Facebook page for Pakistanis applying for Rhodes Scholarships

After a recent query, I have created a facebook page for people who are applying for Rhodes Scholarships in Pakistan. The purpose of the group is to serve as a knowledge and experience sharing platform, where people can share advice and ask any queries that remain unanswered after reading the posts on this blog.

Feel free to join.

Group is called: Applying for Rhodes Scholarship in Pakistan

https://www.facebook.com/groups/347283728789137/

Twitter and my personal website - experiments with online presence

I have recently made a twitter account @saa_rizvi where I want to reach out to students in Pakistan who are thinking of social entrepreneurship, people who are engaged in photography and my peers in machine learning.  I have also crafted my personal website www.saarizvi.com where I share my photography, provide links to my blog(s) and keep some pages of personal interest.

These outlets are meant to engage with people who have similar interests and to share my experiences with people who think that I might have some advice or motivation that can help them reach their personal success.

If you have questions about the Rhodes experience, general questions or confusions about the Rhodes scholarship, have ideas for blog posts that I can do or want to discuss interesting ideas about startups and entrepreneurship in Pakistan then reach out to me through twitter or through commenting on the posts on this blog or on the pages of my website.

Q&A - Applying for the Rhodes Scholarship

I have recently received some queries about the Rhodes Scholarship which I am going to answer here, so others who have similar questions can also benefit. If you have a question, post it in the comments and I will try to answer it in a future post.  

Caveat: All answers are my opinions. My answers may be biased or off the mark because I can only speak from my one time experience of the selection process, and my interpretation can be wrong, or may not apply in your case.

I am a third year medical student. 

Do I need to have distinctions left right and center for my application to even be considered. I am doing my MBBS from an institute which rarely, if ever awards distinctions. Will very good scores in final profs count/matter? 

- Rhodes gives weightage to academic performance. As I understand, very good academic performance is the baseline as far as Pakistan is concerned, so the selection committee will expect you to have done the best given the parameters of your educational set-up. So, good scores will matter, as will the other criteria that Rhodes is looking for, but let me remind you that you should manage your stress, and not let yourself burn out in the process. It is extremely important to develop this, no matter where you go.

 

How often are doctors seen at Rhodes interviews? I know you had one in your batch. But is it common? 

- I don't have any data on who has been interviewed or short-listed in the past so I can't objectively answer your question, but personally I feel that they might be common enough, given that many of my Rhodes peers from other countries do medicine/related degrees here at Oxford and the Pakistani Rhodes scholar 2 years above me also did medicine.

I'm not sporty at all. I mean I do know my chess but that's about as is sporty as it gets for me. Does it effect my chances? Do you HAVE to be athletic to be considered?

- Sports is meant to demonstrate: Energy to use one's talents to the full. But sports is not the only way in which individuals demonstrate this trait. If you can show through other activities in your life that you emulate this trait, then you should not be worried. People who are enthusiastic artists or writers or actors emulate this trait too. Sports is but one interpretation of this trait. 

 

How much community service/social work is enough? Will I have to provide proofs along with my application? 

- It is really tough to define a baseline for this or a threshold. Whatever you do needs to be meaningful, impactful and should demonstrate "truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship" or "moral force of character and instincts to lead, and to take an interest in one's fellow beings". Whatever you do, you should know where it fits in to your larger personal context, why are you doing it and why does it matter to your community and the world at large.

I do not think that you will be asked to show proofs.

 

Does it matter that I won the National Spelling bee? Does it matter that all of my declamation and MUN experiences ended with school? 

- I think showing sustained personal achievements matters - so if those were the last things that you did and have done nothing since then probably that is not a great fit, especially since it can be interpreted to mean that in your undergraduate years you found nothing that could motivate you to action. But if those experiences gave you skills and traits that you have positively used in other ways later in your life then that can be woven into a good personal narrative.

 

Is it too late to pick back up on my co-curriculars? 

-  As I said, sustaining a level of personal achievement is important. If you are applying for August this year, and it is already end of June as I write this, then perhaps you don't have enough time to do anything meaningful. Co-curricular activities need to demonstrate certain traits to the selection panel and perhaps it is not a good idea to take up extra curriculars for the sole purpose of adding things to your CV.

I did my graduation from Karachi University in Biotechnology and then switched over MBA programs. My majors were Banking & Finance.  

I am concerned that I switched degrees, would it backfire? Should I mention it or not. I mean, my KU degree has not mentioned which courses I took. 

- Students switch degrees, it happens, I am not sure how it could backfire. As long as you found something which you liked and excelled at, you should be good. 

I would like to ask are you really a Freemason? The "Chosen Ones" who thinks they are the only one who can govern this world's affairs, directly or indirectly.

- Would you really believe me if I said no? Or would you actually believe me even if I said yes? Besides the world's affairs are for all who take an interest in them, the rest make (conspiracy) theories. 

Actually I am about to write the personal statement and for that I need your assistance. 

- I can't offer you any direct assistance for your personal statement, as it would be unfair to those who don't have the recourse to a Rhodes scholar for their personal statement, but the advice that I believe is helpful is captured in this post: The Impossible Personal Statement 

 

Can I submit a provisional transcript from my university until I don't have my degree? 

- Yes, that should be fine in my opinion.  

