A bit about the new class

I always enjoy browsing through the profile of our entering class each fall. While many broad attributes remain the same year to year, there are always a few interesting factoids and unique details that give each class its own character. One that jumps out from this year’s report is the slightly higher enrollment of men than women in the first year class. The split is within the typical range (52%/48%, in this case), but Laurie tells me that this is the first time in at least a dozen years in which men have outnumbered women in a class, and she has a remarkable depth of Fletcher institutional knowledge, so we’ll take her at her word.

Other things haven’t changed much at all; the average age is 27 (I’ve never seen it veer further from that than 26), the international student population is around 40%, and those students represent several dozen countries. I’m selfishly happy to see an Ecuadorian student in the new class, continuing a several-year run of students from my Peace Corps alma mater (¡Ecuador, si se puede!). In general, the list of represented nationalities is always my favorite part of this report. For me, it encapsulates so much of what’s special about Fletcher, and important about the pursuit of international affairs subjects. It’s a real pleasure to be reminded that I work in one of the very few places anywhere in the world in which I have a decent chance of bumping into a Chadian, a Peruvian, and an Indonesian student having coffee together or working on a group project. I’ll look forward to continuing to meet the newest members of the Fletcher community as the semester gets underway.