Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Night at the Ashmolean
Ashmolean Museum opened its doors exclusively to Oxford fresher students on the night of 06 Nov, 2012. From 1900-2130 hrs, all areas of the museum were open to the students, there was some activities lined up, like a DIY tresure hunt, various medieval board games, making a gargoyle sculpture, sketching old clay tablets, and guided tours of the various galleries in the museum. Every gallery was filled with treasures from around the world, Japanese kimonos, Italian gold watches, Chinese paintings, Egyptian coffins, Roman sculptures, British porcelain, Greek bowls, Arabian doors, Mughal miniatures, Stradevari violins and paintings from every era. An amazing tribute to the diverse range of human artistic experience.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Odette and Odile
On Wed, 16th of Oct 2012, I saw my first every live ballet performance.
I had been planning to watch a ballet performance for sometime but unfortunately the best ballets had been sold out well in advance. Luckily on the Tue night, 15 Oct, I suddenly found out that a few tickets had become available for the matinee performance of Swan Lake performed by The Royal Ballet, at The Royal Opera House. I immediately bought the tickets, booked my bus for London, and the next morning was on my way. I got off from the bus at Victoria bus stop, and decided to walk to the Opera House, it was a 40 mins walk which felt like a mere 5 mins. I passed by Buckingham Palace, The Mall, Trafalgar Square, The National Portrait Gallery. Interestingly, contrary to what I had come to believe from watching Indian movies, I saw no pigeons in Trafalgar Square!
I reached The Royal Opera House and waited for the the performance theater doors to open. They opened at 1:30 pm, I took my front row center seat, and was delighted because I had a clear view of the orchestra and was as close to the stage as possible.
The lady sitting to my left was celebrating her 60th birthday and as a treat her friend had brought her there, earlier her friend had taken her to The Royal Ballet school and she had met with the young ballerinas in training.
The ballet started, and with every passing moment, each leap, each pirouette, I fell more and more in love with Swan Lake. It seemed to be the perfect coalescence of all I had seen on TV, the beautiful music I had heard, and the movie Black Swan that I had loved so much. The choreography was the one from the 1895 revival and the Tchaikovsky music was breathtaking.
During the final break, before the last act, I found out that the lady sitting to my right was actually from Karachi, Pakistan and was working for Hello magazine in London, we talked for a while and we both laughed at the amazing coincidence of two Pakistanis both having links to Karachi, sitting side by side, so randomly at a Swan Lake performance.
For days afterwards, I kept humming tunes from the ballet.
I had been planning to watch a ballet performance for sometime but unfortunately the best ballets had been sold out well in advance. Luckily on the Tue night, 15 Oct, I suddenly found out that a few tickets had become available for the matinee performance of Swan Lake performed by The Royal Ballet, at The Royal Opera House. I immediately bought the tickets, booked my bus for London, and the next morning was on my way. I got off from the bus at Victoria bus stop, and decided to walk to the Opera House, it was a 40 mins walk which felt like a mere 5 mins. I passed by Buckingham Palace, The Mall, Trafalgar Square, The National Portrait Gallery. Interestingly, contrary to what I had come to believe from watching Indian movies, I saw no pigeons in Trafalgar Square!
I reached The Royal Opera House and waited for the the performance theater doors to open. They opened at 1:30 pm, I took my front row center seat, and was delighted because I had a clear view of the orchestra and was as close to the stage as possible.
The lady sitting to my left was celebrating her 60th birthday and as a treat her friend had brought her there, earlier her friend had taken her to The Royal Ballet school and she had met with the young ballerinas in training.
The ballet started, and with every passing moment, each leap, each pirouette, I fell more and more in love with Swan Lake. It seemed to be the perfect coalescence of all I had seen on TV, the beautiful music I had heard, and the movie Black Swan that I had loved so much. The choreography was the one from the 1895 revival and the Tchaikovsky music was breathtaking.
During the final break, before the last act, I found out that the lady sitting to my right was actually from Karachi, Pakistan and was working for Hello magazine in London, we talked for a while and we both laughed at the amazing coincidence of two Pakistanis both having links to Karachi, sitting side by side, so randomly at a Swan Lake performance.
For days afterwards, I kept humming tunes from the ballet.
Salsa!
Brasenose College has a very active HCR (Hulme Common Room, the gathering point for graduate students in the college). They have a salsa class every Sunday. This Sunday, was the first one that I attended. My fellow dancers were an interesting mix, with people from Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Romania, Ireland, India, and Scotland. Only a few of us had danced salsa before, I certainly hadn't. We learned four dance steps, and practiced them for the next couple of hours, switching dance partners after every two songs or so. It was fun, and definitely a good exercise. Looking forward to more dance lessons!
Eid in a foreign land
Firday, 26th Oct, 2012 was my first Eid-ul-Azha in UK. I had found out before hand that there was a big central Mosque in Cowely, where one of the main Eid prayer in Oxford would be held at 9am. My rough estimate for reaching the Mosque was 40 mins, on foot. I woke up at 8am, and was immediately faced with the desire not to go to Eid prayer, I felt that it didn't really matter, it wasn't as if I had any relatives that I would be meeting at the Mosque, but by 8:15 I convinced myself to at least get ready for the day. I dressed up in jeans, dress shirt and sweater, and was ready by 8:30, and knew in my heart that even if I started to walk right then, I would be late and miss the prayer in any case, but I convinced myself that just walking to the Mosque in itself was worth the effort and I should give it a shot. In typical Oxford fashion, it was raining outside, and so I began my trod towards Cowely.
The Mosque in Cowely has a big black dome and is situated in front of what appears to be an old-ish Church. I reached there at 9:05 and was relieved to hear that the prayers hadn't yet started. I fell in line with the rest of the people, all dressed in Shalwar Kameez, entering the Mosque. The first thing I noticed, from the writings on the Mosque gate, was that the Mosque had some very tell-tale Sunni sect roots, and at that instant I realized that I will not be offering Eid prayer in the Shia fashion that I was accustomed to. The Mosque was very spacious and I found a place in the central hall on the upper story. The Molvi Sahab leading the prayer was talking to the congregation in two languages, switching between English and Urdu, he was asking the congregation to recite the Durood repeatedly, in an effort to delay the prayers slightly, because apparently a large number of people were still settling in. At 9:15 the congregation stood up for the offering of the prayer, and when the Molvi Sahab was about to start the prayer, someone from the back shouted, please wait a bit more, some people are still coming from their homes, to which someone in the congregation retorted, that if they are still coming from their homes, then it's too late already, they should stay at their home now.
The prayers went smoothly, I offered mine with my arms to my sides (the Shia fashion), and everyone around me with their hands together (the Sunni fashion). When the prayers finished, and people started to get up, I was suddenly hit by the realization that this would be my first Eid when I would have no one to hug and wish "Eid Mubarak", not my dad, not my cousins or uncles, I was in a foreign land, among strangers. But, I had barely processed this stream of thoughts, that the guy who had finished his prayers next to me, turned around to me and wished me Eid Mubarak and gave me the Eid Mubarak hug. That was it, that was all it took, I was content, as I walked out of the Mosque, I felt in my heart that for the first time I had fully seen the system, the Muslim brotherhood that we had heard about all along in our classes, the system of Islamic brotherhood had not failed. That one hug from the stranger in the Mosque, was the hug from home, a hug from Pakistan.
After that, I went to my Engineering dept. building and it was business as usual.
The Mosque in Cowely has a big black dome and is situated in front of what appears to be an old-ish Church. I reached there at 9:05 and was relieved to hear that the prayers hadn't yet started. I fell in line with the rest of the people, all dressed in Shalwar Kameez, entering the Mosque. The first thing I noticed, from the writings on the Mosque gate, was that the Mosque had some very tell-tale Sunni sect roots, and at that instant I realized that I will not be offering Eid prayer in the Shia fashion that I was accustomed to. The Mosque was very spacious and I found a place in the central hall on the upper story. The Molvi Sahab leading the prayer was talking to the congregation in two languages, switching between English and Urdu, he was asking the congregation to recite the Durood repeatedly, in an effort to delay the prayers slightly, because apparently a large number of people were still settling in. At 9:15 the congregation stood up for the offering of the prayer, and when the Molvi Sahab was about to start the prayer, someone from the back shouted, please wait a bit more, some people are still coming from their homes, to which someone in the congregation retorted, that if they are still coming from their homes, then it's too late already, they should stay at their home now.
The prayers went smoothly, I offered mine with my arms to my sides (the Shia fashion), and everyone around me with their hands together (the Sunni fashion). When the prayers finished, and people started to get up, I was suddenly hit by the realization that this would be my first Eid when I would have no one to hug and wish "Eid Mubarak", not my dad, not my cousins or uncles, I was in a foreign land, among strangers. But, I had barely processed this stream of thoughts, that the guy who had finished his prayers next to me, turned around to me and wished me Eid Mubarak and gave me the Eid Mubarak hug. That was it, that was all it took, I was content, as I walked out of the Mosque, I felt in my heart that for the first time I had fully seen the system, the Muslim brotherhood that we had heard about all along in our classes, the system of Islamic brotherhood had not failed. That one hug from the stranger in the Mosque, was the hug from home, a hug from Pakistan.
