Two Goa students bag ranks at AIPMT

PANAJI: Only two students from Goa bagged ranks at the all India pre-medical test (AIPMT) this year. While Abhijit Gupte earned a rank of 1,826, Diya DuttaGupta was ranked 4,707 at the all India level.
Another 19 students from the state have qualified in the BITSAT test and have attained scores with which they can claim a seat at one of the Birla institutes of technology and science (BITS), Pilani campuses.
Both the AIPMT rank holders from Goa are students of Mushtifund Aryaan higher secondary school of Panaji and have decided to join Goa medical college (GMC), as their rank does not qualify them for admissions to AIIMS and they will have to opt for one of the state medical colleges across of the country in any case.
Mapusa-resident Abhijit's mother, Sheela, is a doctor and father, Vishram, is a Marathi language writer. "I chose GMC as the advantage of being at home is different than being in an unpredictable environment. I would like to pursue specialization in neurology, but I will get a real idea of what specialization I want to do once I complete MBBS," Abhijit said.
The best known rank in Goa at AIPMT of 575 was attained by a student from Mushtifund Aryaan HSS itself last year, when Shivam Goel bagged a seat at AIIMS.
Divya Dutta Gupta is a resident of Miramar. Her mother Debyani is a housewife and father Debabrata is an engineer. Divya too has an interest in pursuing neurosurgery as her specialization after her graduate medicine studies.
"AIPMT is not very popular among Goa students as GMC is comparable to the best among the state medical colleges in the country. If they seek admissions in another state institute, they have to fulfill certain criteria like make a commitment to serve in the state for a certain number of years after completion of their studies," Vynkatesh Prabhudesai, of Mushtifund Aryaan higher secondary school, said.
Fifteen of the 19 students from Goa who qualified for admissions to BITS are also from Mushtifund Aryaan higher secondary school. Hrishikesh Shetgaonkar has attained the highest known score by a Goan student so far this year of 326, followed by Rahul Paes at 318, Sairaj Khope at 306 and Suraj Shirsat at 305. Shaurya Chaturvedi, Punit Bhat, Maharshi Parekh, Atul Shanbhag and Parinishta Yadav are the other students who have qualified for the four-year engineering course at the BITS Pilani campuses.
The other students who have scored between 285 and 270 from Goa will be able to pursue a five-year dual degree programme at BITS Pilani campuses.
Most of these students have also earned a rank at Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Joint Entrance Exam (Advance), but have decided to opt for the BITS Pilani campuses as they have a better shot with their BITSAT scores to bag a stream of their choice.
Soham Tamba, Rajiv Ribeiro and Tanishq Mehra are the other students who have got an IIT Advance rank.