Pandemic-adjusted application review

One common question we’ve heard in recent months concerns how the Admissions Committee will evaluate applications that show evidence of significant pandemic-related disruptions. None of us have avoided the upheaval of the past year, and it’s understandable that applicants might wonder if we’ll be able to evaluate properly their readiness for grad school given how weird academic and professional life has been in this era. The quick answer, with a tip of the cap to Douglas Adams, is a simple “don’t panic.”

Read more

January 10th application deadline reminder

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.

Read more

Application tips – the digest version

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.

Read more

Fletcher team wins Cyber 9/12 competition!

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.

Read more

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos returns to Fletcher

Fletcher is one of the few places where being able to drop in casually on a conversation with a Nobel Peace Prize laureate seems like a fairly normal Monday afternoon activity. Still, it felt like a special treat yesterday to catch the visit to Fletcher by former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. Santos was Colombia’s President from 2010 to 2018, and is best known globally for his stewardship of peace negotiations with the FARC rebels that led to the end of the country’s 52-year conflict (and which earned him the 2016 Nobel). The event was also a special homecoming: President Santos is a long time member of the Fletcher community, having spent time here as a Fulbright visiting fellow in 1981.

Read more

Spam prevention powered by Akismet