Surat: Students from Surat put up an impressive show in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), with Saumya Patel emerging as the city’s topper by securing All India Rank (AIR) 57 in the results declared by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Sana Maqsood was the city’s highest-ranked girl candidate with AIR 452.Several other students from Surat also figured among the top 1,000 rank holders. Dharit Pancholi secured AIR 360, followed by Aditi Sojitra (AIR 638), Kush Nayak (AIR 760) and Mihir Menon (AIR 977).Surat students also excelled in the category rankings. Vaibhavi Vasava secured AIR 132 in the ST category, while Harsh Chauhan bagged AIR 150 in the SC category. Both are students of PP Savani School and come from farming families. They prepared for the examination while staying in hostels without using mobile phones.Saumya, a student of RMG Maheshwari School, said he was preparing for NEET since Class 8. Coming from a family of doctors — his father is a radiologist and his mother a dentist — he hopes to pursue MBBS at AIIMS Delhi.“I was good at mathematics too, but I didn’t want a desk job. I always found interacting with patients exciting, which motivated me to pursue medicine. I was aiming for a rank within the top 300, so securing AIR 57 exceeded my expectations,” he said.
