@ Sana

Congrats for your selection in Full Bright Scholarship. I think as you have been assured a such a pretigious scholarship, I suggest and humbly request you to join it without a second thought. CSS requires a lot of hard work but you never know that what may happen. I have seen many hard working (some even later CSS qualifiers) to fail in CSS in a single or a few subjects. For instance, there is member here on CSSForum Mr. MB Raja Dharejo he cleared CSS and was allocated PAAS. Later he appeared in PCS (provincial exam of Sindh) and was allocated as DDO (Revenue), now called Assistant Commissioner. Would you beleive he scored around 750 marks in CSS-2012 and failed in Essay paper. Please note, fail in any compulsory means fail in written. So he must have been among the 1st from Sindh if he had passed the notorious Essay paper. There is also another DMG/PAS qualifer (sorry dont remember his name, he has medal of appriciation too) from Punjab here who failed in CSS-2010 paper, later qualified into PAS and was among top qualifiers from overall Pakistan. Such kind to erratic failures are common in CSS.

There are other reasons also to be considered, like even you pass the CSS exam there is no guarantee that you get allocated. Even if you get allocated to a department it may not be of you prime choice. Competition is very tough for candidates from Punjab.

I suggest and as a brother humbly request you to join Full Bright scholarship without a second thught. Full Bright along with Chevening Scholarship are the elite scholarships of the world. You may never get such an oppertunity to have such pretigious scholarship again. So as TSA rightly said that a bird in hand is worth 2 in bush. And having a pregerine falcon in you hand is more than enough to leave the task for hunting and go home :)

And you should be assured that after you graduate from US University, with Full Bright on your CV you will certainly land your dream job. You may be hired by foreign NGOs abroad or at home. There are even chances for joining bureaucracy in your related field as there are a few posts advertised for individuals with bright acedemic career.

Please also consider that Full Bright is a highly coveted scholarship by many candidates around the world and only a handful candidates are offered a place.

So, have huge thank to Allah and offer the 2 rakaat nafil. Pack your begs and go to US and study at the expense of US Govt. :D

P.S. Please do let us know about your final decision.

Thank you very much everybody for your comments and invaluable advice. I think I would go with the scholarship option if I follow my heart too :) I would recommend that everybody apply this year (or later) as the Fulbright program in Pakistan is the largest in the world, so with a good academic record, proposed field of study and/or relevant experience, you stand a good chance of being selected. Civil servants can apply for two to four month internships under USEFP Professional Partnership Program (for details, visit [url]http://www.pakstudents.net/institutes/admissions/us-pakistan-usefp-professional-partnership-program-for-public-administrators-in-2012/[/url]).

Muhammad T S Awan: can you please elaborate on how I can join civil service after completion of my graduate studies?
Others interested in the Fulbright application process: I will write a detailed reply to your queries as soon as I get the time (too bad I saw this thread at 4 am on a Sunday!)
Thanks again.

[QUOTE=Sana575;566745]Thank you very much everybody for your comments and invaluable advice. I think I would go with the scholarship option if I follow my heart too :) I would recommend that everybody apply this year (or later) as the Fulbright program in Pakistan is the largest in the world, so with a good academic record, proposed field of study and/or relevant experience, you stand a good chance of being selected. Civil servants can apply for two to four month internships under USEFP Professional Partnership Program (for details, visit [url]http://www.pakstudents.net/institutes/admissions/us-pakistan-usefp-professional-partnership-program-for-public-administrators-in-2012/[/url]).

Muhammad T S Awan: can you please elaborate on how I can join civil service after completion of my graduate studies?
Others interested in the Fulbright application process: I will write a detailed reply to your queries as soon as I get the time (too bad I saw this thread at 4 am on a Sunday!)
Thanks again.[/QUOTE]

AoA

There are a lot of opportunities ranging from Planning Commission to Education Sector to Law Enforcement Sector etc and you will be able to apply as per your educational qualification as well as aptitude.

Good luck.

Regards