I appeared in CSS exam this year and now I am waiting for the results, which will be announced in October. Should I discuss it in my personal statement or not? I think, it can backfire if I make it to the interviews. They can ask me, what you will do if you get selected, will you go for the Rhodes scholarship or will you join the civil services? 
- Best to mention it and even better to discuss it in your interview. CSS shows dedication to service of your people, which is a great attribute. Rhodes scholars have taken time off from civil service to get a degree from Oxford and then return to their Civil service responsibilities, so it is not an either/or situation, you can benefit from both.  

Should I submit the IELTS doc along with my application as the officials have not mentioned it, but a friend said to submit it as it will mount good impression on the evaluators.

- I don't think it will hurt to send it but it is not an official requirement. You will probably need it anyway if you get into Oxford. 

The traits that I quote are mentioned here: Selection Criteria for Rhodes Scholarship

The Common-sense Guide to PNEC

I wrote this article in Sept 2012, in response to a request from Onib Nasir. But I am not sure if it was ever used, so I am just posting it here in its original form without any editing. 

All these items are common-sense but they are rarely followed.

1st order of business: Buy mospel body liquid and apply it to your feet, neck, behind your ears, on your forehead, arms and hand, every night, or if you don't like the smell of mospel, use mortein spray in your room after every three days, spray it under the bed and covered spaces. Mats and coils are ineffective and a complete waste of money, they just make the air stinky. 

Have a live CV: Always have a current and updated CV ready.

Learn the language: Go out of your way to master the programming language in your first semester, go beyond just the class syllabus . C/C++ for Electrical guys, FORTRAN for mechanical/IME guys. Make sure that the philosophy and logic behind the programming becomes second nature for you. Most of the people you meet, might say that you should just ditch the books and sit in front of the computer and somehow you will just magically learn the programming language, I think that's not sound advice, in my opinion books are very important for learning these well-established programming languages. Consult Schaum's Outlines for starting off, then move on to The Complete Reference. 

Study habits and GPA: Life is not about GPA, but college life is mostly about it. Getting a good GPA is different from getting a good education, but it's not an either/or situation, you can have both. Getting a good GPA is not some mysterious art, you just need to follow some good study habits. Pay attention to lectures in class, this point can not be over emphasized, yet it is one of the most ignored. If you pay attention in class you will know what is important for papers, and you will have to spend less time in preparing for tests. Take good notes in class, read online about how to take good notes. Taking good notes helps you remain focused in class and helps tremendously in revising for tests. Submit your assignments on time (but please don't be the moron who submits his assignment even when the rest of the class isn't, if you really want to submit it and no one else in your class has made it, let your fellows copy your assignment so all of you can submit the same assignment). Help out each other in test preparation, but have a no-cheating policy in the exam room. 

Cultivate good friendships: Don't be the person who has none (or close to none) friends in university. Cultivate good friendships, and have a good deal of them. A friend once said that your network should be so strong that you can get anything done sitting anywhere, using just your phone. Have fun with your friends, enjoy with them, but BEWARE don't throw your life away, don't waste your time either, there is a time for play and a time for studies, make sure you can distinguish between the two. 

Social work and extra-curricular: Participate in clubs/society activities, but don't be a faceless volunteer, make sure that your contribution holds real value and that you are aware of that value. Enjoy, learn and socialize through these activities. You must pursue your interests, sports, photography, art, music etc. But balance is of utmost importance.

Be courteous: Being polite and courteous is something we all should aspire to, with teachers and lab assistants, with people of the opposite gender, with our armed forces friends and most importantly with the college and hostel servants and dinning hall staff. Always say Asalamalaikum to them, and treat them kindly, try not to be a jerk with them and remember that they are your elders (the servants and dinning hall staff).

Personal habits: Develop the early rising habit for life. Buy a pair of bathroom slippers, take regular baths, and always wash your feet after coming back from college, don't torture others with the stink. Get the Gillette underarm antiperspirant gel and use it regularly (but to prevent staining your shirts, get short sleeve vests with it, as it tends to leave blue stains on the cloth), also get one perfume or two deos for yourself. Try to offer regular prayers, even if you don't pray regularly, at least make sure that you turn down the music at Azzan time.

Get an ash tray for your room: Everyone around you is/will soon be smoking, so just get a cheap ashtray already.

Celebrating birthdays: Be warned, birthdays in PNEC are a loud and rough affair, be prepared for them, but don't avoid them - enjoy them. 

Keep your PETER under control: PETER = personal entertainment through electronic resources. Save on your phone bill and get some good night sleep. 

Keep your FYP in mind: A wise senior once said that "FYP does NOT mean Final Year Phuddu". Enough said.

Always remember that university life is a unique time to develop skills and good habits for life, make sure that you don't waste it. Good luck to you.

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.

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.

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.

"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"

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.

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...

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!"

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.

It is very important that you are aware of your truest intentions for embarking on a higher education program, because this knowledge will make the process of finding your ideal university/country/scholarship much more easier. If you don't know your motive then it doesn't matter where you end up. In this post I want to summarise some of the major motivators that Pakistani students seem to have and then I outline how to go about your search for a university accordingly. For all purposes, aim high, give yourself sufficient time to conduct your research and planning, and believe that you can achieve your goals, if you don't believe that you can, then no one has reason to believe otherwise.

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.

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.

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.

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

 

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.

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!

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.