Career counselling: questions and answers

Q1: Dear Mr Abidi, I request you to please guide me so that I can get admission to a good university in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey or anywhere whose degree would be acceptable across the world. I want to proceed with my career in MBBS. I am in the Intermediate final year and will be passing out in September. I got 449/505 (89%) marks in the first year and 1003/1100 (92%) in Matric. I will be attempting MCAT but I really want to have an alternative. I have been doing several Model United Nations. I have also participated in Pakistan Youngs Physicists Tournament and stood 3. Please also guide me about any university scholarships. (Kasloom Akhtar Qureshi, Karachi)

Ans: Dear Miss Kalsoom, to do a degree in Medicine from a foreign institution, especially from Europe/ America etc., is very expensive or hardly affordable. One has to be very careful when choosing to do MBBS in Turkey, China or any other such country like Cyprus etc.; as most of these are not fully recognised by PMDC and you may be asked to do additional exams or get your degree accredited again in Pakistan. The other important thing to remember is that MBBS in the UK, Canada, New Zealand or Australia may require additional pre-medical/ foundation programmes if you have not done your A levels. I will advise you to be aware that there are very few scholarships for doing medical programmes.

Q2: Dear Sir, I read your English column recently and thought to get help from you regarding my daughter. She is currently in grade 7 of O-levels. My daughter is willing to join the medical profession. Her teacher has told me to change her to Matric system. He advised me so as he said she would face a loss of 20 marks and this was to avoid one year's waste if she appears in medical examination after O-levels. I would appreciate your expert advice. (Ahsan Jameel Janjua, Gujrat)

Ans: Dear Janjua, your daughter’s teacher has advised absolutely right as I also do the same and always suggest that students should study FSc rather than A-Levels in case of choosing a medical degree in Pakistan. Also note that such students have to study one more year. Furthermore, when it comes to equivalence from IBCC they lose numbers. Let me tell you that Intermediate students are likely to normally score good marks in competitive examinations such as MCAT. This is because of the syllabus they study in their intermediate/higher secondary years.

Q3: Dear Mr Abidi, I would highly appreciate it if you can let me know the prospects of PhD Psychology. And the research area on mental health of war-affected children in Europe. (Ghufran Rameez Butt, Lahore)

Ans: Dear Mr Ghufran, your chosen subject has a broad domain. There are a very low number of highly qualified psychologists here in Pakistan. The growing number of social issues in society like terrorism, violence against women, crime etc., such incidents need more research to overcome this. For such kinds of tasks, psychologists will play a key role. The other important issue is the state of mental health of war-affected families and children, especially in the region of Middle East and Eastern Europe. Therefore, people having PhD in Psychology have more chances of success in research as well as teaching.

Q4: Dear Mr Abidi, I studied Matric (Science Subjects) with 795 marks out of 1050. After this I did ICS (with Math, Computer and Stats). I passed this with 802 marks out of 1100. I scored 163/200 in Math. After my FSc pre-medical, I applied for BS Mathematics because of my interest in Math. In my 1st semester, I got A Grade in three subjects. However, in three other subjects I had F. This is considered to be fail. I’m now very much confused and worried because of such poor performance. I don’t know what to do next. Should I change my subject areas or start a second semester of Mathematics and afterwards again appear in these subjects which I failed. So please guide me how to get good marks. (Mutaharaa, Sahiwal)

Ans: Dear Mutahara, you don’t need to get worried and depressed about the current situation. In my opinion; you did well in your Intermediate and Matric. Sometimes you do not get the expected/ required results because of various reasons. I suggest that you change your study pattern and schedule for improvement. You should practice Mathematics as much as you can. I’m sure you will improve your grades in the three subjects that you failed. I think you should think about the reasons for your failure to understand your deficiency in each subject. I will advise you to keep calm and continue in your second semester and reappear in the remaining subjects. You must work hard with very effective planning for your study hours. I assure you that you will have positive results and improvement.

(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).