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"Our Students"
Orientation for new students starts today, meaning that Fletcher will not be occupied solely by staff members, as it has been for several weeks. Classes start up on Monday, which is when we’ll see the returning students.
While everything is so quiet (and we’re waiting for the flood of applications that will pour in at the end of this week), I wanted to share two recent op-eds written by our PhD candidates. First, David Knoll, who is in the final stages of dissertation writing, took a break to do some other writing, in this case for Time magazine online. His opinion piece appeared in December, shortly after the release of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee’s report.
More recently, Shahla Al Kli and Torrey Taussig also published an opinion piece. Theirs is on ISIS, and appeared on The National Interest website.
Finally, if you’re like me, you receive news about Fletcher from many sources — the website, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Despite these many prompts, it took me until today to watch the latest video from Dean Stavridis. If you’re hoping to enroll in 2015-16, I encourage you to take a look. He lays out many initiatives for the coming year, even as he describes the results of our work in 2014.
Oh, and of course, Dean Stavridis is a graduate of Fletcher’s PhD program.
First-year MIB student, Nathalie (who has also conducted interviews for us — you may have met her!) offered to report on the recent career trip students took to New York City. Here’s the story:
Traditionally the Fletcher School student body goes on two career trips each year: to New York in January and then to Washington, DC a month later. These trips are renowned by students for the career opportunities they provide, and are also considered a no-miss event on the Fletcher social calendar. As the number of students interested in the intersection of the private and public sector grows, a need was identified to organize an additional career trip earlier in the academic year to meet the recruitment deadlines of some of the larger private sector companies. The International Business Club rose to the challenge and organized the student-run Private Sector NYC Career Trip in November. As one of the Club’s leadership team members — and coming to Fletcher this year with five years of work experience in the private sector — I wanted to share some of my impressions both of the day itself and the preparations leading up to the day.
We had begun our internship and job search preparation already with our first Professional Development Program (PDP) class during Orientation week. PDP continued through the first half of fall semester, with Friday mornings dedicated to refining our résumés, elevator pitches, and cover letters. This all felt very premature to me — I thought “I’ve just left my job. I’m planning on staying here for two years. What am I doing this for?!” — but after seeing that deadlines for consulting internships began in the fall, I quickly changed my tune. The New York Career Trip helped jump-start my internship preparation, and made sure I was 100 percent ready with an up-to-date CV and a great elevator pitch. The team leaders for each of the company visits were also very helpful, as they ensured participants were prepared for each meeting. (When trying to make a good impression to a potential employer, there can be such thing as a stupid question.…)
In total 81 students made the trip down I-95, visiting between us a total of 21 companies in one day! The companies ranged from Morgan Stanley to Major League Soccer, from Google to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and from Dalberg to Eurasia. I personally visited LRN, Monitor Deloitte, and Dalberg. Two of these sessions were hosted by Fletcher alums who were very helpful in their advice on finding a job in the private sector. They both recommended taking Corporate Finance at Fletcher, definitely making the many hours I am spending on the coursework now worth it! The other session was a more formal recruiting session; managers presented their company’s structure and projects, generating a lot of excitement about applying to their firm. The day was topped off with an Alumni Happy Hour, with NYC-based alums coming to meet and network with us. And then, as a true Fletcher student who is never one to miss the opportunity to explore, the rest of the weekend was spent with a group of my classmates discovering new parts of New York.
Overall, the trip was a resounding success, with lots of great feedback from students and alumni alike. Personally, it was a welcome opportunity to get the ball rolling on my internship search and it has motivated me to keep the momentum going, as some of the January deadlines are quickly approaching. The trip also showed me how students can really take an active role in the community at Fletcher, and are encouraged to do so. I was able to make direct connections with alumni and other interested employers, something not so typical in larger business programs — another Fletcher bonus to add to the already long list!
Completing the round of posts from our returning student bloggers, Mark looks back at his first year at Fletcher from his second-year vantage point.
I recall that when I arrived on campus last fall to begin the MIB program, I observed our second-year brethren interacting in the halls after returning from summer. Like long-lost siblings reunited, not a twosome could pass each other without a hearty embrace. Equally memorable was learning of all the impressive and often exotic ways the MIB’s had spent their summer. But what was even more inspiring to me was the certainty with which second-years assured us that we, too, are embarking on what promised to be a spectacular year. They were right. Our first year has since passed in a blink, and I, for one, learned first-hand what was behind all that enthusiasm.
I last wrote in the spring on how I was developing my own area of expertise by tailoring coursework to specific academic and professional goals. I was focused on learning about international project and infrastructure finance, and looking for an opportunity to break into the field. Thanks exclusively to the Fletcher network, I landed a position with OPIC, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which was, without exaggeration, exactly what I was aiming for. OPIC is the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, and it offers a range of products designed to help U.S. firms invest in emerging markets. OPIC also plays a meaningful role in advancing foreign policy goals in a way that I characterized as “fostering peace, through superior debt financing,” which is my own commentary on how militarism has been eclipsed by more subtle measures of economic statecraft and leverage.