After that, I went to my Engineering dept. building and it was business as usual.
Monday, November 12, 2012
"Pak sar zameen shad-bad"
On 03 Oct, 2012, the Rhodes class of 2012 had their official group photo taken at the Rhodes House. I had initially planned to go dressed in a suit, but on the morning of the group photo, I felt that Shalwar Kameez was the right choice. And so, dressed in a black kameez and white shalwar, I arrived at the Rhodes House. It was a very pleasant day, one of the rare sunny ones here in Oxford. We were all taken to the Rhodes House garden and asked to stand in the order of our heights, which is a always a fun sorting activity. Then the photographer started picking out people for the front row, and he chose me for it too, yippee! After the photograph was done, out individual portraits were taken, and it was around this time that the Rhodes scholars from all the different constituencies started to sing their national anthems. First were the South Africans, then the Indians and then I was asked to sing my national anthem, and so I sang the solo.
"Pak sar zameen shad-bad". Standing there in the Rhodes garden, I felt like a child again, singing the national anthem in my school assembly.
"Pak sar zameen ka nizam". It also felt as if I was reciting the words from my heart for the first time, my first national anthem.
"Parcham-e-Sitara-o-Hilal". That day I went back and found the national anthem in Urdu and put up a print out in my room, to remind me always of this beautiful emotion.
"Saya-e-Khuda-e-zul-jalal"
"Pak sar zameen shad-bad". Standing there in the Rhodes garden, I felt like a child again, singing the national anthem in my school assembly.
"Pak sar zameen ka nizam". It also felt as if I was reciting the words from my heart for the first time, my first national anthem.
"Parcham-e-Sitara-o-Hilal". That day I went back and found the national anthem in Urdu and put up a print out in my room, to remind me always of this beautiful emotion.
"Saya-e-Khuda-e-zul-jalal"
SMS = Bananas
The mobile phone networks in Pakistan are an amazing blessing, one that like so many things you don't fully value, until you land in a country which follows arcane phone contract plans. Case in point: (you guessed it right) UK. UK has a majorly contract based system, get the phone and sell your soul for 24 months, and the pay-as-you-go (PAYG) plans that come with some of the network providers are even worse than the monthly plans. One text messages can cost as much as a pound of bananas (£0.12). For non-Pakistani readers, in Pakistan one text message costs £0.00002, I have no idea if you can actually get anything in UK for that price. So, for my first 4 weeks in the UK, I checked out many a service providers, trying in vain to capture Pakistani levels of dirt-cheap local calls and texts and a good price for calls back home. And then, I did what Pakistani romeos do all the time, multiple sims for multiple purposes. I got myself a Lebara sim for calling back home, which with it's £5 weekly pass, costs me 5p per minute to call to Pakistan, and for local use I went the Giffgaff way, which with it's £5 montly goody bag gives me 300 texts per month and 60 minutes, with all Giffgaff to Giffgaff calls for free. Two sims, my sturdy 6 year old Motorola C118, almost bliss. Ah, the good old days of my Pakistani Ufone and Telenor sims.
Catching Fireflies in Cowley
31st Oct, 2012 was my first Halloween in a country which actually celebrates it, and in typical Oxford fashion, I was faced with the option of being at two equally enticing places at once. My college was holding its termly graduate dinner that night and I had pre-booked tickets to an Owl City concert for the same time slot. Decisions, decisions. At lunch time, a visiting student from Germany was talking about how she was going to miss out on the graduate dinner, because she had been unable to sign up for it in time and viola, my conundrum was solved for me, I quickly offered her my seat for the graduate dinner and firmly set my mind upon attending the Owl City concert. Despite my enthusiasm, I had only heard two Owl City songs till that date, Fireflies and Vanilla Twilight, and so went into the concert with a heart to hear completely new melodies. Four fellow Brasenostrils (yes, that's what you call a student of Brasenose College) and I set off towards Cowley and the 40 min walk seemed to pass in 4 mins. When we reached O2 Academy, we were faced with the biggest queue I had ever seen, but luckily due to our pre-booked tickets, we found that we could queue-jump and didn't have to wait long at all, to get in. None of us were sure if there was another act before Owl City, and so when three guys came on stage and played a great song, that all of us loved, without knowing whether this was Owl City or not, I found later that it was Mathew Makoma and I was faced with the tempting question, "How well am I able to distinguish quality and value from hype and brand?", concrete answers still pending.
The night was bucket loads of fun, and the whole Owl City band turned up in costume, with the lead singer in Batman garb! Certainly, a Halloween night that I loved. When post-concert, I came back to college, we found out that the Graduate dinner speaker had been a controversial banker, who had made money thorough some not cleanly ethical mean during the crash, and everyone was abuzz about his evil nature. I was glad that I went with the Fireflies.
The night was bucket loads of fun, and the whole Owl City band turned up in costume, with the lead singer in Batman garb! Certainly, a Halloween night that I loved. When post-concert, I came back to college, we found out that the Graduate dinner speaker had been a controversial banker, who had made money thorough some not cleanly ethical mean during the crash, and everyone was abuzz about his evil nature. I was glad that I went with the Fireflies.
Day of Love and the white pick-up van
On 21st Sept, 2012, after a teary eyed farewell from my parents in Multan, I reached Karachi. I reached Karachi on the "Day of Love" (as it was called by newspapers in the UK), the day when we decided to protest against a movie. Essentially I reached Karachi on the day that no transport was available and children were playing cricket on the roads and pelting rocks at the unfortunate cars that dared to pass by.
At the airport, after finding out that all the available taxis were demanding an ounce of gold to take me to my friends' place, I just waited around for a while and I fortunately ran into Faheem R., a comrade from PNEC, and it turned out that, coincidence of coincidences, he too was going to UK the next day and was going to be at UCL. We hired a radio cab together and set off into the city.
I reached my friends' place, I was greeted with the warm welcome that I had come to expect (Dabang Haleem zindabad). Juni, Madi (or shall I say Ladoo), Core, Mehdi, all of my post-PNEC, PNEC-buddies were there. Due to it being the "Day of Love", we were pretty much deprived of any fun that could have been had in Karachi, but nonetheless my bunch of friends were as awesome as always and we spent the day telling odd ball jokes, come the night we were faced with a conundrum - how to get me to the airport? Due to the situation getting worse thorough out the day, none of the radio cabs were available anymore, and that's when Juni and Madi called one of their friends to borrow his white "garri" (literal meaning = anytype of moving four-wheeler), and he asked them to come over and take it. I expected a car, but when Madi and Juni, came back, I realized that it was a white pick up van, the sort which I had usually seen transporting all manner of goods around the city, from chickens to school kids. And it was in this white pick up van in which I loaded my 40kg+ luggage, the three of us squished into the front and set off into the Karachi night. A more PNEC-esque fun trip to the airport could not have been wished for. We reached the airport, had baklawa, samosay, chai and a sprinkling of gossip. At about 2 am, I said farewell and went to the departures lounge. I am not sure how it was for the protesters on the street, but for me, 21st of Sept was definitely a "Day of Love".
Next stop Dubai...
At the airport, after finding out that all the available taxis were demanding an ounce of gold to take me to my friends' place, I just waited around for a while and I fortunately ran into Faheem R., a comrade from PNEC, and it turned out that, coincidence of coincidences, he too was going to UK the next day and was going to be at UCL. We hired a radio cab together and set off into the city.
I reached my friends' place, I was greeted with the warm welcome that I had come to expect (Dabang Haleem zindabad). Juni, Madi (or shall I say Ladoo), Core, Mehdi, all of my post-PNEC, PNEC-buddies were there. Due to it being the "Day of Love", we were pretty much deprived of any fun that could have been had in Karachi, but nonetheless my bunch of friends were as awesome as always and we spent the day telling odd ball jokes, come the night we were faced with a conundrum - how to get me to the airport? Due to the situation getting worse thorough out the day, none of the radio cabs were available anymore, and that's when Juni and Madi called one of their friends to borrow his white "garri" (literal meaning = anytype of moving four-wheeler), and he asked them to come over and take it. I expected a car, but when Madi and Juni, came back, I realized that it was a white pick up van, the sort which I had usually seen transporting all manner of goods around the city, from chickens to school kids. And it was in this white pick up van in which I loaded my 40kg+ luggage, the three of us squished into the front and set off into the Karachi night. A more PNEC-esque fun trip to the airport could not have been wished for. We reached the airport, had baklawa, samosay, chai and a sprinkling of gossip. At about 2 am, I said farewell and went to the departures lounge. I am not sure how it was for the protesters on the street, but for me, 21st of Sept was definitely a "Day of Love".
Next stop Dubai...
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Are you an Illuminati?
