Cheminal

In DS160, it asks the following question:
 
Do you have any specialized skills or training, such as firearms, explosives, nuclear, biological, or chemical experience? (The answer requires you to select from a radio button Yes or No, and if you select Yes, a field appears asking for explanation.) 
 
Now, I've accepted offer from a good chemistry PhD program and I am from Pakistan. After consultation with  US Educational Foundation Pakistan (USEFP) I selected No, but my instructor/supervisor who got his PhD as a Fulbright scholar told me to select Yes with an Explanation. Now I am concerned if I did the right thing. I didn't want any administrative processing delays yet I wanted to be honest. But of course I don't have any chemical explosives experience, or at least experience of the sort implied in the question.
 
Should I be worried? Should I have written Yes? I am really scared!

#2. 
 
Landing a good post-doc is more about your PIs connections than where you did your PhD. 
 
Ideally, by the time you're applying for a post-doc, and then for faculty positions, your name itself will be recognizable to people in your field- they've seen you talk at conferences, they've read interesting papers you've published, and you've met and talked to them at conferences/invited lectures. 
 
The last person on a search committee I talked to said that the stuff on your CV matters to get you an interview, but at the interview it's all about how you come across- can you convince them you're a smart, talented scientist with ideas and the background to carry them through, or not?
 
Networking is really important. Where you got your PhD may help with that, but it's not the most important factor. Schools that have a lot of PhDs placed in academia tend to perpetuate that, since new graduates from those schools (should) already have a network built of past graduates that are now on search committees at those schools. 
 
Another factor that wasn't mentioned is advisor's recommendations. At the big programs, good PIs will have multiple students graduating and applying for jobs each cycle. While they might give good recommendations to all of them, they will only really be able to give their "top" recommendation to one of them. If you're in for the competition, then you might (or might not) be that person. 
 
Whoever gets the "top" recommendation will have a good shot at getting interviews, most likely. The others probably won't. 
 
My PI, and most of the faculty in my department, did PhDs/Post-docs at top 5 schools. I've asked them if they would repeat it, and most of them have said they wouldn't. That they thought things would have been smoother and better going to a lower-ranked school with a PI that they really fit with for the PhD, and then going to a top-5 school for a post-doc, based on the work and recommendations from grad school. 
 
I'm at a school ranked under 100. But my PI, and other mentors, have good connections to PIs at top 5 schools, and I've gotten to consistently meet with them and talk with them. Coming from here, I think I have a very good shot at a "top" post-doc, and that's what matters more. Most of our previous grads have gone on to top post-docs for what they want to do- either at a top school, or with the top researchers in their field.