Two teens from Faridabad among top 5 in NEET-UG
New Delhi: Two teenagers from Faridabad, raised in vastly different academic environments, now share the same dream: to study at AIIMS Delhi. Mrinal Kishore Jha, whose parents once urged him to pursue engineering, and Avika Aggarwal, raised by doctor parents, have emerged as Delhi's highest scorers with all-India ranks 4 and 5, respectively, in NEET-UG 2025.
For Jha, a student at Indraprastha Public School, Rohini, the dream of becoming a doctor began in Class VII. "Biology always fascinated me, and I knew early on I wanted to pursue medicine," he said. His parents, however, initially leaned toward engineering for him. "They have come around now," he said with a smile.
Jha prepared with coaching in Lajpat Nagar, supported by long hours of self-study—up to 12 hours on some days.
"School was secondary," he admitted. "I studied just enough to pass. NEET was the priority." He faced moments of demotivation due to low marks but stayed consistent. His next goal? "AIIMS Delhi. I haven't decided my specialisation yet."
In contrast, Aggarwal grew up surrounded by medicine. Her parents, both NEET-PG professors, were her earliest role models—but not in the way most assume. "People think they pushed me into it.
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In reality, they tried to warn me—about the stress, the workload. But this was my dream."
A student of Savitri Public School, Sangam Vihar, Avika studied in focused bursts, leaned on her family for doubt-clearing, and credits her younger brother as her emotional reset button. "I would play with him whenever I felt overwhelmed," she said. While she trained with a coaching centre in Faridabad, she believes her home environment gave her "a definite edge".
Both toppers say discipline, clarity of goal and emotional support were the key—and both now have their sights set on India's most prestigious medical college.
The NEET-UG results were declared on Saturday, with 12,36,531 or 55.96% of the candidates qualifying out of the total 22,09,318. Of the qualified candidates, 5,14,063 were male and 7,22,462 female.
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