Many young people take the NEET exam every year hoping to become doctors, but due to limited seats and high competition, thousands of talented students end up outside the main medical field. However, there is a significant shift in youth mindset. Admission to one of the country's most prestigious institutions, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, is no longer limited only to the MBBS program; B.Sc Nursing and B.Sc Allied Health and Healthcare courses are becoming the preferred choice for young people.
According to exclusive information obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the number of applicants who applied for the B.Sc (Hons.) Nursing course at AIIMS has increased by more than 1000 percent over the last five years (from 2021 to 2025).
According to the latest data published by the AIIMS examination department, a record number of applications was registered for the August 2026 session. Specifically, 190,740 candidates applied for B.Sc (Hons.) Nursing, and 117,033 people applied for B.Sc Allied Health and Healthcare courses. Thus, in a single semester, over three hundred thousand young people decided to try their luck in these two non-MBBS medical programs at AIIMS.
Motivational speaker and career consultant Vipul Sharma, who presented this data via RTI, explained the reason for this shift. According to him, millions of children preparing for NEET face extremely limited seats in MBBS and BDS. Previously, students were unaware of other healthcare sectors, but now awareness of these courses has significantly increased.
Vipul Sharma emphasized that in the fields of nursing and allied health and healthcare, there is not only a clear and transparent path to government employment but also huge opportunities for careers abroad. This is why students view B.Sc Nursing and B.Sc Allied and Healthcare courses at AIIMS as an alternative to NEET.
Detailed statistics on applicant categories for B.Sc Nursing entrance exams from 2021 to 2025 demonstrate growing interest in AIIMS. Similarly, there has been a significant increase in the B.Sc Allied Health and Healthcare sectors. In 2021, only 6,878 applications were received for allied health and healthcare courses (including OBC: 3326, UR: 1737, SC: 859, EWS: 759, ST: 197). By 2025, this number grew to 126,968 (OBC: 54489, UR: 35137, SC: 20150, EWS: 11586, ST: 5606).
After requesting data through RTI, the examination department initially refused to provide the information. However, after appealing to the Appellate Authority and the Dean (Examiner) Professor (Dr.) Sandeep Chauhan, strict instructions were given. As a result, Assistant Director and CPIO Dr. Tony George Jackp published the corrected data.