Class of 2013 Student Profiles

Shuvam Dutta , 2013, India

Why I chose Fletcher:  Working as a banker in emerging markets, I was constantly faced with the shocking asymmetry in financial access which separated the handful of large established business houses from the thousands of micro-enterprises (perpetuating inequality of income and opportunity). I wanted to attend a policy school to broaden my understanding of how policies can enable local businesses to access capital. I wanted to learn how policy innovations can broaden financial access and how effective collaboration between governments and the private sector can foster economic growth. Fletcher's unique multi-disciplinary approach to education, coupled with professors who have more than just an academic understanding of global subjects, convinced me of Fletcher's superiority. But the clincher was the Fletcher community. The people I met from the school were affable, sincere and helpful, to the extent that I think Fletcher chose me as much as I chose Fletcher.

On the diversity of the school: It is difficult to imagine the full range of diversity that Fletcher's student body represents. I share my apartment at Blakeley Hall with a news producer from Al Jazeera and a Peace Corps volunteer. I have met people from every imaginable profession - from human rights practitioners, to military professionals, to diplomats-in-training, to bankers. It has been such a great experience.