A few days ago, a very good friend of mine called me up and asked me very seriously, "Ali, are you an Illuminati?". I was completely dumbfounded by this question, I asked him, "Why are you asking this?" and he replied in a matter-of-fact way, "Because you are a Rhodes scholar!". I thought he was pulling my leg, but on further inquiry he revealed that he had recently read that Cecil Rhodes was an Illuminati and that all Rhodes scholars are inducted to be made Illuminati members. He had me in stitches, and I pointed out that since Mr. Fulbright was also a Rhodes scholar, did he think that all Fulbrighters were Illuminati, too? He thought for a moment and then said, "Of course! they must be Illuminati too". Just to check up on his conspiracy theories I googled up "rhodes illuminati" and sure enough a lot of links popped up purporting the same ideas, a really fun read was "Oxford University: The Illuminati Breeding Ground". Sure enough, me being an Illuminati became the joke of the week among my friends, the best response that I heard to the joke was from another friend, who simply said, "I don't care if you are a free mason or Illuminati, just send me the membership form, let's partner up!"
Friday, August 3, 2012
Why do you want to go for further studies?
Alice: I was just wondering if you could help me find my way.
Cheshire Cat: Well that depends on where you want to get to.
Alice: Oh, it really doesn't matter, as long as...
Cheshire Cat: Then it really doesn't matter which way you go.
Cheshire Cat: Well that depends on where you want to get to.
Alice: Oh, it really doesn't matter, as long as...
Cheshire Cat: Then it really doesn't matter which way you go.
Professionals who are bored with their jobs and don't think that there is much career progression left for them in their current line of work, want to go for higher studies to hone their skills for a promotion/career switch. For this type of student it is essential to be clear about what sort of career switch they have in mind and to target only the best in that field, rather than fumbling in the dark in quest of just an admission to any foreign university, which would not add much value to their career progression. Once you know what career switch you have in mind, you should start with trying to study up on any pre-reqs that your chosen course requires, and ensure that you find this work mentally stimulating, it is no fun switching from one boring job to another.
People who just want to end up in a foreign land to get a nationality. If you fall in this category, you should first make a very thorough evaluation and see if you can really not make a successful living in Pakistan and would be really better off in a foreign land. Fulfilling dollar dreams comes at a price, know this and make sure that you are willing to pay it. If you really want to study in a foreign university so you are better qualified to work in that country then it is very important that you pick the right country. You should see which countries have good health care, children schooling, the buying power of the people, the unemployment rates, hate crime rates etc. After choosing your ideal country understand that country's immigration policies, pick out a few good universities from that country, understand their admission requisites. Try to stay away from agents, you are intelligent enough to figure out much of it on your own.
Students who want to make up for the bad grades they got in a Pakistani university, and want to add the stamp of a foreign university to their CV, to get a better job in Pakistan. There are two ways to go about it, first you may aim low and go to some low ranking foreign university, the other path is to get an MS from a local university, get good grades there, and then aim high and target good level foreign universities. I encourage you to invest some serious time in your personal growth and go for the second option.
Listless youth who don't really know what to do with life and just want to do another degree for the sake of it. I would encourage you to carry out some social work rather than embarking on a higher degree. Social work will give you some direction in your own personal endeavours and hopefully help you figure out what you really want to do with your life.
Students with good grades who actually want to study more for the sake of it. I encourage these students to prime their portfolio well, have a good GRE/GMAT/TOEFL score under their belt, some quality research work or good internships as well. Target 2 dream schools, 3 middle schools and 2 safe schools. An overwhelming and daunting task, I know, but it will pay off well. And the importance of contacting the faculty at your target schools cannot be overemphasised, contact the professors in your fields of interest and try to secure student ships and research grants, which are most often at the professors' discretion. And do apply for Fulbright and Rhodes, you are worth it.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Should you apply for this scholarship?
A lot of students, whose GPAs range from 2.0 to 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale), often ask me if they would be eligible for any scholarships at all, let alone the most popular ones like Fulbright and Rhodes, because they are afraid that they have very low GPAs. In order to fully answer this question, there are some factors that must be taken into consideration and I will try to outline them in this post.
A scholarship application is the sum of all its parts, and the GPA is but one constituent of the equation. What makes a successful application is the applicant's devotion to the pursuit of excellence.
First and foremost, a bad GPA, whatever you think that may be, is not the be all and end all of this world. GPAs across universities are inconsistent and therefore not an absolute way of gauging the students from one university vs another. Even in NUST itself, the GPAs from various constituent colleges cannot be directly compared with one another. So, a 2.5 from PNEC and a 2.5 from EME are not the same things (the 2.5 from PNEC is better, although the 2.5 from EME will get the better job). Therefore when you project this phenomenon on the scale of an international scholarship, GPA in itself losses its haloed importance as a metric of academic achievement. Therefore standardized tests, like GRE/GMAT, help smooth out the playing field. So, even if you have a crappy GPA, you should put all the effort that you didn't put in college studies, into your GRE/GMAT prep. For Fulbright, the GRE is compulsory (even if you are applying for MBA), but for Rhodes there is no outlined requirement for standardized tests, but it won't hurt your case to have a good GRE score. The Rhodes judges may make an assessment of your "scholastic attainment" based on multiple parameters like your GPA, published research papers, distinctions in academic things like your final year project, contributions to renowned journals, original research, engineering projects and excellent internships.
You must have a life outside your job and your classroom, this cannot be overstated. Explore your interests, hone your talents, cultivate your passions. Become a part time photographer, capture all the beauty around you, better yet capture all the hope that exists in places where beauty does not exist. Pick a paint brush and let your imagination fly on a canvas. Write a line of poetry, a paragraph, a novel. Go to that swimming pool and learn a new stroke of swimming. Find a sport you are good at and then excel at it. Whatever you do, you must always be in the pursuit of excellence. And each of these activities will bring more friends into your life, which in itself will lead to a broadening of your world view.
The scholarship committees of both Fulbright and Rhodes are looking for people who display the spark and charisma to be leaders in their fields of interest, who can become agents of positive change in the world and who can rise above the selfish desire for raw success in order to make contributions for the benefit of humanity at large; these individuals exist among you and me. Especially in a country like Pakistan, where the amount of widespread problems is soaring exponentially, the capability of bringing positive change is orders of magnitude greater than most other nations. Therefore, an active interest in the betterment of your fellow nationals, and a portfolio demonstrating this interest is essential. You may run a student body that promotes social improvement, you may educate children from families with modest means, you may run campaigns against corruption, create awareness about environment and mitigating pollution, voice your opinion about social inequality, spread a message of peace against the rampant religious discrimination, run a campaign to stymie the exploitation of the poor, propose solutions for the lack of a proper health care system, set up a small business to lessen the ever rising underemployment, all this and more, but you do need to take your head out of the classroom once in a while and look at the world around you and see how you can contribute to it. You should have a clear idea that you have a role to play and if you don't play it, then we are all lost. You may ask, "How do I make time for all of this, I have tests and assignments and social commitments?", well, you make time for it, the same way you make time for watching hours of TV, and for acting like drawing room politicians and for playing the new computer game and for facebook. No one is going to give you a scholarship because you wasted 4 years on facebook. And if you are successful in carrying out a genuine endeavour of positive social change, then your bad grades will become a smaller part of the equation.
A scholarship application is the sum of all its parts, and the GPA is but one constituent of the equation. What makes a successful application is the applicant's devotion to the pursuit of excellence.
First and foremost, a bad GPA, whatever you think that may be, is not the be all and end all of this world. GPAs across universities are inconsistent and therefore not an absolute way of gauging the students from one university vs another. Even in NUST itself, the GPAs from various constituent colleges cannot be directly compared with one another. So, a 2.5 from PNEC and a 2.5 from EME are not the same things (the 2.5 from PNEC is better, although the 2.5 from EME will get the better job). Therefore when you project this phenomenon on the scale of an international scholarship, GPA in itself losses its haloed importance as a metric of academic achievement. Therefore standardized tests, like GRE/GMAT, help smooth out the playing field. So, even if you have a crappy GPA, you should put all the effort that you didn't put in college studies, into your GRE/GMAT prep. For Fulbright, the GRE is compulsory (even if you are applying for MBA), but for Rhodes there is no outlined requirement for standardized tests, but it won't hurt your case to have a good GRE score. The Rhodes judges may make an assessment of your "scholastic attainment" based on multiple parameters like your GPA, published research papers, distinctions in academic things like your final year project, contributions to renowned journals, original research, engineering projects and excellent internships.
You must have a life outside your job and your classroom, this cannot be overstated. Explore your interests, hone your talents, cultivate your passions. Become a part time photographer, capture all the beauty around you, better yet capture all the hope that exists in places where beauty does not exist. Pick a paint brush and let your imagination fly on a canvas. Write a line of poetry, a paragraph, a novel. Go to that swimming pool and learn a new stroke of swimming. Find a sport you are good at and then excel at it. Whatever you do, you must always be in the pursuit of excellence. And each of these activities will bring more friends into your life, which in itself will lead to a broadening of your world view.
