Your Counsellor Replies

Your Counsellor RepliesI‚m in third year B.Sc and wish to qualify as a commercial pilot. Please provide details of colleges in America offering commercial pilot licence (CPL) training. Is it necessary to write TOEFL for admission?Rajesh Puri, New DelhiIt‚s advisable to writeTOEFL and submit its results with your admission application. The Florida Institute of Technology and San Jose State University offer degree programmes in aviation management, aeronautical science etc. If you are not interested in a degree programme, you can enroll in a flying school (e.g Delta Connection Academy, Florida) to obtain a private pilot‚s licence and/ or CPL. I want to apply for admission into the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune after finishing class X next year. Please advise.Ajay Sinha, PatnaThe Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune offers its five-and-a-half year MBBS programme to students who have completed Plus Two (science) in the first attempt, averaging more than 60 percent. Applicants must be between 17-22 years of age. You will also be required to write the AFMC entrance examination.I‚ll be completing my B.Sc (life sciences) next year. How good is the MBA (biotech) programme offered by Pune University? What job options will be available after graduation? Nirmala Desai, PuneWith the biotechnology industry booming, there‚s no dearth of job opportunities for qualified personnel. While there are many Masters and doctoral programmes for biotech professionals, there was a felt need for training specialist managers for this industry. In 2002-2003 Pune University‚s department of management sciences introduced a two-year full-time MBA (biotech) programme, becoming the first Indian university to offer such a course and perhaps the first worldwide. This programme develops professionals who can play an entrepreneurial role and effectively manage and commercialise biotech research. I‚ll be finishing class XII (commerce) in 2007. What further study options are available to me?Sameera Raghavan, BangaloreYou have several choices after class XII. You could enroll for a B.Com programme in banking and insurance or accounts and finance or in professional courses like chartered accountancy, cost and works account-ancy and company secretaryship while doing your B.Com. Most colleges offer the B.Com degree programme while professional courses are offered by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (www.icai.org), Institute of Cost & Works Accountants of India (http://myicwai.com) and Institute of Company Secretaries of India (www.icsi.edu). You are also eligible to sign up for a hotel management course or five-year integrated law degree programme.I‚ll be completing my biomedical engineering degree in 2007. What postgraduate programmes in this field are available in India or abroad?Sunil Fernandes, MumbaiYou can pursue a postgraduate programme (M.Tech/ME) in biomedical engineering. It‚s advisable to write the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) for admission into premier institutes. You could apply for the MS programme in bio-engineering at Christian Medical College, Vellore (http://home.cmcvellore.ac.in/admissions/PG/Bioeng.htm) on the basis of your GATE score. To pursue postgrad courses abroad, you need to write the Graduate Record Examination and IELTS/ TOEFL. While there is no specific postgrad specialisation for engineering graduates, most tend to choose finance, systems management or industrial management (www.nitie.edu), or enroll for the postgraduate programmes of the IITs and Indian Institute of Science (through JMET-www.iitr.ac.in/jmet) or IIITM Gwalior (www.iiitm.ac.in), IIIT Allahabad (www.iiita.ac.in) etc. You could also consider reading for the Masters programmes in hospital management/ health administration.I‚m in first year B.Com and want to simultaneously pursue chartered accountancy. Please advise.Meera Bajaj, AhmedabadYou are eligible to register for the Common Proficiency Test (CPT) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). The registration form can be downloaded from www.icai.org or obtained from the Western India Regional Office of ICAI at ICAI Bhavan, Anveshak, 27 Cuffe Parade, Colaba, Post Box No. 6081, Mumbai 400 005. A registration and tuition fee of Rs.1,500 is payable. Study material including a question bank is supplied by ICAI.Additional classroom coaching is also offered by ICAI accredited institutions. As soon as you register for CPT you can write this entry level test. After clearing CPT you are ready for a CA education divided into the (a) Professional Competence Course (PCC) and (b) Final Course. Concurrent articled training of three-and-a-half years is mandatory. Hence you would be pursuing PCC and articleship simultaneously. For further details visit www.icai.org.I‚m in class XII (science) and keen on a career in agriculture. Please suggest some top agricultural universities and advise about their entrance exams.Manoj Chavan, NagpurYou should plan to write the all India Competitive Examination conducted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (www.icar.org.in). The question paper comprises objective type questions in physics, chemistry and agriculture/ biology for Stream ‚ËœA‚, and physics, chemistry and mathematics for Stream ‚ËœB‚ as per eligibility and choice of subjects. This exam qualifies you for admission under the 15 percent Central government quota in 41 agriculture universities. At the national level, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar is commonly regarded as the best. Admission into the agricultural universities of state governments depends on performance in either an entrance test or merit. For instance admission into agricultural universities in Maharashtra is on the basis of merit i.e Plus Two (science) exam scores. Log on to http://mpkv.mah.nic.in/ADMISSION.htm for more details.