MIB students kick off the new year

Though all of us in Admissions work with all programs, Kristen works the most directly with the MIB (Master’s in International Business) students.  I asked her to share her thoughts on the start of the 2011-2012 MIB year.

Last Monday marked one of the best days of the year for me:  after a year (sometimes two, sometimes three) of working with applicants to the MIB program, the new students arrived here on campus.  It’s very gratifying to see in person the people you have come to know through their applications and emails, and maybe, if you are lucky, a brief visit or two.

The students in the MIB program start a bit earlier than those in Fletcher’s other on-campus programs.  They are required to take a two-week pre-session course on Strategic Management that precedes a fun week of Orientation activities.  Not that the pre-session isn’t fun (we make sure to build that in), but it’s also quite intense. With three hours of case-based class lecture and discussion each day, the students stay very busy from the moment they arrive on campus.  The class sessions are interspersed with a few social events and luncheon lectures by Fletcher faculty, to create a break in the day.

This year we welcomed 38 students to the pre-session:  32 new MIBs, and eight students from other programs.  It’s nice to have these LLMs, MALDs, and PhDs in the class to add a different perspective.  That is, after all, the great advantage of a Fletcher education.