In 2021, when most professionals her age were focused on promotions, salaries and career growth, Aakriti Goel made a decision that left many around her surprised.She walked away from a corporate career, gave up a salary of nearly ₹30 lakh per annum, and began preparing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).At the time, she was 30 years old.A year later, she secured an All India Rank (AIR) of 1118 in NEET-UG 2021 with a score of 676 out of 720.Today, the BITS Pilani graduate is in the final stages of her Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) journey at North DMC Medical College, Delhi, according to her LinkedIn profile.Her story is not just about clearing a competitive exam. It is about questioning what success means and whether it is ever too late to start over.
When success stopped feeling meaningful
Goel completed her engineering degree from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani in 2015.Unlike many of her peers, she was not interested in a conventional corporate path. She chose to work with startups, experimenting with different roles and projects. Over the years, she built a successful career in Bengaluru’s startup ecosystem and eventually rose to a leadership position.By most measures, she had achieved what many young professionals aspire to. Yet something felt missing.According to interviews she gave in 2021, the work no longer felt meaningful. The salary, authority and professional growth were not providing the sense of purpose she was looking for.“I am not a 9 to 5 person,” Goel said, explaining why she had often preferred smaller firms and unconventional roles over traditional corporate jobs.The turning point came after years of intense work.
A health crisis and a difficult question
For nearly two years, Goel devoted more than 14 hours a day to a health-tech startup that she once considered her dream job.The workload eventually took a toll.She suffered a hormonal imbalance linked to extreme stress and left her job shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic began.What followed was a period of recovery. She spent time at home, practised yoga, painted, and slowly regained her health. But once she recovered, another question emerged.What next?She could have returned to the startup world. With her experience, that path remained open. Instead, she began rethinking what she wanted from the next phase of her life.
Finding an old dream again
The answer came from an unexpected place.Goel turned to the Ikigai exercise, a Japanese framework often used to identify purpose and motivation. The process brought back a childhood ambition.“I wanted to become a doctor as a child. I was good at biology in school,” she recalled.Years earlier, she had chosen engineering over medicine. At the time, she did not regret that decision.But after spending nearly a decade in the professional world, she realised medicine was still the field that excited her the most.“After being an engineer for over 10 years, I now know how passionately I want to become a doctor,” she said.The decision was clear, but the challenge was much harder.
Returning to the classroom after a decade
By 2020, Goel had spent years away from academic study.While physics and chemistry were familiar, biology was no longer part of her daily life. She began almost from scratch, watching free online classes and rebuilding concepts she had last studied in school.The preparation demanded discipline.She studied for 10 to 12 hours a day and wrote more than 100 mock tests. Initially, the scores were far from where she wanted them to be.“In the beginning, I was getting around 590, but towards the end, I breached the 700 mark,” she said. Ten months later, the effort paid off. Her score of 676 secured an AIR of 1118 in NEET-UG 2021.Many people found the result difficult to believe.Even her parents were initially surprised by the decision to leave a stable career and return to student life.
The age question
One of the most common reactions to Goel’s story has little to do with NEET. It is about age.By the time she completes her medical training, postgraduate studies and specialisation, she will be much older than many of her peers.That does not concern her. “Age should not be a bar to achieve anything in life,” she said.“We tend to have more faith in the stereotypical belief that ‘what’s done is done’ and that ‘we cannot re-start our career again’. Or ‘we are too old’. It is not true.”For Goel, the issue is not how long the journey takes. It is whether the destination feels worthwhile.
More than a career switch
Stories about career changes often focus on risk. The salary left behind, the uncertainty ahead, and the possibility of failure.Goel’s story highlights something else.It raises a question many professionals quietly ask themselves at some point: what happens when external success no longer matches internal satisfaction?For her, the answer was not another promotion or a new company.It was a return to the classroom, a return to biology. And eventually, a return to a dream she had first imagined as a child.Today, as she continues her MBBS journey, her path stands as a reminder that careers do not always move in a straight line.Sometimes the most important step forward looks like starting over.
