Filling the silence(s)

I was at a conference last week (in Montgomery, Alabama — adding a new state to the list of those I have visited).  I still hadn’t intended for it to be a such a slow blog week, until Friday slipped away from me.  But I’m back today, with apologies for the blog absence!  At least Mirza was able to help fill the midweek void.

Another area of silence (cue the chirping crickets) is the sudden lack of correspondence between Fletcher and our incoming students.  For most of the people who will join us in September, the work of the Admissions Office is nearly complete (aside from answering questions as they roll in).  After Commencement next Sunday, the Registrar’s Office will be the prime correspondent and source of information, and once they take over, the silence will end.  (International students are already working with a member of the Registrar’s staff on their visas.)

I just interrupted the Commencement preparations of a few members of the Registrar’s staff to ask when they’ll start contacting incoming students, and I learned that the answers to most of your questions will start flowing at the beginning of June.  They’ll share details on getting a Tufts email address and on registration, as well as info about Orientation, advisors, equivalency exams, billing, and health insurance.  Meanwhile, we’re happy to answer your questions, or just advise you to relax for a few weeks.  Once the information starts to flow, you might well wish you could slow it down.

Finally, there’s the silence that comes from an empty Fletcher School.  Most first-year students have left town, either to go directly to the location of their internships or, possibly, stopping off to see friends and family on the way to some remote location.  The students due to graduate on Sunday are enduring a punishing social schedule, ranging from museum visits, to trips to Martha’s Vineyard, to barbeques and parties.  Occasionally, one turns up in the building, though I can’t claim a sighting yet this morning.

Over the weekend, I attended a family event in New York.  I was chatting with a cousin who is just completing an MPA degree in Seattle.  He asked whether Fletcher students bother to go to their graduation.  Oh, yes, they sure do, I told him.  Occasionally, a graduate commits to start a new job before Commencement, but it’s otherwise a rare student who declines to attend the ceremonies.  I expect that this Sunday’s event will look much like last year’s — full of students, families, and joy.  I’m looking forward to it, but first a quiet and busy week of catching up after my week away.