Author: Daniel Birdsall

Our Students

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.

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About FletcherOur Students

Fletcher student organizations on display

With all the conversations I have with prospective students about the admissions process and academic requirements at Fletcher, I often try to remind people that grad school isn’t just about taking a bunch of classes. One of the key components of the vibrancy of our community is the variety of active student organizations, which make up what I think of as Fletcher’s civil society. These groups include student-run academic and professional journals, regional or issue-specific organizations, and affinity or activity-based groups. Whether your thing is food policy or fermentation, climbing or countering violent extremism, you’ll find something that speaks to you among the seventy currently active student organizations at Fletcher. A lot of friendships develop through the work of student organizations, and I’ve heard plenty of Fletcher students and alumni point to their involvement in them as among the most important aspects of their time here.

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About Fletcher

The new old cannon

Tufts familiars may know about the tradition of painting the cannon. For the uninitiated, Tufts has an old-timey cannon (a replica of one from the USS Constitution) on campus, which is constantly getting repainted by various campus players ranging from official student groups to wildcatting pranksters. The cannon has announced campus events, wished people happy birthdays, commemorated important dates and anniversaries, and helped spread activist and protest messages.

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Our Students

Congratulations, Rami!

Say hello to returning MALD student Rami. Rami is a great friend of ours, regularly volunteering for various Admissions events and outreach activities, welcoming new students to Fletcher as a featured speaker at last week’s orientation, and serving as a student representative on the Admissions Committee. We’ve been really glad to see him back at Fletcher over the past week. What a pleasant surprise it was, then, to catch him being presented with The Alfred P. Rubin Prize in International Law at today’s convocation ceremonies!

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Our Students

Catching up with summer coffee hours

Students are back in classes, and while the weather still seems summery (we’ve been hitting 90+ degrees regularly), at Fletcher it feels very much like fall. While they were in other U.S. cities or countries throughout the world over the past few months, about 40 students helped out with coffee hours. Nearly three dozen of these events took place, ranging from Austin to Addis Ababa (and stretching alphabetically to Yaoundé).

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About Fletcher

Another academic year begins!

One of the great things about working in Admissions is that early September, with its typical end-of-summer and back-to-school pageantry, is far more focused on new beginnings than a sad adieu to long days, flip flops, and the smell of sunblock. While it’s true that things around here get mighty busy mighty quickly, there’s a special energy that comes with the arrival of a new class, and the return to Fletcher of second year students. Jessica has already shared some details of the goings-on at last week’s orientation, and this week sees the start of classes. In short, it’s on!

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