Career Prospects after B.Sc. Forestry

The big hall of Office of the Dean in Institute of Forestry, Pokhara has enormous values in the life of any Bachelor's level student over there because it marks the accomplishment of four years of study in IoF thus setting the inception of some new roads in career ahead. On the day of completion of presentation of his/her final thesis in front of the audience equipped with faculties, most students from IoF and a lot of other dignitaries from different organizations, an Undergrad feels relieved to achieve such a bright degree. Instantaneously, there may not be ideas of how to loom his/her future, yet the satisfaction of completing B.Sc. in Forestry easily purports in his/her face. The initiation point has occurred now from where he can travel long distances ahead to being a national cadre in the field of forestry and natural resource management.

There are different options and alternatives to proceed. Here, I will try to analyze some of the alternatives in which we can move on when we finish our Bachelors. Though I have still a long journey ahead, I do have some experiences to share regarding career prospects and the facets of my travel up to now can be helpful to my juniors. My colleagues and seniors would relive the struggles they faced after completing their Bachelors through this article. In my case, when I take a look back, I can easily feel the tough times I had to rush through to gain hand on opportunities in the field we are a part of.

The simplest option of all is to start M.S Forestry in IoF which is being run by the Dean Office. Though there are several prospects of career in that too, most of the students don't prefer to continue their further education in the same place. The reason may well be that students like to come out of the same study pattern, faculties and the ambiance around. Every year Dean Office in IoF, Pokhara selects 20 students for M.Sc. Forestry based on open competition among forestry undergraduates. There are several examples of people who have made their way to a prolific career in forestry after studying M.Sc from Pokhara.

The other option is to go for GRE, TOEFL and then apply to universities in US which offer Graduate Research Assistantships(GRAs) for MS study. Nonetheless, the rummage for universities and prospective professors usually accelerates after getting above average marks in GRE and TOEFL both. We can be ahead of the game if we start searching for universities and degrees offered by them in internet after finishing our undergrad. I won't be be focusing more on GRE and TOEFL here because we can know in detail about both once we start to study them. I would only say that GRE is much harder than TOEFL and we have to devote a lot of time, hard work, dedication and patience for it. Amazingly, in spite of all these endeavors, GRE ultimately depends on the luck factor. Normally, marks above 1100 (out of 1600) are considered good enough to obtain GRAs in forestry and the basic requirement for TOEFL iBT in order to apply formally to any university is 80 (out of 120).

Graduate Research Assistantships are offered usually by universities or professors in USA to undergraduates or graduates which includes full tuition waivers, health insurance and competitive stipends for their further study. In return, the student has to assist the professor in his/her research works apart from studying. The quest for GRA is indeed an arduous affair invariably because different failures encounter in the process compared to a very low success rate. Patience serves as the best key of success in such cases.

When we are done with GRE and TOEFL we start to search universities and professors who may offer GRA's in MS Forestry. If we find any professor who is willing to take students, correspondence to him play an important role here. We have to send an email which mentions about our degree and accomplishments attaching along side a reasonable CV that transparently explains everything about us. The professor may or may not encourage the student to apply formally to the university. In case he doesn't respond well we have to continue hitting the iron till someone finally comes up with some encouraging answers. Finally, in case of formal application, we need to apply online, send our GRE and TOEFL score sheets via ETS and hard copies of our Undergrad transcripts, Statement of Purpose, C.V., 3 letters of recommendation from old faculties (which may be sent online too) to the university. US universities generally make decision about the application in matter of a few days. Thus we have to keep on trying likewise unless we succeed in getting GRA.

There are some other options too. We can also try for European Scholarships such as European Forestry, SUTROFOR, SUFONAMA. Apart from this there are a lot of universities in countries like Germany, Norway, Denmark, Australia, Netherlands, India, etc which offer graduate courses in Forestry at affordable schemes with or without scholarships. Ample amount of information about these aspects remains just a click away in "SEARCH" icon of Google.

Regarding job aspects, we can prepare ourselves for the Public Service Commission exams for government officer ranks which generally tale place every year according to the schedule of PSC in Nepal.Otherwise, we can search for a decent job in different NGO's running in our country. But it is highly precarious to drop the ball by going for GRE, TOEFL and job side by side. We may come up with complete failures in both aspects in such a case.

In conclusion undergraduates in forestry have several prospects to move on in their career. All we need is hard work, patience and mental strength. Indeed regardless of when our award comes, hard work has so many things on offer.

If any of you have any queries regarding all these prospects I will be quite happy to solve them as far as convenient based on my terms and capabilities. Please feel free to contact me either on facebook or email me up at mars_sanju@hotmail.com.

All my best wishes to fresh undergrads of IoF.

New Dreams and New Life ............

Three days ago, when I was about to leave Nepal for my further studies in Louisiana State University, USA, I was being excited and emotional at the same time. The feeling of being recognized among a fresh circle of students and teachers amused me on one hand. On the other hand, however, the precarious mentality of being far from my parents, siblings and friends was indeed so emotional to me. I always knew that I had to leave the puerile handouts with old friends, the affection of people who care for me for this day. My parents and grandmother had made it hard for me to leave with their incessant though spontaneous tears during my farewell in the airport. There wasn't another alternative for me than to leave for making my career look on the trustful side. I left Nepal finally ..

The travel was really hectic, however, adventurous. A long transit in Bangkok, I was so hungry and decided to drink some juice. Oh god, it costed me 6 dollars, even the best restaurant in Nepal would have offered me juice in this money. Then in Japan, I almost missed the flight to Detroit, USA, may god bless the officer who helped me at the right time. Finally the travel accomplished leaving for me some of the sweetest memories of my life. It was amazing to see the pacific ocean from the sky, feeling of pinnacle to keep moving along side the clouds sometimes above them. Many a times the plane would shake a lot and the passengers would come up with ephemeral trepidations of an accident. It's hard to list all the feels that I went through, synopsis would be that this travel was the most eventful of all in my life. After all, almost 35 hours of flight with transits isn't a joke to be a part of.

When I realized I was in USA, I couldn't stop myself gazing at the places, people and different things around me. Its was kind of bizarre I guess but I didn't mind anything because I knew my mentality was on a roll to taste newness in life, why care for people around. It's been almost four days in this country and I am still trying hard to get a good overview of it. So that I can rummage for my new dreams which begin in this entirely new place for me. The new life which started for me upon my arrival in this eerie part of world, I sincerely hope will make a perfect way for my new dreams to come true. Otherwise, what's the use of the opportunity cost I left back in Nepal in memories of my friends, family and places.

Confused ..... everyone must be at this point of life ..... a turning point ....