I am no genius, says CET topper

I am no genius, says CET topper - Mangalore - City - The Times of India

Jaideep Shenoy, TNN, Jun 3, 2010, 10.32pm IST

MANGALORE: After appearing for eight competitive examinations seeking admission to leading medical institutions, one could be excused if one said, "Thus far and no further." But not Shivaraj Prakash Patil, II PU student of Expert PU Science College, Mangalore.

Shivaraj, who bagged the third rank in the recently announced CET medical results, had a go at AIIMS entrance test on June 1, and will take a crack at JIPMER test on Sunday.

Patil, who has already expressed his desire to take a crack at the civil services after his MBBS, told that his first preference for a pursuing his MBBS studies would either be Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune, or JIPMER, Pondicherry.

He has been short listed for interview at AFMC, closer home to Belgaum from where he hails. He chose the Expert PU College here mainly for quality of education imparted there.

Candid in stating that he was not a genius, but a persistently studious person, Shivaraj says it was perhaps in his genes to take up medicine given that his parents, Prakash G Patil and Kamal Patil are both doctors.

"I always had craze for biology rather than mathematics," he said, adding that the last member of the family, Sanath is unlikely to uphold family traditions. "He wants to become a cricketer," Shivaraj says about Sanath.

On what drove him on, Shivaraj says, "I have realized from experience and what elders say that it is only merit that counts, and one just has to work with a determined focus in achieving it."

Shivaraj said his parents were pleasantly surprised when he finished third in CET medical ranking, 4th in MAHE entrance test. He also had good rankings in AIPMT, has been selected in IIT-JEE, VIT entrance test, and is awaiting results of COMED-K