Shruti Rajlakshmi appeared for the UPSC CSE exam for the first time in 2019 with almost zero preparation to just get a feel of it. No one knew at that time that she would be standing among the toppers a couple of months down the line. Her good result in CSE 2021, where she secured the All India Rank 25, proved that her decision to leave a job in the global firm Goldman Sachs to prepare for the UPSC exam was a right one.
Shruti’s success in the UPSC exam is inspiring because of this big decision of leaving a high-paying job in a MNC ,something which people hanker after. Today, she has not only made her parents proud with her top result that has ensured her a place in the much coveted IAS, but she has also fulfilled their wishes to see her as a civil servant.
HIT AND MISS
Shruti’s family originally belongs to Amba village located in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar. She did her class 10th from Loyola School, Jamshedpur, and class 12th from Delhi’s DPS R.K. Puram. Coming from a science background, she cleared the JEE exam and managed a seat at the IIT BHU, Varanasi to pursue engineering in Computer Science.
In an interview with the media, she said “Appearing for the UPSC exam came to my mind during graduation. After passing out, I even gave my first attempt in 2019, for which I had read only two books, Laxmikant and Spectrum. The result was not good as expected but it brought the realisation that this exam is not everyone’s cup of tea and one should really work hard to clear it.”
Meawhile, after passing out from college, she got placed in an American investment banking firm called Goldman Sachs. She got a good package but after working very hard for eight months in that company, she decided to quit the job for UPSC preparation.
She said, “The workload was heavy as I had to work for around 12 hours a day. Also, I had thought that I don’t want to work for a specific set of people but rather work on benefiting a larger group while carrying my experience in computer science and technology. I discussed it with my parents and they were more than happy as I was taking such a bold step towards something better.”
CLEARING UPSC
After failing in the first attempt due to no preparation, Shruti knew that giving such free attempts would be nothing but a waste of time. She left her job in January 2020 but decided not to appear for the UPSC exam that year. Rather she would fully focus on self-study for the next year’s UPSC exam.
Shruti chose anthropology as her optional subject as her graduation subject, Computer Science, was not among the choices. As she developed an interest in humanities when she was in class 10 and also got to know that it is a scoring subject in the GS paper, she chose Anthropology, as a lot of resources are also available for this subject.
She brought a strict discipline into her life that had, otherwise, gone haywire while she was graduating and working in Bangalore. She started waking up early morning and completing her day’s target within a stipulated time. She stayed away from social media and any other distraction which could have affected her preparation.
Finally, she appeared for the 2021 UPSC civil services exam and cleared all the three stages. On the day of the results, she wasn’t sure that she would clear the exam and was expecting a lower rank if she did. Hence, it was a complete surprise for her when she saw that she was among the top 25 in the list of successful candidates.
She had secured the All India Rank 25 to emerge among the toppers this year, thereby, ensuring a place for herself in the Indian Administrative Service. Finally, she would be fulfilling her parents’ dream of seeing their daughter as an IAS officer!
