Class of 2013 Student Profiles

Kirk Bansak , 2013, United States

Why I chose Fletcher:  The Fletcher School's reputation as a premier international affairs program had been well known to me before I even began to think about applying to graduate schools. What really impressed me as I went through the application process, however, was the degree of enthusiasm toward the school that I unfailingly observed on the part of Fletcher alums, current students, and others affiliated with the school in various ways. The Fletcher esprit de corps continues to amaze me. It electrifies the campus.

On Fletcher’s international community: At one point in a course on the relations between East Asia and the West, we (the class) found ourselves in a conversation about the foreign policy blemishes in the history of the countries in question. Engaged yet dispassionate, we turned from China to the United States to Japan to Great Britain to Korea, examining controversial historical episodes from which each country continues to derive a certain amount of embarrassment. I looked around the room and saw students from China, the United States, Japan, Great Britain, and Korea. The atmosphere was not the least bit tense.