The scholarship committees of both Fulbright and Rhodes are looking for people who display the spark and charisma to be leaders in their fields of interest, who can become agents of positive change in the world and who can rise above the selfish desire for raw success in order to make contributions for the benefit of humanity at large; these individuals exist among you and me. Especially in a country like Pakistan, where the amount of widespread problems is soaring exponentially, the capability of bringing positive change is orders of magnitude greater than most other nations. Therefore, an active interest in the betterment of your fellow nationals, and a portfolio demonstrating this interest is essential. You may run a student body that promotes social improvement, you may educate children from families with modest means, you may run campaigns against corruption, create awareness about environment and mitigating pollution, voice your opinion about social inequality, spread a message of peace against the rampant religious discrimination, run a campaign to stymie the exploitation of the poor, propose solutions for the lack of a proper health care system, set up a small business to lessen the ever rising underemployment, all this and more, but you do need to take your head out of the classroom once in a while and look at the world around you and see how you can contribute to it. You should have a clear idea that you have a role to play and if you don't play it, then we are all lost. You may ask, "How do I make time for all of this, I have tests and assignments and social commitments?", well, you make time for it, the same way you make time for watching hours of TV, and for acting like drawing room politicians and for playing the new computer game and for facebook. No one is going to give you a scholarship because you wasted 4 years on facebook. And if you are successful in carrying out a genuine endeavour of positive social change, then your bad grades will become a smaller part of the equation.
The ugly CV problem
A lot of my fellows ask me to review their CVs and give suggestions for improvement, in this post I will try to put those things in one place. Most of the CVs that I come across have one thing in common: they are very ugly. There are many things that are essential for the making of an ugly CV, I want to cover the most glaring ones and how to circumvent them.
The first and foremost rule of ugly CV making is including a photo of yourself. Unless you are applying for a job as a model or news anchor or other unmentionable positions where looks equals cash, please stay away from the sin of including a photo of yourself. The exception to this rule is if the employer explicitly asks for your photograph, in which case you should include a professional looking photograph which has minimal digital touch-ups.
A CV is not a place to showcase all the funky fonts that you have collected over the years, and using something like Comic Sans in your CV is a surefire way of killing any chance you have of being taken seriously. Keep the fonts in your CV consistent and try to stick to the staples like Times New Roman, Verdana, Helvetica etc. Of course you are free to break every rule in this post if you are making a graphic designer CV.
Three things run the show of a good CV: entertainment, ... oh, I mean formatting, formatting & formatting. I cannot emphasize this point enough, a well formatted CV is a treat to the eyes, it draws your gaze to all the right sections, naturally points out all your strengths, and shouts "Hire me" without being gaudy. To find the formatting that fits your taste and coveys a sense of cultivated professionalism, you should go google shopping, look at the vast amount of material available and you will soon find something that you like.
Try at least once to make your CV in something other than Word. Try Photoshop or Indesign. By using these programs you will be able to control the overall look of your CV with much more finesse. But if you are a Word cheeta, then by all means go ahead and perform miracles there.
Do not under any circumstances lie on your CV. The world is a small place and the corporate world is an even smaller one, sooner or later someone will know that you are faking it.
No one believes in your run of the mill, a dozen a dime, objective statement, so save yourself the hassle and either try to come up with something original or avoid putting it on your CV. Something like, "to work as an electronics engineer at Rhode & Schwarz", is simple and sufficient for all practical purposes.
Do you really think that the golden star that you got in class 1, should be written in your academic achievements? Or that essay competition you won in playgroup, is a good addition to your extra-curricular activities section? Only include recent, meaningful and quantifiable achievements in your CV. Just being a member of a generic college society doesn't have any real significance, because I can bet that society had tons of other members too, so you might just as well write, "Lifetime membership of the Homo Sapiens species".
In the list of your academic qualifications, state your most recent educational qualification first, that is the point of most interest. If you have a good GPA, write it, if you have a bad GPA, you should still write it. Do you think that if you don't write your bad GPA, the employer will somehow never ask you about it?
Take a good print out of your CV and learn about adjusting print margins. A lot of average looking CVs turn into ugly looking CVs because the person was too lazy to get a good print out. Adjust the printer settings properly and only submit the best print out.
If I ask 10 people to get creative with their CVs, the first thing that most of them would do is to make the headings all colourful! A wonderful way of making the CV hideous, not to mention that the colours look like an uneven mix of greys when taken out from a conventional black and white printer. So please stay well away from making your CV a beauty parlour disaster. You may use colour on your CV, but like everything else it should be done sparsely.
"Surfing internet" as a hobby is disgusting and only brings dirty images to the mind. If you are surfing the internet for some particular thing then that thing should be your hobby, not "Surfing internet". Same goes for "Reading books", be specific about the genre that you like to read and your CV will become instantly more interesting e.g you can write "Reading biographies", "Learning about art history".
Make your project/job/experience descriptions succinct and try to include numbers/percentages to give a measure of the success or effectiveness.
Just put your references there on the CV, don't give me the idiotically self-important statement "would be given on request".
If possible, print your CV on high quality paper, better than your usual printer paper. Heavier paper, almost card type, lends a slight plus to the CV.
Last but not the least, keep your CV current at all times, or at least update it at a regular frequency. And, don't procrastinate in making a good CV, you will need it much more often than you ever dream of.
The first and foremost rule of ugly CV making is including a photo of yourself. Unless you are applying for a job as a model or news anchor or other unmentionable positions where looks equals cash, please stay away from the sin of including a photo of yourself. The exception to this rule is if the employer explicitly asks for your photograph, in which case you should include a professional looking photograph which has minimal digital touch-ups.
A CV is not a place to showcase all the funky fonts that you have collected over the years, and using something like Comic Sans in your CV is a surefire way of killing any chance you have of being taken seriously. Keep the fonts in your CV consistent and try to stick to the staples like Times New Roman, Verdana, Helvetica etc. Of course you are free to break every rule in this post if you are making a graphic designer CV.
Three things run the show of a good CV: entertainment, ... oh, I mean formatting, formatting & formatting. I cannot emphasize this point enough, a well formatted CV is a treat to the eyes, it draws your gaze to all the right sections, naturally points out all your strengths, and shouts "Hire me" without being gaudy. To find the formatting that fits your taste and coveys a sense of cultivated professionalism, you should go google shopping, look at the vast amount of material available and you will soon find something that you like.
Try at least once to make your CV in something other than Word. Try Photoshop or Indesign. By using these programs you will be able to control the overall look of your CV with much more finesse. But if you are a Word cheeta, then by all means go ahead and perform miracles there.
Do not under any circumstances lie on your CV. The world is a small place and the corporate world is an even smaller one, sooner or later someone will know that you are faking it.
No one believes in your run of the mill, a dozen a dime, objective statement, so save yourself the hassle and either try to come up with something original or avoid putting it on your CV. Something like, "to work as an electronics engineer at Rhode & Schwarz", is simple and sufficient for all practical purposes.
Do you really think that the golden star that you got in class 1, should be written in your academic achievements? Or that essay competition you won in playgroup, is a good addition to your extra-curricular activities section? Only include recent, meaningful and quantifiable achievements in your CV. Just being a member of a generic college society doesn't have any real significance, because I can bet that society had tons of other members too, so you might just as well write, "Lifetime membership of the Homo Sapiens species".
In the list of your academic qualifications, state your most recent educational qualification first, that is the point of most interest. If you have a good GPA, write it, if you have a bad GPA, you should still write it. Do you think that if you don't write your bad GPA, the employer will somehow never ask you about it?
Take a good print out of your CV and learn about adjusting print margins. A lot of average looking CVs turn into ugly looking CVs because the person was too lazy to get a good print out. Adjust the printer settings properly and only submit the best print out.
If I ask 10 people to get creative with their CVs, the first thing that most of them would do is to make the headings all colourful! A wonderful way of making the CV hideous, not to mention that the colours look like an uneven mix of greys when taken out from a conventional black and white printer. So please stay well away from making your CV a beauty parlour disaster. You may use colour on your CV, but like everything else it should be done sparsely.
"Surfing internet" as a hobby is disgusting and only brings dirty images to the mind. If you are surfing the internet for some particular thing then that thing should be your hobby, not "Surfing internet". Same goes for "Reading books", be specific about the genre that you like to read and your CV will become instantly more interesting e.g you can write "Reading biographies", "Learning about art history".
Make your project/job/experience descriptions succinct and try to include numbers/percentages to give a measure of the success or effectiveness.
Just put your references there on the CV, don't give me the idiotically self-important statement "would be given on request".
If possible, print your CV on high quality paper, better than your usual printer paper. Heavier paper, almost card type, lends a slight plus to the CV.
Last but not the least, keep your CV current at all times, or at least update it at a regular frequency. And, don't procrastinate in making a good CV, you will need it much more often than you ever dream of.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
My advice to Chokkas
I am a Chokka. A chokka is a slang term for a person who secures 4.0/4.0 GPA. And my 4.0 CGPA at PNEC, NUST gave me a permanent membership of that club.