I joined the Structured Finance division, where my team and I worked on loans for large and complex multi-party projects, including a wind farm in Pakistan, a concentrated solar power plant in Israel, and a social-impact-oriented housing finance facility in Haiti — projects that cost over one billion dollars together. My responsibilities included credit analysis, due diligence, research on foreign regulations, economic assessments, and interpreting elaborate concession and loan agreements; all tasks that required me to draw on my training outlined in my earlier post on a daily basis. But what arguably proved to be most invaluable was a broad and nuanced understanding of the global context in which I was operating, enabling me to offer authentic perspectives on matters with an insight that only Fletcher can provide.
The experience convinced me that, in purely commercial terms, the MIB program equipped me with precisely the right set of skills and body of knowledge to excel in an internationally focused financial career that was otherwise entirely new to me, and it was Fletcher that made the opportunity possible. But the value Fletcher creates for us does not stop there. In my case, I have participated in the Building Bridges Symposium to learn from the industry’s foremost thought leaders, and have been provided connections to many astonishing alumni in the field, including international banker John Greenwood (F04), prolific builder Philip Asherman (F04), and pioneer Mimi Alemayehou (F98). These are just a fraction of the resources available to us, all part of a brilliantly executed mission to prepare future leaders for the global stage and illuminate a path forward.
Returning to campus this fall, I was greeted in the hallway by our dean, James Stavridis (F83, F84 and the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, mind you), who inquired about my summer with equal fascination as a parent. The moment was striking, and reinforced a sentiment solidifying in my mind since I first witnessed those second-year classmates interact. There is an unmistakable culture that resonates throughout Fletcher, a kind of kinship that binds not only students together, but also us to our faculty, to our staff, and to our alumni. In my view, our culture is the real prize, the engine of enduring value, and an honor to be a part of. Like my classmates before me, I know first-years will discover their untapped potential, see locked doors swing open, and become a part of the Fletcher family, as I have; and all after merely one year.
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed the second in a series of event announcements, each of which invited students to come and chat, over coffee, with a professor or fellow student. Great idea! So I contacted the organizer, Ameya, for details. Ameya told me:
The idea for these chats came about from a conversation early last year between some of us who had Prof. Chayes as our faculty adviser. She has, as you know, a wealth of experience; we were all interested in learning more about her career and interests, but it was hard to do this in ten-to-fifteen minute office hour conversations, plus it was repetitive for Prof. Chayes, as well. So we set up a combined chat for an hour or so, which all her advisees attended, and it was a tremendously valuable and informative experience.
Based off that, I started setting up similar chats — maybe once a month — with other professors. At some point, it also became clear there were students and alumni with valuable experience in specific areas, so this year I’ve started alternating between faculty and student/alumni speakers. I’ve consistently found the sessions both valuable, as well as reassuring, in that everyone has had a roundabout path to where they currently are in their careers.
Sessions last year were with Professors Babbitt, Wilkinson, and Johnstone, and one alumnus. This semester, we’ve met with two current students and Prof. Moomaw.
I really love this idea, especially the conversations with students, which formalizes the commonly stated opinion that there’s much to be learned from one’s peers here. Plus, it’s an example of how a student can create a new Fletcher tradition, and I hope that Ameya’s idea will be carried forward even after he has graduated.
In a bit of blog housekeeping this month, I created a separate tag for each of our Student Stories bloggers. Now you can follow the full stories of the students who blogged for two years – Mirza, Roxanne, and Scott. In addition, you might like the posts written by Maliheh in the first year of the Student Stories project. She graduated at the end of that year, so there are fewer posts for her. Read the posts from oldest to newest, if you want to follow the students’ paths from start to finish.
The second new student who will be blogging throughout her two years at Fletcher has actually already been heard from, when she and Miranda wrote about technology studies at Fletcher. I met Aditi last spring, and I made a note to contact her in the fall to see if she would blog for us. My email request to her crossed paths with her offer to write the first post — I’m really happy to have an eager writer. Today, Aditi introduces herself.
I am a first-year MALD student, (still thinking about) concentrating in International Business Relations and Development Economics. As you have read in a past post, my main interests are in the use of digital technology for development programs, so I also plan to weave that interest into my coursework.
Before Fletcher, I worked back home in Mumbai at a non-profit called Dasra, doing a combination of fundraising and impact assessment work. Having been in the Boston area for my undergraduate degree at Wellesley College, I’m really excited to experience the fall again, with all its beautiful colours — but nervous about being back in the Boston winter. (My friends have informed me that I’m not the most pleasant person to be around when it’s cold.)
