The Fletcher School

Each fall, approximately 180 students enroll in Fletcher’s incoming class, and a surprising seven to ten percent of these newcomers are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs). Each of them American citizens, nearly all of these RPCVs have completed the requisite 27 months of volunteer service in any one of the 69 countries in which Peace Corps operates. They have returned to America bringing with them memories and experiences about cultures and countries few Americans will ever visit—or even be able to correctly pronounce or locate on a map.

For many of these RPCVs, returning to graduate school after their service was over was part of their plan. For others, it was their experience abroad that got them interested in international affairs. Evan Tracz F’05, an RPCV from Turkmenistan, said, “if not for Peace Corps, I would never have gotten interested in international affairs. Peace Corps made the foreign and far-flung somehow tangible, and made me realize that individual efforts can have an impact on people, nations, and the international system.” He was drawn to Fletcher specifically, he said, because “it seemed like a place that recognizes the many faces of international affairs, and it allowed students to explore their own experiences and choose their paths.”

This sense of self-exploration, resourcefulness, and individuality, something which is very much a part of a volunteer’s experience in their country of service, is also something which draws RPCVs to the Fletcher School. Kai Jeffers, an incoming MALD student who recently returned from service in Ukraine, said, “I think Fletcher appeals to the RPCV mentality. In my experience, most successful volunteers were intelligent but were not confined by their book knowledge. They wanted to get to know their colleagues and their host culture. This is what makes Fletcher different—that concentration on the people involved, not just the theories.” For Shannon Burke F’05, another RPCV from Ukraine, Fletcher’s draw was its flexible curriculum and sense of community. “Both flexibility and community were important to me in part because of my Peace Corps experience. After the freedom Peace Corps gave me to create and implement programs at my site, I wanted an academic environment where I would have maximum freedom in choosing my classes and shaping my education."

Many volunteers considering graduate schools utilize their free time to research graduate programs. “I had a great advantage,” said Kai Jeffers, “in that many of my good friends were leaving Peace Corps the year before me and were making their grad school decisions while I was still in my first year as a volunteer. I inherited all of their materials when they left the country. Here I was in my first year as a volunteer with two windowsills full of grad school applications and syllabi!” Fletcher also regularly advertises in Worldview, a quarterly magazine published by the National Peace Corps Association, which is readily available to PCVs in their countries of service. It’s full-page, black-and-white ad can be seen in many issues.

Volunteers also experience Fletcher’s international reputation first-hand in their countries of service. They interact with Peace Corps staff, U.S. Foreign Service Officers, NGO staff members, host country nationals, and many others who speak highly of or who are themselves alumni of the Fletcher School. Josh Strauss F’05, an RPCV from Ukraine, commented, “The program quickly caught my attention because I am very interested in both law and diplomacy. When I asked the Country Director [of Peace Corps Ukraine] where he thought I should apply, Fletcher was the only name he gave me.” Everett Peachey F’05, an RPCV from Western Russia and Kazakhstan, echoed this sentiment because he had two friends at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow who encouraged him to apply to Fletcher. “They knew me very well,” he said, “and they knew that Fletcher would suit my interdisciplinary interests.”

To date, 12 RPCVs who served in ten countries on three continents have enrolled and will enter Fletcher in the fall of 2004. They will join the 15 RPCVs who enrolled in the fall of 2003.