Most people assume that chokkas have it all figured out and life is easy for them in university. Yes you are right, we know everything already, be afraid, be very afraid. No, I am kidding, for the most part chokkas have the same fears and apprehensions as the rest of the folk, the only difference is that for a poor student there is no way to go but up, for a chokka the only way is down. This persistent struggle for consistency takes a good toll of our nerves and therefore most chokkas seem to be frazzled folks. But there are some important things that I want my fellow chokkas to remember:
Try to make your university experience well-rounded
Don't forget to make good friends
Make friends with diverse interests, it will help you to see the world in more interesting ways
Follow multiple passions, indulge in sports, magazine design, photography, chess, run in elections for societies in university, travel with your friends, write stories/essays/articles, explore your city
Keep a good posture and learn good body language
Work on interpersonal skills, we all need them
Stop being the teacher's obvious pet, you will make the grade in any case
Help out your friends with their studies, you can and you should
Get involved in social work and make a dent in your surroundings
Try to make a positive impact in the life of your student fellows
Stop telling your friends that you didn't really prepare for the test, we all know you did
Stop telling your friends that your test didn't go well, we don't believe you
Try to carry out some good research work, that will help in your quest for future studies
Apply for a job that matches your interests
Keep preparing slowly for your GRE
Read books on a diverse range of subjects
Find inner peace, through whatever means you prefer
Have fun
Keep getting the 4.0
Most people assume that chokkas have it all figured out and life is easy for them in university. Yes you are right, we know everything already, be afraid, be very afraid. No, I am kidding, for the most part chokkas have the same fears and apprehensions as the rest of the folk, the only difference is that for a poor student there is no way to go but up, for a chokka the only way is down. This persistent struggle for consistency takes a good toll of our nerves and therefore most chokkas seem to be frazzled folks. But there are some important things that I want my fellow chokkas to remember:
Try to make your university experience well-rounded
Don't forget to make good friends
Make friends with diverse interests, it will help you to see the world in more interesting ways
Follow multiple passions, indulge in sports, magazine design, photography, chess, run in elections for societies in university, travel with your friends, write stories/essays/articles, explore your city
Keep a good posture and learn good body language
Work on interpersonal skills, we all need them
Stop being the teacher's obvious pet, you will make the grade in any case
Help out your friends with their studies, you can and you should
Get involved in social work and make a dent in your surroundings
Try to make a positive impact in the life of your student fellows
Stop telling your friends that you didn't really prepare for the test, we all know you did
Stop telling your friends that your test didn't go well, we don't believe you
Try to carry out some good research work, that will help in your quest for future studies
Apply for a job that matches your interests
Keep preparing slowly for your GRE
Read books on a diverse range of subjects
Find inner peace, through whatever means you prefer
Have fun
Keep getting the 4.0
My fellow Rhodes candidates
I was amazed and humbled by my fellow candidates at the Rhodes interview. They were amazing achievers in their fields and had a plethora of other talents, yet they were down to earth, friendly and supportive. Philosophy girl had an amazing adoration for Iqbal's poetry, played tennis in her free time and she could play the tablaa! Doctor dude had the most brilliant academic reference letter that I have ever read, I was bowled over by it. Economics girl was actively involved with a great number of socio-political endeavours. Computer dude had a slightly off-kilter sense of humour, yet he was the friendliest of our bunch. Architect girl was a gold medalist and full of funny anecdotes. Professor dude kept mostly to himself and we didn't get acquainted very well.
All in all, I made some really nice friends on interview day and we had a great reunion in Islamabad when I went for my IOM appointment.
All in all, I made some really nice friends on interview day and we had a great reunion in Islamabad when I went for my IOM appointment.
Monday, July 30, 2012
How to make time for GMAT/GRE prep if you have a job
If you are looking for a short cut, you won't find it here.
In my experience, the best way to prepare for the GMAT/GRE while keeping a full time job is to start 2 months before your intended test date. Study like hell and get it over with. By study like hell I mean the program that I followed as outlined in my previous post. You will have to force yourself to take up the vocabulary list after coming back from a long office day and stay focused on the job at hand until you reach your daily word/study/problems target. It is no easy feat, I know, but the aim here is to get a GRE/GMAT score that puts you securely at the top of the achievers list. For two months everything else outside office should take the back burner. You should still allocate set amounts of time for your friends and family, but you should convey to them what you are trying to achieve and why it is important to you. They will understand. And once you get that awesome high score they will be proud of you and tell the whole world about your amazing achievement!
In my experience, the best way to prepare for the GMAT/GRE while keeping a full time job is to start 2 months before your intended test date. Study like hell and get it over with. By study like hell I mean the program that I followed as outlined in my previous post. You will have to force yourself to take up the vocabulary list after coming back from a long office day and stay focused on the job at hand until you reach your daily word/study/problems target. It is no easy feat, I know, but the aim here is to get a GRE/GMAT score that puts you securely at the top of the achievers list. For two months everything else outside office should take the back burner. You should still allocate set amounts of time for your friends and family, but you should convey to them what you are trying to achieve and why it is important to you. They will understand. And once you get that awesome high score they will be proud of you and tell the whole world about your amazing achievement!
How to prepare for the GRE
My GRE prep began in the last semester of university. I used to carry a big word list with me wherever I went. Some friends started to test me on the words randomly and it turned out to be a good way to pass the lazy lab sessions. I learned around 500 or so words during this time.
After university, when I joined Engro, I took a hiatus from my GRE prep and for the most part of my first year allowed myself to become completely engulfed in the vibrant life at Engro's Daharki site. Then beginning in Feb, 2011 I started to focus back on my GRE prep and cut back on the rest of my social engagements, to study Princeton Review's Word Smart for GRE. It helped me get back on track with my vocabulary preparation. A lot of people differ with my opinion but I really believe that using word lists gives a huge boost to your vocabulary prep, it is simple fast and easy. Everyday after studying the new words, I studying some of the tricky words from the last lesson too. After finishing word smart, I starting to study the Kaplan word list. Each day I targeted to finish 140 words, then revised the words from the last day's list and marked those words from last day's list that I couldn't recall at all. After going through Kaplan, I revised the marked words and on my second revision, re-marked those words which were still giving me trouble. Then I started the math prep, for which I quickly went through the math tips given in Barron's book and then moved on to attempting practice tests on my computer. Math prep should not take more than 2 weeks for an engineering student. Once done with maths, I started to take some complete CAT tests, and focused on the areas in which I consistently made mistakes, which for me were the comprehension questions.
After this I started to read ARCO book for essay questions, went through a few examples to get a good idea of structure and argument formation.
On the night of the test I went through the final marked words one last time. Took a good night's sleep. Gave the test. Scored 1550/1600.
After university, when I joined Engro, I took a hiatus from my GRE prep and for the most part of my first year allowed myself to become completely engulfed in the vibrant life at Engro's Daharki site. Then beginning in Feb, 2011 I started to focus back on my GRE prep and cut back on the rest of my social engagements, to study Princeton Review's Word Smart for GRE. It helped me get back on track with my vocabulary preparation. A lot of people differ with my opinion but I really believe that using word lists gives a huge boost to your vocabulary prep, it is simple fast and easy. Everyday after studying the new words, I studying some of the tricky words from the last lesson too. After finishing word smart, I starting to study the Kaplan word list. Each day I targeted to finish 140 words, then revised the words from the last day's list and marked those words from last day's list that I couldn't recall at all. After going through Kaplan, I revised the marked words and on my second revision, re-marked those words which were still giving me trouble. Then I started the math prep, for which I quickly went through the math tips given in Barron's book and then moved on to attempting practice tests on my computer. Math prep should not take more than 2 weeks for an engineering student. Once done with maths, I started to take some complete CAT tests, and focused on the areas in which I consistently made mistakes, which for me were the comprehension questions.
After this I started to read ARCO book for essay questions, went through a few examples to get a good idea of structure and argument formation.
On the night of the test I went through the final marked words one last time. Took a good night's sleep. Gave the test. Scored 1550/1600.
The importance of professional experience
This post is intended to address the dilemma of students who can't seem to decide whether they should go directly for further studies or get a job out of university. The simplest answer in my opinion is, you should go and get a good job first.
Pros of getting a job:
You get industry exposure
You learn people skills
You learn about good procedures
You get a good grip on your technical knowledge
You get to see a lot of things in action, which you previously only knew via books
You get better at handling people driven stress
You learn how to negotiate
You earn money, which if situation permits you can set aside to cover the costs incurred during higher studies application process
You make friends/contacts in the professional realm
You get a realistic idea of your strengths and weaknesses
You get a better idea of what you want to do with life and if the 9-5 office drill fits you
Cons of getting a job:
You feel like you have little time left for studies or GMAT/GRE preparation
You get bogged down in the 9-5 grind
You might get addicted to the steady paycheck
You might end up changing or scraping your higher studies plan entirely (this may be a pro)
You might loose sight of your personal goals for a long while, as you try to make a niche for yourself on the corporate ladder just because you are expected to
You may withhold your goals till the next year, that never comes
You may find getting back to studies difficult as you may feel that studying is "too much effort"
The cons can all be overcome by keeping sight of your goals and keep yourself motivated to achieve them no matter what it takes.
