Final exams officially end today, but students have been heading off for winter break since before last weekend.  Curious about where folks are traveling?  Our Coffee Hour list gives you a good indication.  And also an invitation!  If you will be in one of the cities on the list, you’re invited to join a Fletcher student or recent alum for conversation over your preferred hot beverage.

Details are still being finalized for some locations, but we hope you’ll plan on joining us if you can.  Register from the website for coffee in any of these cities.

Kristen just put out a second call for hosts of our semi-annual array of Coffee Hours.  This is noteworthy because the list of locations is already quite impressive.  Though details are still in the planning stage, students have volunteered to meet with potential applicants, enrolling students, and anyone else who wants to talk Fletcher in:

Accra, Ghana
Austin, TX
Bangalore, India
Beijing, China
Bogota, Colombia
Boston, MA
Cape Town, South Africa
Charlotte, NC
Dakar, Senegal
Dublin, Ireland
Honolulu, HI
Islamabad, Pakistan
Istanbul, Turkey
Jakarta, Indonesia
Kabul, Afghanistan
Kathmandu, Nepal
Lahore, Pakistan
London, UK
Mexico City, Mexico
Nairobi, Kenya
New Delhi, India
New York, NY
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Rome, Italy
San Francisco, CA
Santiago, Chile
Seattle, WA
Seoul, Korea
Stuttgart, Germany
Tel Aviv, Israel
Vienna, Austria
Washington, DC

Check the Coffee Hours list on the website for details and to see if an event will be planned near you.  Most events will take place in July and August, and the dates should be posted soon.

No matter how much time the Admissions staff spends on the road, there are always a zillion locations that we don’t reach each year.  To plug some of those gaps, our best ambassadors — our students — have volunteered to meet you over coffee.  You can find the list of sites on our website.  (Sites and details still being added.)  Sign up, and take advantage of the chance to chat with a student in a casual setting over your preferred hot beverage.

Are you in Nairobi, Dakar, Johannesburg, Sao Paulo, New York, San Francisco, Bangalore, Delhi, Jakarta, Kathmandu, Seoul, Colombo, Brussels, Paris, Berlin, Beirut, Lausanne, Istanbul, or London?  Yes?  Then you’ll want to check our list of Coffee Hours to be hosted this summer by current students, and add the date to your calendar.  Every year our students volunteer to meet up with incoming and prospective students in the locations where they are spending the summer.  And this is a double win, because while the Admissions team will not be in Kathmandu (or most of these cities) this year, prospective students there still have the opportunity to connect with Fletcher from the convenience of their hometowns.

So note the date and time of the Coffee Hour near you, and look forward to talking Fletcher over your preferred hot beverage.

While we’re celebrating the U.S. Independence Day (July 4th) holiday, I encourage you to check the schedule of Coffee Hours around the world.  Don’t wait until you’ve missed the Coffee Hour nearest you!  If you need further convincing, consider this email report from Michael, the newly graduated MIB student who hosted the Minneapolis coffee hour this week:

Hi Christine and Kristen,

I am happy to report a 100% turnout at the Coffee Hour here in Minneapolis.  We had a great conversation!  We talked much longer than expected, but there was so much Fletcher excitement in the air — how could we stop?  Some highlights included:

♦  Scott Snyder (MIB 14) joined us, as he just happened to be in town, stopping over in Minneapolis during his summer-long cross-country charity bike tour.
♦  One applicant’s grandparents were Fletcherites, and wanted to learn what the school was like today.  (His grandparents attended in the 1950s.)
♦  One applicant’s father went to Tufts and sang the praises of Fletcher.
♦  Another applicant had been on the Fletcher email list since her freshman year of college.

All the best from the Midwest!
Michael

I hope the prospect of sharing coffee with others who share your interests will send you flying to the Coffee Hour sign-up page.  Meanwhile, the Admissions Office will reopen tomorrow, following the holiday.

With many many details yet to be filled in, our list of upcoming Coffee Hours is ready to share!  These are informal events, organized by current Fletcher students or recent alums who have volunteered to select a convenient time and location to chat with incoming students, prospective applicants, and others who want to join in.  The list includes every city in which plans for a Coffee Hour are in the works.  Click on the city nearest you and sign up!  Note that, if the city name is not a link to a sign-up page, it means we haven’t yet nailed down details with the Coffee Hour host.  In that case, please check back throughout the coming weeks for more information.  Our Coffee Hour hosts are looking forward to meeting future students!

Is summer a good time to visit Fletcher?  Well…truth be told, it’s not optimal.  But there are plenty of people for whom summer is the only opportunity to visit.  If that’s you, come on over — we’ll do our best to provide a warm welcome!  We’ll be offering Information Sessions most Mondays from June 4 to August 6, and we have just hired two new interns who can answer your questions about the student experience. You can also arrange an evaluative interview.

What we don’t have a lot of is classes to attend.  Or buzz.  It’s crazy quiet here in the summer.  But a summer visit is better than no visit, so check out the list of sessions and sign up for the one that’s convenient for you.

Meanwhile, I just finished talking to Kristen, who updated me on plans for this summer’s Coffee Hours.  She put out the call yesterday, and within minutes (in that wonderful Fletcher way), 25 students had offered to host a coffee in their far-flung locations this summer.  Kristen will finalize the plans in the next few weeks, and then you’ll be invited to sign up for a coffee near you.