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…