And you should be willing to re-evaluate your goals and long term vision if your stint in the professional world ends up changing your priorities all together.
Pros of getting a job:
You get industry exposure
You learn people skills
You learn about good procedures
You get a good grip on your technical knowledge
You get to see a lot of things in action, which you previously only knew via books
You get better at handling people driven stress
You learn how to negotiate
You earn money, which if situation permits you can set aside to cover the costs incurred during higher studies application process
You make friends/contacts in the professional realm
You get a realistic idea of your strengths and weaknesses
You get a better idea of what you want to do with life and if the 9-5 office drill fits you
Cons of getting a job:
You feel like you have little time left for studies or GMAT/GRE preparation
You get bogged down in the 9-5 grind
You might get addicted to the steady paycheck
You might end up changing or scraping your higher studies plan entirely (this may be a pro)
You might loose sight of your personal goals for a long while, as you try to make a niche for yourself on the corporate ladder just because you are expected to
You may withhold your goals till the next year, that never comes
You may find getting back to studies difficult as you may feel that studying is "too much effort"
The cons can all be overcome by keeping sight of your goals and keep yourself motivated to achieve them no matter what it takes.
And you should be willing to re-evaluate your goals and long term vision if your stint in the professional world ends up changing your priorities all together.
The impossible personal statement
If I had a dime for each time I was asked a question related to the writing of personal statements, I would have roughly made 100 dollars by now. Personal statements are precarious grounds and the most baffling aspect of them for some people is that no one other you can truly make a great personal statement for you.
In its simplest form a personal statement should tell the reader about where you are coming from, what do you intend to do about it now and how does it translate into a better future for all of us.
Personal statements usually give jitters to a lot of Pakistani students because most of them have never been asked to put that advanced level of introspection on paper before. Most of us have never fully answered the question of "What do you want to do and why do you want to do it?". And therein lies the trap of personal statements, it is easier to procrastinate on them rather than find a good, meaningful answer to these questions.
So, what should you do about it and how should you approach this question?
First of all, give yourself at least 2 months to write your personal statement. If time permits, go on a nature/adventure trip. Change of scenery will bring you some clarity. Don't force yourself to think about your personal statement during this time, let yourself enjoy your surroundings.
Visit your family, especially the older members of your family and listen to their stories. This will give you a sense of belonging and will remind you of your heritage and roots. Talk to your parents about memories of your childhood, what you wished to become, your favourite toys, games, places to visit etc.
Ask yourself some future projection questions, "If I am 30/40/50 and I look back at my life, what do I want to see?", "What will matter to me most when I am 10/20/30 years older?", "What is the thing that I would love to have the most?" (Adventure/family/money/world peace/my own company etc.) , "Will the world be a better place if I get this chance?", "Can I make the world a better place if I get this chance?", "Can I reach my goal without doing this degree?" Don't flinch on telling yourself the true answers to these questions, accept them, embrace the truth of them and let them fill your thoughts. Give yourself some more free time after this and let these questions sit on your mind's back burner, soon good ideas will start bubbling in your head and you will know that you are ready to write your kick ass personal statement.
Every personal statement has its own character, like the wands in Harry Potter! The personal statement should be a reflection of the person writing it. When a person, who has never met you before, reads your personal statement, they should come away with a better understanding of who you are as a person, what are your aspirations and why you should be given a chance to fulfill those goals, rather than just getting a rundown of your CV in sentence form.
Approach your personal statement with a joyful heart rather than a sense of dread. You may begin your personal statement with a small personal narrative, a little personal story, a short event, that impacted your life deeply or something that you sense has been guiding you along in your life. Show how that has translated into your decisions/choices in life or how it has motivated you to excellence.
Don't just tell the reader about your achievements, tell them about the human side of those achievements, your fears, the hurdles you overcame, the lessons you learned in getting to those achievements. Try to stay away from things that the reader can garner elsewhere from your application. Show the reader your qualities, let them shine through your narrative, rather than just stating them.Show the reader your lofty ideals, the goals you aspire to and why these goals are worth pursuing. Know the limits of your experience and vision and try to stay well away from going over the top.
Keep your writing style formal, yet not pompous; personal, yet not casual. Know your inherent worth and derive confidence from this and let it reflect in your writing.
Read, re-read and re-read again. Make as many drafts as you need, but know when to stop, show it to friends and family, your professors if possible.
Most important of all, don't ask someone else to write it on your behalf. It's a personal statement.
In its simplest form a personal statement should tell the reader about where you are coming from, what do you intend to do about it now and how does it translate into a better future for all of us.
Personal statements usually give jitters to a lot of Pakistani students because most of them have never been asked to put that advanced level of introspection on paper before. Most of us have never fully answered the question of "What do you want to do and why do you want to do it?". And therein lies the trap of personal statements, it is easier to procrastinate on them rather than find a good, meaningful answer to these questions.
So, what should you do about it and how should you approach this question?
First of all, give yourself at least 2 months to write your personal statement. If time permits, go on a nature/adventure trip. Change of scenery will bring you some clarity. Don't force yourself to think about your personal statement during this time, let yourself enjoy your surroundings.
Visit your family, especially the older members of your family and listen to their stories. This will give you a sense of belonging and will remind you of your heritage and roots. Talk to your parents about memories of your childhood, what you wished to become, your favourite toys, games, places to visit etc.
Ask yourself some future projection questions, "If I am 30/40/50 and I look back at my life, what do I want to see?", "What will matter to me most when I am 10/20/30 years older?", "What is the thing that I would love to have the most?" (Adventure/family/money/world peace/my own company etc.) , "Will the world be a better place if I get this chance?", "Can I make the world a better place if I get this chance?", "Can I reach my goal without doing this degree?" Don't flinch on telling yourself the true answers to these questions, accept them, embrace the truth of them and let them fill your thoughts. Give yourself some more free time after this and let these questions sit on your mind's back burner, soon good ideas will start bubbling in your head and you will know that you are ready to write your kick ass personal statement.
Every personal statement has its own character, like the wands in Harry Potter! The personal statement should be a reflection of the person writing it. When a person, who has never met you before, reads your personal statement, they should come away with a better understanding of who you are as a person, what are your aspirations and why you should be given a chance to fulfill those goals, rather than just getting a rundown of your CV in sentence form.
Approach your personal statement with a joyful heart rather than a sense of dread. You may begin your personal statement with a small personal narrative, a little personal story, a short event, that impacted your life deeply or something that you sense has been guiding you along in your life. Show how that has translated into your decisions/choices in life or how it has motivated you to excellence.
Don't just tell the reader about your achievements, tell them about the human side of those achievements, your fears, the hurdles you overcame, the lessons you learned in getting to those achievements. Try to stay away from things that the reader can garner elsewhere from your application. Show the reader your qualities, let them shine through your narrative, rather than just stating them.Show the reader your lofty ideals, the goals you aspire to and why these goals are worth pursuing. Know the limits of your experience and vision and try to stay well away from going over the top.
Keep your writing style formal, yet not pompous; personal, yet not casual. Know your inherent worth and derive confidence from this and let it reflect in your writing.
Read, re-read and re-read again. Make as many drafts as you need, but know when to stop, show it to friends and family, your professors if possible.
Most important of all, don't ask someone else to write it on your behalf. It's a personal statement.
The Rhodes interview
My Rhodes interview took place on 18 Nov, 2011 at the old FAST building in Rawalpindi. I got there at around 8:30 AM and the interviews started at 9. All the other candidates were there and we sat in the foyer outside the interview room. As soon as I arrived, I observed that all the other candidates had brought laptops with them and myriad folders, this made me queasy and I thought that maybe I had forgotten to bring along some important documentation or something or perhaps we were supposed to prepare a presentation to give to the judges, but thankfully that was not the case and everyone had just brought their laptops to pass the time (mostly check facebook). Each candidate had a roughly 50 mins long interview, followed by about a 10 mins break, after which the next candidate was called in. All of us were jittery and this quickly led to us becoming gossipy and we were soon laughing at ourselves. The first candidate to go in was Economics girl, after her Professor dude, followed by Doctor dude, then Philosophy Girl, then me, after me Computer dude, and last was Architect girl. I might be off the mark on some details about the other candidates' interviews but Economics girl's interview seemed to go pretty smooth, Professor dude seemed to be a bit unsure about questions that were out of his academic domain, Doctor dude came out exuding an aura of delight, which added to the stress for the rest of us, Philosophy girl tripped over a question of religious controversy and had to spend a considerable amount of time trying to explain it to the judges, we all tried to soothe her, but it was of little avail, Computer dude's ideal personality was a slightly controversial religious figure and this seemed to direct most of his interview, Architect girl's interview went smooth.
During lunch break we had biryani and kebabs from Savour, and the Isb/Rwp candidates told me that Savour food was really popular there, but I failed to see (taste) what the hoopla is about. Biryani in Karachi rocks any day.
