Daniel Birdsall – Page 38 – Admissions Blog

January 10th application deadline reminder

December 10, 2019December 10, 2019 Daniel Birdsall

Readers, I realize it may seem comically premature of me to start issuing deadline reminders a full month in advance. The January 10th application deadline – the big one, the scholarship priority one, the one that applies to the majority of applicants – is still weeks away. Let’s think about the other things many of you have going on during that time, though. The collective list may include finals, end-of-year workplace budgets, reports, and projects, holiday shopping and planning, travels both near and far, and hopefully a bit of seasonal celebrating and relaxing. That month, which seems to promise loads of available time to work away on your applications, can start looking pretty short pretty quickly.

Our Students

Januarian commencement

December 9, 2019December 9, 2019 Daniel Birdsall

A busy last week at Fletcher ended with an important annual event. Though this year’s class of 2nd-year “Januarians” – Fletcher parlance for the smaller cohort of students who enroll in the spring semester – won’t officially graduate until February, their commencement ceremonies are held during the last weeks of the fall semester, when everyone is still around to join them in celebration.

Fletcher students head to the Quantico Leadership Venture

Our Students

Fletcher heads to Quantico

December 5, 2019December 5, 2019 Daniel Birdsall

Fletcher typically has a prominent military portion of our community, with a significant number of students who are veterans or active-duty service members, in addition to several faculty whose work focuses on security policy and military affairs. One of their important functions is to act as liaisons for non-military students interested in learning more about various areas of the armed forces. For those of us with no direct experience or connection, the military can seem complicated and a bit intimidating.

Uncategorized

The lighter side of winter

December 3, 2019 Daniel Birdsall

The first major snow of the year often elicits some collective grumbling in these parts, especially when it arrives in early December. As much as none of us likes having to drag winter gear out of the closet for the first time, extract the snow shovels from the corner of the garage where they’ve happily been gathering cobwebs over the past months, and be digging my car out of my driveway at 5:30 AM the past two days in a row, there are reminders of the lighter side of winter that pop up around here that almost make it worth it.

General Admissions News

Visit Day, impeded by neither snow nor rain

December 2, 2019 Daniel Birdsall

Is “goopy” an acceptable meteorological term? Even here in New England, where we’ve no shortage of creative terminology for various types of weather (we all know to fear the dreaded forecast of a “wintery mix”), today seems to beg for its own descriptor. All of our team fortunately made it back fine over the weekend from our various Thanksgiving travels, only to be greeted by a big, gross snowstorm that started Sunday afternoon, and continues as I write this. Of course it can’t just be a bunch of snow, though, which is an inconvenience, but which the region is collectively pretty good at handling. It started as snow, changed to freezing rain at some point early this morning, is currently a cold sleet, and is predicted to return to snow at some point today, lasting until at least tomorrow morning. Those prospective students who brave the forecast to join us for our final Visit Day of the season are a hearty bunch indeed. Do your worst, weather – you can’t derail us!

Uncategorized

Thanksgiving well wishes

November 28, 2019November 24, 2019 Daniel Birdsall

Thanksgiving! A non-scientific, small-n survey of People I Talk To yields the conclusion that it’s pretty close to a consensus favorite holiday. The specific reasons for this likely vary from person to person, as “typical” Thanksgiving celebrations can range from the local and fairly simple to complex and far-flung affairs involving all kinds of extended family. At minimum, most folks can count on a gigantic meal with little of the guilt that normally comes with gluttony.

Admissions Tips

Application tips – the digest version

November 26, 2019November 25, 2019 Daniel Birdsall

Around this time of year there’s usually a lot of interest in tips for preparing your strongest possible application to Fletcher. With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up later this week (in the US, at least), many applicants are looking at a few slightly less hectic days during which they may plan to make some progress on their application. It’s also far enough out from the next major deadline (January 10 for most degree programs) that a lot of applicants are in the earlier stages of gathering their materials.

Our Neighborhood

Barnum Hall, officially facelifted

November 25, 2019November 25, 2019 Daniel Birdsall

Barnum Hall is one of the older and more storied buildings on the Tufts campus. Donated to Tufts in the late 19th century by that Barnum, it’s been known as the Barnum Museum of Natural History, and more recently as a center for biology and associated lab space on campus. It also used to house the Greatest Showman’s famous elephant, Jumbo, hence the Tufts mascot.

Our Students

Fletcher team wins Cyber 9/12 competition!

November 21, 2019November 21, 2019 Daniel Birdsall

Not too long ago I wrote about the proliferation of cybersecurity-related curriculum and activity at Fletcher, including a brief mention of the annual Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge hosted by The Atlantic Council. Fletcher teams have taken part in the competition for three or four years now. They’ve consistently returned invigorated by the experience, and on occasion a bit awed by the level of technical and policy expertise to which they were exposed at the event. It’s struck me as a great learning experience for the growing contingent of Fletcher students interested in cyber issues.

Our Students

An update about a favorite student from an old friend

November 19, 2019April 1, 2021 Daniel Birdsall

Longtime blog readers likely remember our pal Jessica. Until a little over a year ago, Jessica was the owner of this blog, and she remains a good friend of our office. It’s been a treat to have her back at Fletcher for the past few months, and her return has made it easier for her to keep up with a few of her favorite students.