Meet Ridhi Maheshwari, perfect JEE Main 2023 scorer who is breaking stereotypes; know her journey

Ridhi Kamlesh Kumar Maheshwari, a student from Karnataka who received a perfect score of 100 percent, is the only female among the 43 students who placed first in the Joint Entrance Examination - Main (JEE-Main) 2023.

Because there are more than enough seats for girls in Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Ridhi remembered how the boys in her coaching class believed she would get into a good college because of quota. Ridhi thinks it's untrue that women can't excel in maths and that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to.

Who is Ridhi Maheshwari?

She was raised in Gulabpura, a town close to Ajmer, until she completed sixth grade after being born at the home of her maternal grandparents in Kota. After that, the family moved to Mumbai. Ridhi and her family moved to Bangalore when she was in class 11. Ridhi began studying for the JEE Main while she was in Class 11 by studying at Allen Bangalore. She made sure to study NCERT in-depth because JEE Main is entirely based on NCERT.

Ridhi used the solved test papers, practise tests, and other materials provided by her coaching centre. Father of Ridhi, Kamlesh Kumar Maheshwari, holds a degree in chartered accounting and works as a stockbroker, Indian Express reported. Ridhi considered going into engineering while she was in Class 8 since she had an obvious passion for maths and saw it as a viable career path.

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However, in Class 10, she wholeheartedly decided that she wanted to opt for an engineering career. Ridhi's interest in coding was sparked by her classwork in Java in Grades 9 and 10. At IIT Bombay, she wants to study computer science engineering.

Ridhi Maheshwari’s guide throughout this journey

Raghav, her brother, who graduated from IIT, is her biggest supporter; he helped her and gave her aspirations flight. The brother-sister team persuaded their parents that despite being male-dominated, the IIT setting is evolving and that more girls are enrolling in IITs given the current excess of seats for female students.

Ridhi considers herself fortunate that her family is her main source of support; they never allowed her to feel under exam stress and always encouraged her to give whatever she had her all. She also accepts that the JEE is a path is less taken by girls because it is loaded with bias, uncertainty, and anxiety.