My interview started around 2:30 PM. The interview room was a big conference room with a big rectangular table dividing it into two sections. The whole panel of eight judges was sitting on one side of a long table while I was alone at the other side. I cannot recall the names of all the judges, but I remember that Wasim Sajjad sat in the middle to his left was Shaukat Hameed Khan, beside him was the British High Commissioner, at my extreme right was Cyril Almeida and to my extreme left was Babar Sattar. There was a lady sitting beside Cyril. Mr Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa was also part of the selection committee.
The interviewers ask questions about everything that you have mentioned in your personal statement in particular and your application in general. They ask detailed questions about your future plans and also offer advice about them. The panel doesn't flinch in pointing out if they think you have given an answer that is completely amiss. The questions cover a broad range of topics, from global politics and economics to questions about local religious conflicts, from your proposed subject to your favourite sport. The panel drills you at times with tougher and tougher questions to see if you can handle conflict of opinion and they since they are a very distinguished group of people from all fields of life therefore it is impossible to feed them half baked answers. At one point I had to defend my choice of never having read a newspaper in the last 6 years, or never watching a news channel with interest. There are no real right or wrong answers, but the judges do want to know if you have formed an informed opinion about the topic and are willing to defend that opinion in a civil and confident manner. You should also know when to see flaws in your logic and be willing to accept that. At two points at least in my interview, I had to accept that I did not have sufficient knowledge on the subject to make an informed judgement about the issue. It went something like this:
"What is the difference between Afghan Taliban and Pakistan Taliban?"
"Sir I believe that the true difference lies in our perception, what one might view as a terrorist might be another persons hero and therefore we should be willing to accept this fundamental flaw in our perception"
"No, there is a definite difference but you seem unaware of it"
I was dumbfounded by this remark but I managed to say, "Ok Sir, I will look into it".
At another point we got into a detailed argument regarding the domino uprisings in the middle east, after being drilled about the topic for around 10 minutes Cyril asked me:
"Ali tell me frankly, what are these factors for the uprisings that you seem to be hinting at?"
"Cyril, I believe I will have to step back at this point and accept that I lack sufficient knowledge to give an informed answer to your question"
At this point Mr. Khosa gently explained to me that it was the influx of a large number of foreign educated nationals in the middle east that led to a critical mass of dissonance, resulting in these domino uprisings.
The interviewers gently challenge your opinions and see if you can handle that maturely and defend your convictions.
There are sprinkles of humour too as the panel tries to make the candidate comfortable through out the interview. At the very end of my interview, Mr. Wasim Sajjad asked me:
"Ali, did you ever had an American teacher?"
"No, Sir"
"Then where did you get your accent from?"
I was surprised by this and an "Oh my God!" slipped from my mouth and he laughed and said to Mr. Shaukat, "He got it from God!"
After finishing my interview, I felt a huge relief and could finally see the humour of our panicked states. Sometime during all the waiting, we all decided that whoever gets selected will treat the rest at Serena Hotel.
The interviews finished at around 6 PM. Mr. Babar Sattar came out after the final deliberation, which lasted 20 mins and told us that, "Every year the pool of candidates is very talented and this year you guys made our job even more difficult, but there has to one final candidate and this year the panel has selected Mr. Syed Ali Asad Rizvi". I had a huge surge of adrenaline, suddenly it was as if I had become weightless, I glided around the hall, shaking the hands of my fellow candidates, accepting their congratulations, and was taken to the conference room one more time to meet the panel. The panel gave me their best wishes and told me to start reading newspapers!
I informed my family and friends, my parents broke down into tears. Later, all seven of us went to Sarena and enjoyed the buffet there, after which I took a walk alone in the Hotel's lawn. It was a beautiful winter night filled with the smell of red roses.
During lunch break we had biryani and kebabs from Savour, and the Isb/Rwp candidates told me that Savour food was really popular there, but I failed to see (taste) what the hoopla is about. Biryani in Karachi rocks any day.
My interview started around 2:30 PM. The interview room was a big conference room with a big rectangular table dividing it into two sections. The whole panel of eight judges was sitting on one side of a long table while I was alone at the other side. I cannot recall the names of all the judges, but I remember that Wasim Sajjad sat in the middle to his left was Shaukat Hameed Khan, beside him was the British High Commissioner, at my extreme right was Cyril Almeida and to my extreme left was Babar Sattar. There was a lady sitting beside Cyril. Mr Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa was also part of the selection committee.
The interviewers ask questions about everything that you have mentioned in your personal statement in particular and your application in general. They ask detailed questions about your future plans and also offer advice about them. The panel doesn't flinch in pointing out if they think you have given an answer that is completely amiss. The questions cover a broad range of topics, from global politics and economics to questions about local religious conflicts, from your proposed subject to your favourite sport. The panel drills you at times with tougher and tougher questions to see if you can handle conflict of opinion and they since they are a very distinguished group of people from all fields of life therefore it is impossible to feed them half baked answers. At one point I had to defend my choice of never having read a newspaper in the last 6 years, or never watching a news channel with interest. There are no real right or wrong answers, but the judges do want to know if you have formed an informed opinion about the topic and are willing to defend that opinion in a civil and confident manner. You should also know when to see flaws in your logic and be willing to accept that. At two points at least in my interview, I had to accept that I did not have sufficient knowledge on the subject to make an informed judgement about the issue. It went something like this:
"What is the difference between Afghan Taliban and Pakistan Taliban?"
"Sir I believe that the true difference lies in our perception, what one might view as a terrorist might be another persons hero and therefore we should be willing to accept this fundamental flaw in our perception"
"No, there is a definite difference but you seem unaware of it"
I was dumbfounded by this remark but I managed to say, "Ok Sir, I will look into it".
At another point we got into a detailed argument regarding the domino uprisings in the middle east, after being drilled about the topic for around 10 minutes Cyril asked me:
"Ali tell me frankly, what are these factors for the uprisings that you seem to be hinting at?"
"Cyril, I believe I will have to step back at this point and accept that I lack sufficient knowledge to give an informed answer to your question"
At this point Mr. Khosa gently explained to me that it was the influx of a large number of foreign educated nationals in the middle east that led to a critical mass of dissonance, resulting in these domino uprisings.
The interviewers gently challenge your opinions and see if you can handle that maturely and defend your convictions.
There are sprinkles of humour too as the panel tries to make the candidate comfortable through out the interview. At the very end of my interview, Mr. Wasim Sajjad asked me:
"Ali, did you ever had an American teacher?"
"No, Sir"
"Then where did you get your accent from?"
I was surprised by this and an "Oh my God!" slipped from my mouth and he laughed and said to Mr. Shaukat, "He got it from God!"
After finishing my interview, I felt a huge relief and could finally see the humour of our panicked states. Sometime during all the waiting, we all decided that whoever gets selected will treat the rest at Serena Hotel.
The interviews finished at around 6 PM. Mr. Babar Sattar came out after the final deliberation, which lasted 20 mins and told us that, "Every year the pool of candidates is very talented and this year you guys made our job even more difficult, but there has to one final candidate and this year the panel has selected Mr. Syed Ali Asad Rizvi". I had a huge surge of adrenaline, suddenly it was as if I had become weightless, I glided around the hall, shaking the hands of my fellow candidates, accepting their congratulations, and was taken to the conference room one more time to meet the panel. The panel gave me their best wishes and told me to start reading newspapers!
I informed my family and friends, my parents broke down into tears. Later, all seven of us went to Sarena and enjoyed the buffet there, after which I took a walk alone in the Hotel's lawn. It was a beautiful winter night filled with the smell of red roses.
The Rhodes informal pre-interview dinner
The Rhodes interview process kicks off with an informal dinner, held on the evening before the actual interviews. The dinner gives the candidates a chance to meet and get acquainted with the judges, some Rhodes alumni and various dignitaries associated with the Rhodes scholarships in Pakistan.
I reached Islamabad on Thursday night. Agha Afzal Hussain had offered the candidates a place to stay at the Pakistan Youth Hostel Islamabadand but I chose to stay at a friend's place. On Friday evening I went to Pakistan Youth Hostel to meet up with any candidates who might be staying there, I found out that most of the candidates were from Islamabad, so only one candidate, henceforth known as Computer Dude, from Karachi was staying there. We introduced ourselves to each other and it turned that he was working in the same company for which I had undergone an extensive interview process before joining my current job.
The dinner was arranged at Marriot Hotel and Agha Sahab, Computer Dude and I went there together. On the way there Agha Sahab gave both of us a quick run down of the guests who would be present there and a bit of background information on the judges. I was reminded of the scene in the Devil Wears Parada movie where Anne is given a big album of guest pictures to memorize before the big ball.
