Suneet Kumar

IIM Lucknow

“A sailor with a penchant for high-pressure problem solving.”

Hometown: Patna, Bihar

Fun Fact about Yourself: My Grade 7 report card has an F in Science, English and Math (2004). 9 years later, I was one of the two people to receive the President’s Gold Medal for Academic and Extra Curricular Excellence in 2013.

Undergraduate School and Major: Training Ship Chanakya, B.Sc. Nautical Science (Top 10 for Maritime University in the country)

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Navigating Officer in Fleet Management Limited

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of IIM Lucknow’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? The IPMX (One Year MBA) course at IIM Lucknow offers a unique elective called “Course of Independent Study” (CIS), where a student gets the opportunity to write and publish an academic paper on a topic of their choice under the guidance of a professor. This is a proposition that caught my eye while I was doing research on business schools and intrigued me to learn more about the school. I am excited to opt for CIS in the final term.

What has been your favorite course or extracurricular activity at IIM Lucknow? What has been the most important lesson that you have learned from it? My favorite course has undoubtedly been Macro-Economics, a subject that is till today feared by many of my batchmates. This course, held in term 2, gave me a real-life insight into how the world functions on a macro level. By the end, I was able to co-relate some of my experiences to the theory that was taught in class. Never had I imagined that practical and theory would come together the way it did for me in Macro-economics class. My most important learning from the course was that it forced to me go beyond the comfort zone that I was operating within, and enabled me to see the world from a different perspective.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Without any prior experience in Coding, I was able to develop a full-fledged Android application that has organically garnered around 100k downloads across more than 150 countries. The app is called Polaris 2MFG and it serves as a one-stop-solution for those preparing for the Second Mates exam (A certification in Merchant Navy).

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far: Having lost my father when I was very young, I was used to handling an immense amount of pressure, which forced me to excel. Over time, handling pressure became extremely easy for me and I could achieve impressive results without being too bothered. After receiving an acceptance to the prestigious IPMX program, I was certain that I will sail through the pressure here as well. “How much tougher could it be?”, I thought on the first day. Much to my surprise, by week three I found myself absolutely crumbling with pressure and this was a state that was unknown to me. My biggest accomplishment through my time here is learning that, irrespective of how well prepared I am, there will always be situations that are uncertain and that is perfectly okay.

What is your class’s favorite hangout away from school? Why do you gather there? My personal favorite is the sports ground near campus. I visit the ground every chance I get and I treat my work out there like meditation. It helps me re-set my mind and go into each new day with more focus than the previous one.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point and what do you hope to do after graduation? After sailing through the high seas and with a desire to launch my own business, I enrolled in the IMPX program at IIM Lucknow to be able to make a successful and well-rounded transition into the corporate world.  I am confident of synthesizing my experience as a sailor with all that I have learned as a student of this program to add differentiated value as a strategic consultant post my graduation.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into IIM Lucknow? Try to find the one thing in you that is different from everyone else you know, that one quality that distinguishes you from the crowd. The whole objective of an MBA is to be able to capitalize on your strengths and unless you know what your strengths are, you will not be doing justice to your candidature.

DON’T MISS: MEET IIM LUCKNOW’S IPMX CLASS OF 2023