Swapna Kumar

Yale School of Management

“Engineer/epidemiologist who wants to apply business skills to improve the lives of children worldwide.”

Hometown: Rochester, NY

Fun Fact About Yourself: I danced competitively on an Indian folk-dance team during college and after college! We used to travel around the country and compete in various competitions.

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Rochester (Biomedical Engineering)/ SUNY Buffalo (Epidemiology)

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Boston Children’s Hospital- Clinical Research Manager

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Coordinating the running of a neuroimaging lab in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Having entered the field with very little experience in, well, anything relevant, I had to quickly pick up on the research topic, management techniques, communication with domestic and international teams, finance, team building, human resources, and much more within my time at BCH. Therefore, being able to set up the lab and play a key role in the success of the project was a great accomplishment for me!

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Collaborative! It is so inspiring for me to see fellow classmates who have a more collaborative vs. competitive approach to education. You can tell that everyone is there to support you during this challenging process and even beyond graduation. I think this is incredibly important especially for a school that wants to have a global/ societal presence.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? Focus on business and society. Being new to the field, it was surprising for me to even find a school that openly states its contribution to society as one of their main mission statements. The fact that they not only stressed this but backed it up through various social impact–related programming and support was a major indication to me that this school would be a good fit for my career goals. I quickly realized that this was a pretty unique characteristic to SOM and re-shaped the way I thought about business school, and really made me decide that b-school might be the right decision for me after all.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? South Asia Club and Women in Management. I’ve always stayed involved in cultural activities, so I’m excited to be able to continue that at SOM. I also think it’s important to increase the presence of women in management and be in a position to offer a new valuable perspective to the field. As I was making my decision to enter business school and SOM, I spoke with SO many current students and alumni who were women and they were incredibly supportive, so I think this is a great club to contribute to in order to inspire the next generation.

The Yale School of Management is regarded as a purpose-driven program. What is your mission? How will your MBA at Yale help you fulfill that mission? The exciting thing for me is that my mission aligns perfectly with the mission of SOM: to serve as a leader for business and society. Specifically, my focus is on early childhood and being able to contribute to foundations or projects that aim to improve the health/education outcomes of children. Managing or developing effective programs for this cause requires proficiency across all areas of business. My ability to apply business knowledge to societal challenges during school itself will serve as a great foundation for my future career goals.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? “Name your favorite quote.” I really had to dig deep for that question. But it probably was the question on long-term goals. It was challenging because I did not enter business school with a clear sector or future position in mind. Preparing to answer this question really made me sit down and reflect and learn more about the potential opportunities I would like to take advantage of at SOM.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? Although I’ve really enjoyed all my work experiences, I realized I was starting to veer more into program management within academia and I wanted to take this time to make a switch to go back to school and gain a better broader business foundation so I can expand my opportunities and potentially pivot into new sectors.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Dartmouth Tuck, MIT Sloan, NYU Stern

How did you determine your fit at various schools? Coming from a more non-traditional background, it was important for me to land at a place that would accommodate my interests and at the same time fill in the gaps in my foundational business knowledge.

I think the most useful thing I did to determine fit was to talk to multiple alumni/students at each school to get a sense of the culture. It was important for me to see what alumni at the school were doing (and what current students were doing during school), and if there would be resources for me specifically to network and receive guidance for my career path. This presence of a broad support system was important to me.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? For me, there wasn’t one moment that changed my career trajectory. I’m a great example of how a meandering path takes you interesting places. If I had to pick, I would say accepting my position Boston Children’s Hospital. My graduate work at Buffalo gave me my first introduction to global health, but the position at BCH really made me grow as a manager and also narrow my sector focus. This was also really the first position where I was responsible for independently making decisions and responsible for supervising others and I think both of these experiences make you grow as a manager.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? Ideally, I want to be working on programs that are geared towards improving the healthcare and educational outcomes of children domestically and internationally. Whether that is from project management, financial, human resources, or strategic perspective is still unknown, but I hope the foundation in business at SOM will allow me to contribute effectively toward my career coals.