We were the first to arrive and we chatted for a while with some academicians who arrived soon after. Soon the other candidates, guests and judges started pouring in. The candidates included Philosophy Girl, Doctor Dude, Professor Dude, Architect Girl, Economics Girl. There tables were pre designated and the judges on my table were Shaukat Hameed Khan and Cyril Almeida. The talk revolved mostly around Imran Khan's politics and then we learned a bit about what goes on behind the scenes after the application deadline. Turns out that every year around 350 people from Pakistan apply for the Rhodes Scholarship, out of which roughly half don't fulfill the basic eligibility threshold and are dropped. Copies of all the remaining applications are sent to the eight judges, who individually come up with their top candidates list, with the personal statement being one of the foremost factors in the decision making. These lists are then consolidated and the top seven or eight candidates and then called for interview, and so here we were. The food was delicious yet none of the candidates ate much, I think we were all pretty stressed. Philosophy girl wowed the people on her table with a detailed discussion about Iqbal's poetry.
After the dinner the candidates stood around for a while and chatted, we found out that most of us were on the Fulbright shortlist too. The dinner was a wonderful experience from start to finish and further fueled my desire to be part of the Rhodes community.
I reached Islamabad on Thursday night. Agha Afzal Hussain had offered the candidates a place to stay at the Pakistan Youth Hostel Islamabadand but I chose to stay at a friend's place. On Friday evening I went to Pakistan Youth Hostel to meet up with any candidates who might be staying there, I found out that most of the candidates were from Islamabad, so only one candidate, henceforth known as Computer Dude, from Karachi was staying there. We introduced ourselves to each other and it turned that he was working in the same company for which I had undergone an extensive interview process before joining my current job.
The dinner was arranged at Marriot Hotel and Agha Sahab, Computer Dude and I went there together. On the way there Agha Sahab gave both of us a quick run down of the guests who would be present there and a bit of background information on the judges. I was reminded of the scene in the Devil Wears Parada movie where Anne is given a big album of guest pictures to memorize before the big ball.
We were the first to arrive and we chatted for a while with some academicians who arrived soon after. Soon the other candidates, guests and judges started pouring in. The candidates included Philosophy Girl, Doctor Dude, Professor Dude, Architect Girl, Economics Girl. There tables were pre designated and the judges on my table were Shaukat Hameed Khan and Cyril Almeida. The talk revolved mostly around Imran Khan's politics and then we learned a bit about what goes on behind the scenes after the application deadline. Turns out that every year around 350 people from Pakistan apply for the Rhodes Scholarship, out of which roughly half don't fulfill the basic eligibility threshold and are dropped. Copies of all the remaining applications are sent to the eight judges, who individually come up with their top candidates list, with the personal statement being one of the foremost factors in the decision making. These lists are then consolidated and the top seven or eight candidates and then called for interview, and so here we were. The food was delicious yet none of the candidates ate much, I think we were all pretty stressed. Philosophy girl wowed the people on her table with a detailed discussion about Iqbal's poetry.
After the dinner the candidates stood around for a while and chatted, we found out that most of us were on the Fulbright shortlist too. The dinner was a wonderful experience from start to finish and further fueled my desire to be part of the Rhodes community.
A brief history of mine
This is a brief timeline of things so far, detailed posts for some items may follow at later dates.
31 Aug, 2011 - Submitted Rhodes application15 Nov, 2011 - Received call from Mr. Agha Afzal Hussain to come to Islamabad for Rhodes interview
17 Nov, 2011 - Informal dinner with judges, Rhodes alumni, academicians, and other Rhodes finalists
18 Nov, 2011 - Rhodes interview *Got Selected*
08 Dec, 2011 - Started to receive correspondence from Mary Eaton, with instructions for applying to Oxford
22 Dec, 2011 - Started Oxford Graduate Admissions application
10 Jan, 2012 - Skyped with Prof. Steve Roberts to discuss my research proposal
14 Jan, 2012 - Completed and submitted Oxford application
22 Mar, 2012 - Received initial offer for the DPhil in Engineering Science
07 Apr, 2012 - Submitted application for ATAS certificate
27 Apr, 2012 - Received ATAS certificate
29 May, 2012 - Got admitted to Brasenose College
19 Jun, 2012 - Got confirmation of Scholarship, which arrives after college placement is complete
22 Jun, 2012 - Started Brasenose accommodation application. Mrs. Fiona Gair was most helpful with the submission of the GBP 100 deposit.
27 Jun, 2012 - Received the accommodation offer and accepted it.
27 Jun, 2012 - Received the CAS
29 Jun, 2012 - Started online Visa application
01 Jul, 2012 - Completed the online Visa application
06 Jul, 2012 - Sent the University contract by post
09 Jul, 2012 - Got the TB test certificate from IOM Islamabad
10 Jul, 2012 - Received confirmation from Maureen McNaboe (University Card Manager) that contract has been received
12 Jul, 2012 - Received Oxford registration credentials and created SSO id
16 Jul, 2012 - Submitted visa application at Gerry's Karachi
20 Jul, 2012 - TT and MMR-1 vaccine
27 Jul, 2012 - Got assigned a DPhil buddy by Prof. Roberts
28 Jul, 2012 - Bike
30 Jul, 2012 - Got notification of successful visa
03 Aug, 2012 - Visa collected from Gerry's Karachi
04 Aug, 2012 - Tuxedo order
08 Aug, 2012 - Sent bank application form to Sheila Partridge
16 Aug, 2012 - MMR-2 vaccine
27 Aug, 2012 - Tuxedo fitting
31 Aug, 2012 - KHI-DXB-LHR ticket bought
01 Sep, 2012 - Mencevax ACWY vaccine
20 Sep, 2012 - Tuxedo collected by Madi
21 Sep, 2012 - MUL-KHI, Hartal
22 Sep, 2012 - KHI-DXB, DXB-LHR, (Collin P.)
22 Sep, 2012 - St Cross Annexe, fob collected
22 Sep, 2012 - Dinner at 102 Abingdon
23 Sep, 2012 - Lunch at Trinity
23 Sep, 2012 - Dinner at The Kings Arms
24 Sep, 2012 - Bod card collected, passport scanned (Henry)
24 Sep, 2012 - Met Prof. Roberts, Mary E., Shellia P.
24 Sep, 2012 - Opened NatWest account
24 Sep, 2012 - Applied for Tesco Clubcard
24 Sep, 2012 - Dinner at Royal Oak
25 Sep, 2012 - Picnic lunch at Rhodes House gardens
25 Sep, 2012 - Visited Radcliffe lower camera, Gladstone Link, A World Without Islam (P.37)
25 Sep, 2012 - Potluck dinner at 102 Abingdon
26 Sep, 2012 - Got gown and mortarboard for £25, from a BNC alum
27 Sep, 2012 - International Students Orientation Program at Exam Schools
29 Sep, 2012 - Rhodes Welcome Day, RSAAF auction, bought 6 sub-fusc
02 Oct, 2012 - Graduate Freshers Dinner at Brasenose
03 Oct, 2012 - Rhodes Class of 2012 photo
03 Oct, 2012 - Oxford University Student Union Fresher's Fair
04 Oct, 2012 - BNC Parents dinner, Chilli Chilli Chicken No. 2
12 Oct, 2012 - Alain Locke reception at Rhodes House
13 Oct, 2012 - Oxford Matriculation
19 Oct, 2012 - Rhodes House Coming-up Dinner
24 Oct, 2012 - Elected OUSU Grad Rep - MPLS Division
07 Nov, 2012 - Google Rhodes & Marshall Scholars Event
Passport Received
Hurrah! Just got a message from UK visa office, informing me that my passport has been received and is ready for collection.
I had submitted my application on 16th July, 2012 at the Karachi center. Visa application fee was PKR 44,250 (the application fee was PKR 43,950 and PKR 300 was fee for getting the receipt of payment of application fee).
My TB x-ray was conducted on 9 July in Islamabad, and it cost PKR 4250.
All this expense is covered by the scholars themselves. Visas of scholars have gotten delayed in the past due to confusion over this point.
Points of interest:
I had submitted my application on 16th July, 2012 at the Karachi center. Visa application fee was PKR 44,250 (the application fee was PKR 43,950 and PKR 300 was fee for getting the receipt of payment of application fee).
My TB x-ray was conducted on 9 July in Islamabad, and it cost PKR 4250.
All this expense is covered by the scholars themselves. Visas of scholars have gotten delayed in the past due to confusion over this point.
Points of interest:
- The photo that needs to be submitted with the visa application has to follow the strict guidelines given on the UKBA website. A friend had snapped my photo that followed the guidelines to the T, but I forgot that the pictures need to be printed on matte, not glossy paper. Thankfully I had the soft copy of the photo in my email and got it printed on matte paper from a shop near the Gerry's office.
- The TB certificate has to be collected by the candidate themselves. The Islamabad office of IOM is better and the staff was very nice.
- Don't bother with the premium lounge facility offered by the visa center, it costs 3000 and you can do without it.
- Keep some spare cash on you at all times. I needed 100 to get the matte photos printed, 10 for getting my NIC photocopied, 200 to pay the visa application lady for the optional SMS notification service (take this service, helps keep you updated about your application status).
- Fill the online visa application form and take its printout with you to avoid unnecessary hassle.
- Call the Gerry's office via landline. The call costs PKR 10 per minute, and eats mobile balance fast.
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