Author: Daniel Birdsall

Fletcher Open House
General Admissions News

Open House!

Daniel Birdsall

Today I attempt an advanced blogging maneuver: squeezing in a post about Open House on the big day itself. Welcoming over 160 admitted students to Fletcher, and ensuring they have the best day possible of attending classes, degree sessions, Career Services and current student panels, faculty luncheons, research center round tables, student organization meetings, campus tours, housing presentations, and financial aid sessions is an all-hands-on-deck scenario. We’re fortunate to have not only a team of seasoned Open House veterans here in our office, but widespread support from many other Fletcher offices, as well as faculty and current students. I’m decked out in my best Fletcher orange for good luck!

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About Fletcher

Spring social list fun

Daniel Birdsall

It’s time for our semesterly check-in on the Social List, that teeming, largely-unfiltered, ongoing omnibus conversation the Fletcher student community has with itself over email. This is a good time of year to appreciate the Social List in its full glory: there are still a variety events taking place over the next few weeks before the run-up to finals and commencement, but there’s also already a smattering of end-of-year transactions (lots of graduation robes and household items for sale), as well as occasional evidence of a number of students getting a bit punchy as the academic year hits its home stretch.

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Uncategorized

A word about online grad school forums

Daniel Birdsall

Potential grad students are understandably eager to gather as much insight as possible into the programs they’re considering. Applicants want to demystify the admissions process, admitted candidates want to know more about the culture and community of particular schools, and enrolling students want to figure out how to start quickly to get everything they can out of their program. We do our best to provide as much useful information as we can, as transparently as possible, in a variety of formats (emails, newsletters, online chats, virtual info sessions, in-person events, FAQs, individual correspondence, and this blog, to name a fistful). It’s natural, though, for people to want more from time to time. In spite of our best efforts, we may not always provide the specific detail you’re looking for. Sometimes you may just want insight from an outsider; we’ll always be straight with you, but it’s true that we think Fletcher is a pretty special place, and we want you to think so, too.

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Uncategorized

To DC or not to DC, that always seems to be the question

Daniel Birdsall

With admissions decisions now available from Fletcher and most peer institutions, an annual theme is beginning to bubble up in our conversations with many admitted applicants. The importance of location in the decision-making process varies some from applicant to applicant, but nearly all candidates will at some point read, hear, or otherwise come across the conventional wisdom that one simply must go to school in Washington, DC to have a chance at achieving career goals in any number of sectors. Let’s examine this a bit.

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Uncategorized

2019 D-Prize winner

Daniel Birdsall

Back in October, I mentioned the Fletcher D-Prize (formally the “Fletcher D-Prize Poverty Venture Solutions Competition,” if you’re not into the whole brevity thing). Administered by the Institute for Business in the Global Context (IBGC), the D-Prize awards up to $30,000 for a social entrepreneurship proposal to combat poverty in the developing world. It’s one of the coolest things at Fletcher, in my view.

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Our Alumni

Fletcher on Broadway

Daniel Birdsall

I wrote not too long ago about some recent publications by Fletcher faculty and alumni, and just stumbled upon a unique addendum to that post. With occasional exception, most Fletcher authors tend to focus on policy-related work, or at least lean heavily toward non-fiction. Not so with alumnus Christopher Demos-Brown, whose play American Son recently concluded its Broadway run.

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Admissions Tips

The deal with the waitlist

Daniel Birdsall

Recently I made a relatively brief mention of the waitlist in discussing all the types of admissions decisions our applicants receive. The waitlist tends to generate a lot of questions, and I figured it would be worthwhile to dig into it a bit more. The unavoidable truth is that the waitlist involves waiting, and waiting means uncertainty. So, while I’ll do my best to answer some of the most common waitlist questions, prepare yourself for the fact that many answers come down to some version of a non-committal “maybe” or “it depends.”

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General Admissions News

Some reassurance from an old friend

Daniel Birdsall

I had the great pleasure of catching up with my former colleague, blog mentor, and friend Jessica the other day. To long time readers who miss her voice here, I’m happy to report she’s doing very well, and misses you all, too. Among the many things we chatted about was the ongoing scandal in the undergrad admissions process at several major US institutions, and Jessica was kind enough to blogify her thoughts on the subject.

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