Career pivots are common, but few are as radical — or as inspiring — as Akriti Goel’s. The BITS Pilani engineering graduate who once ran high-pressure operations in the startup world is now a final-year MBBS student, closing in on a dream she first carried as a child.

Her journey — documented online for an audience of over 100,000 young Indians — is resonating deeply in a generation questioning stability, timelines, and the myth of the “one perfect path.”

“Life doesn’t have to follow a script,” she often tells her digital community. Her own story is the proof.

A dream buried under expectations

Growing up, Akriti always imagined herself in a doctor’s coat. She excelled in biology and wanted a career in medicine. But by Class 10, societal expectations and a fear of missing out steered her toward engineering.

She took both mathematics and biology in Class 12, scoring 94% and ranking second in her school, but after failing to qualify for AIPMT, she turned to engineering entrance exams. She cleared the BITS Pilani test — and life took its first major turn.

Engineering success — and silent exhaustion

At BITS Pilani, Akriti pursued a dual degree in MSc Economics and BTech in Electrical & Electronics. Economics came naturally; the technical coursework, less so. Yet she powered through, graduating with an impressive 8.8 CGPA.

She didn’t opt for campus placements. Instead, she chose the chaos and challenge of early-stage startups — a world of long nights, steep learning curves, and relentless pace.

At Healofy, she became the go-to problem solver for the founder, handling everything from operations and content to PR and new initiatives. The role built confidence but slowly eroded her health.

In January 2020, her body gave her the message she ignored for too long. Severe hormonal imbalance forced her to stop. Two months later, amid the nationwide lockdown, she quit.

The pause that changed everything

Rest became recovery — and reflection.

She explored career alternatives ranging from gender studies to yoga instruction, law, HR consulting, and even starting an NGO. But nothing clicked.

Then came the Ikigai moment — a single question resurfacing a buried dream:

“If nothing was too late, what would I choose?”

The answer: MBBS.

Fear lingered — age, duration, academic gap — but curiosity was louder.

The comeback: discipline, doubt, and NEET

Akriti began NEET preparation in August 2020 with online coaching. She created a rigorous system of mock tests, revision cycles, and 10-hour study days — drawing on her engineering discipline and startup resilience.

In 2021, she sat for NEET.

Her rank: AIR 1118.

The six-year degree, once a fear, became a statement.

“Aren’t you going to live those six years anyway?” she wrote.

Medicine, content, and a new identity

Today, Akriti is a final-year MBBS student at Hindu Rao Hospital, with distinctions in subjects like Anatomy and Microbiology. She still consults part-time for startups and creates content full-time under the username engineer_to_doctor, inspiring thousands navigating doubt, burnout, or crossroads.

Her mission is rooted in lived experience: to normalize late career shifts in a country obsessed with timelines.

A blueprint for a new kind of ambition

Akriti’s journey challenges deep-rooted beliefs about success in India — that careers must be linear, degrees must be final, and dreams expire after a certain age.

Her message reframes ambition:

·        You can start over in your late 20s or early 30s.

·        You can change direction without apology.

·        You can walk away from prestige if it costs your peace.

·        You can build a life that's not predictable — but meaningful.

Akriti Goel’s story isn’t just about becoming a doctor.
It’s about reclaiming identity, rewriting expectations, and reminding an entire generation:

Success is not a straight line — it’s a journey you’re allowed to restart.