Meet the lady who dropped out of medical school to ace the USPC test, advance to IPS and then IAS, and get an AIR ticket

Changing occupations over one’s lifetime is not always a sign of confusion; rather, it indicates that the person is more determined and willing to take calculated risks in order to achieve.
An example of an inspiring story is that of IAS officer Mudra Gairola.

Mudra’s birthplace is Karnprayag, located in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. Since her early years, she has excelled academically, scoring 97% and 96% in the tenth and twelve grade board examinations, respectively. At school, she was also felicitated by Kiran Bedi, the first female Indian Police Service officer.

She then enrolled in a medical institution in Mumbai to complete a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) degree, from which she received a gold medal upon graduation. After that, she moved to Delhi and started attending MDS, although her father had always wished for her to become an IAS officer. He failed the 1973 UPSC test that he attempted.

Mudra Gairola left MDS around this period to begin studying for the UPSC test, hoping to realize her father’s long-lost goal. In 2018, she made her first attempt at the UPSC Civil Services test and failed. She made two more attempts but was unable to make progress. She ultimately became an IPS officer after passing the UPSC in 2021 with a grade of 165th. She took the UPSC five times before passing, ultimately placing 53rd in 2022, but her fixation with the IAS goal kept her from passing.