi)

Ans: Dear Mr Siddiqui, I do not fully understand your question. However, if you are asking about your admission to medical university for which you need to decide whether you do A-levels or shift to FSc. As you have said you have financial issues and public sector medical colleges are your only option the best would be to do your FSc and clear your MDCAT and try to get into public sector institutions passing that test would be much easier than as compared to A-levels.

Q4: Sir, I am confused about my present situation regarding my career. My main goal of life is doing MBBS and I consider myself perfect for medical studies as I am quite interested. But the main issue is that I secured 993/1100 in matric, 996/1100 in Intermediate and in two attempts of MDCAT by UHS 1.(948/1100)and this year (906/1100) but still I am confident that I can do much better improvement in this aspect as I am very close to required merit. Now the present issue is that I have wasted my two years for MDCAT. So my question from you is that whether I should take another chance or do something else. If something else then which field is better for me either related to medical or non-medical? (Jibran Naseem, Lahore)

Ans: Dear Jibran, I think you have given enough time and made the required attempts and efforts to get into a medical school. However, there is no need to waste any further time as you might get the same output or the same percentage in next attempt as well. Whereas MBBS was your main goal, there are several other areas that are closely connected to health sciences and supplement the work of a medical practitioner. These include Microbiology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology or Biotechnology. The research in medical science is ongoing, huge research funds are available everywhere in the world and scientists are struggling to find cure to several fatal diseases and viruses such as Cancer, HIV, Zika etc. I would therefore suggest that you do a bit more of a research and find a degree that leads into the above areas and make your career in this very emerging domain.

(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).