Meet woman who left high-paying corporate job to crack UPSC at 24, got AIR 18, but her first choice isn't IAS due to…

Many people aspire to do high-paying corporate jobs but some leave that for bigger dreams and take risks in life.

One such inspiring success story is of Noida resident Wardah Khan, who quit her corporate job to crack UPSC 2023 with 18th rank.

A resident of Vivek Vihar in Noida’s Sector 82, Khan did her Bachelors in Commerce (Honours) from the Khalsa College of Delhi University. The only child of her parents, she resides with her mother. Her father died nine years ago.

On how she got interested in UPSC, Khan asserted that during her college days, she always had a passion for geopolitics, in subjects such as history and polity. It was during her job stint that she realised she wanted to become a civil servant.

“I worked for a corporate firm for eight months. That didn’t sort of satisfy me. I wanted to give back to the society and wanted to work for my country and transform the lives of the people. I prepared at home but also took online coaching from a private institution for one complete year.” she said.

The 24-year-old said in an interview that she has chosen the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) as her first choice and aspires to make the country proud on global platforms.

“Like every other aspirant, when we start our journey we dream of finding our name on the result list. But getting into the top 20 was unimaginable, I had not imagined to be able to be in the top 20. It’s a dreamy feeling right now. Everybody in my family is very happy and beaming with pride,” Khan told PTI.

“I have opted for Indian Foreign Service (IFS) as my first preference, so I would like to further the image of India across global platforms and multilateral institutions and help our Indian diaspora abroad,” she added.