In the spirit of sharing my Fletcher journey with the readers of this blog, here are some of the things about Fletcher that most surprised me when I arrived here:
- The MALD program has a very flexible curriculum
- Fletcher has a wonderful sense of community
Just kidding! I know that those are facts that are repeated over and over, and that everyone applying to Fletcher has probably heard them before. So here are a few things that really were surprises:
- They’re not exaggerating! Everyone is REALLY NICE at Fletcher, and the prevailing culture and environment here is one that takes great pride in kindness. A not uncommon example: I have the wrong edition of a textbook for a class, and one of my classmates helped me out (without me having to ask) by sending me photos of every single assigned problem in the book so I could make sure I had the correct homework.
- The sunsets here are breath-taking. I definitely did not except beautiful sunsets in Medford, Massachusetts — but the sun setting over the Fletcher Field is an incredible sight.
- The amount of time students get with our professors outside of class, through office hours and meetings. Even when I have reached out to professors whose classes I’m not currently in, they have been very approachable and willing to chat.
- A) The number of events and receptions that involve (free) food and drinks, and B) the importance placed on events and receptions that involve (free) food and drinks. These are values I appreciate deeply.
I haven’t had a day so far at Fletcher that’s been the same as any other, and so I’m constantly finding new things to be surprised by. I look forward to sharing all these aspects of my two years here with the Admissions Blog!
Adapting to a new application system meant we weren’t sure how many student staff members we would need this year. It turned out we need one more than we first introduced in October. Today, meet David, our newest student intern hire.
Hi everyone! I am a first-year MALD, focusing on democratization and human security. I am particularly interested in transitional governments, former communist countries and Latin America. I am a first-generation American, born and raised in Wheaton, IL. I attended DePauw University for my undergraduate studies and majored in political science and Spanish. Prior to Fletcher, I lived in the Czech Republic teaching high school English on a Fulbright grant. I have also completed internships with The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the U.S. State Department.
While this is my first semester at Fletcher, I have found it tremendously easy to get involved and have really enjoyed becoming part of the Fletcher community. I am currently a researcher on a joint Fletcher-ICRC study on conflict migration in the Sahel, co-president of the European Club, and a member of the Tufts Refugee Assistance Program. Outside the classroom, I love hanging out with other Fletcher students, exploring Boston, and venturing out to find new restaurants and breweries in the area. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Next up among our first-year student bloggers is Alex, who introduces himself here. He has spent eight years abroad in Africa, Asia, and Europe, and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration from The College of William and Mary.
Hi everyone, my name is Alex Schulte, and I look forward to contributing to the Fletcher Admissions Blog during my next two years here. Let me tell you a little bit about myself, and why I’m so excited to be at Fletcher.
My passion is finding creative solutions to difficult problems. Specifically, I am interested in figuring out how to bring clean energy technology to commercial scale in order to help address three of the biggest and broadest issues we face today: 1) running our economy more efficiently and productively; 2) easing geopolitical tensions that arise from securing and allocating conventional energy resources; and 3) maintaining a sustainable environment for future generations. I believe that clean technology represents one of the 21st century’s greatest opportunities to create a more prosperous and inclusive world.
The energy sector is complex and global, and requires a very firm grasp of both international business and policy. Before Fletcher, I was already working to develop the experience and skills necessary to operate effectively in this area, including:
- Consulting at Monitor Deloitte for emerging-market and defense clients, which exposed me to world-class strategic planning and data analysis skills.
- Managing the start-up of a multi-million dollar nutritional food production business in Ethiopia, which taught me the tactical side of entrepreneurship in a difficult environment.
- Working at a Chinese nuclear energy joint venture in Beijing, which gave me experience analyzing a novel clean energy technology and its competitive situation.
I learned a lot from these experiences. Most importantly, I discovered that I still have a lot to learn. This is why I am excited to be starting at The Fletcher School’s Master of International Business (MIB) program, focusing on finance and energy.
On the finance side, I recognized my need for further education in financial matters when I was confronted with the challenge of securing a $5 million loan for my business in Ethiopia. Since starting at Fletcher, I have already learned concepts in my Corporate Finance class that are directly applicable to this experience. Furthermore, I look forward to learning even more from the International Financial Management and International Business Transactions classes I will take next semester.
On the energy side, I realized that a more structured and comprehensive understanding of the energy landscape would have been useful when I was conducting market analyses for the Chinese nuclear energy firm. The insights I have gained from my Climate Change and Clean Energy Policy class are invaluable, and I look forward to taking International Energy Policy next semester. Already, the MIB program has provided me with the broader contextual intelligence that I need, and the intellectual rigor that I crave, to be successful in a sector as complex as energy.
Possibly even more important than the content of my education are the relationships I am forming. At Fletcher, I am surrounded by a community of peers and professors who are also interested in the intersection of business and international affairs, and crosscutting solutions to solving global problems. I am honored and excited to have joined the Fletcher community, and to attend one of the foremost international affairs schools in the world. I look forward to taking you with me on my journey through the MIB program.
