Student Profile: Working with Alumni

Catherine Swick '10
Co-leader, Healthcare Club
Post-SOM position: Aetna

I worked in healthcare before SOM and came here thinking I would continue in the industry. My mother heads Medicaid for the State of Maryland, so ever since I was little I’ve seen the impact healthcare has on people’s lives. I’m attracted to solving problems and healthcare is one of the biggest problems we face as a nation right now. And since I'm also interested in policy, it seemed a perfect fit to work in healthcare consulting and then move onto a healthcare company itself.

SOM really is the perfect school for someone interested in healthcare. Not only is there an extremely active Healthcare Club, which I’m leading this year, but there’s crossover with the School of Public Health, the MBA-E program for healthcare executives, and really active alumni. But probably most important is how closely SOM aligns with the needs of the industry. There are so many stakeholders and the problems are so complex that being able to see things from many different perspectives is crucial. And no school is better than SOM at teaching students to approach problems holistically.

The CDO really works hard to get students placed in great internships and permanent jobs. I took full advantage of their services from the moment I got on campus. And I landed a great internship with Cigna, where I performed a study looking at what drives customer satisfaction. When I returned to school, my CDO relationship manager sent me the bio of an alumnus who works at Aetna in their internal consulting shop. We started talking, I sent him my CV, and then there were many, many interviews. I became really excited about the job, which is helping to set the strategic direction of the company. It’s a very small group and they only recruit at a couple schools. It’s because an alumnus took an interest in me and advocated for me that I got the job.

It’s hard to quantify how much I’ve enjoyed my time at SOM. This really is a special place, both in terms of what we learn and whom we’re learning with. Not only am I a leader of the Healthcare Club, I’m an admissions interviewer, a second-year advisor, and a career coach. I love SOM so much I basically recruited my husband. He saw what a great time I was having last year and how much I was learning. He applied and got in. He’s now a first-year. Of course, he loves it here, too.

Interviewed February 23, 2010.