Matthew Reitz
Biography
Fields of study
- International Business Relations
- International Security Studies
Country
United States
On feeling like you matter
When you’re picking between different international relations graduate programs and you receive that big orange envelope with a bunch of handwritten notes from students and faculty congratulating you on being accepted while inviting you to campus, you feel like you matter. Countless programs hype their student community, but Fletcher 100% delivers on that. You ask a Fletcher alum for a phone call, they’ll make time for you. You want to sit down with a student over coffee and learn about what they do, they’ll grab a table in Mugar Café and wait for you to finish class. Fletcher is like a tight-knit family and I love that about it.
On the MYF pathway
I chose the Map Your Future program to give myself two years of practical experience before returning to the classroom. Working in a non-profit, experiencing the campaign trail in the 2018 midterms, and seeing Capitol Hill first-hand allowed me to understand the reality of the fields I was interested in, and see how international relations, public diplomacy, and security studies are approached in the real world. Now that I am at Fletcher, I am pursuing the MALD with the intention of entering into public service on behalf of the United States, its people, and its government with the intention of helping contribute to America’s security abroad.
On finding fletcher where you least expect it
When I was a freshman at SMU, I walked into my night class on Japanese politics and society to find that the professor had invited a very special guest speaker: a U.S. Navy Admiral who happened to be a Fletcher alum. He spoke at length about his formative experiences throughout his early life, and he just kept bringing up this “Fletcher School” I had never heard of. The name stuck with me. A few years later, when the time came to apply for graduate school, I knew which program was going to be at the top of my list.
Activities involved in at Fletcher
- Japan Club
- Tech @ Fletcher
Education before Fletcher
- Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, Economics, and Asia Studies, Southern Methodist University
Experience before Fletcher
- Communications and I.T. Coordinator, Japan-America Society of Dallas/Fort Worth, Dallas, Texas, USA
- Campaign Coordinator, Re-Elect Judge Martin Hoffman, Dallas, Texas, USA
- Legislative Intern, United States House of Representatives, Washington, DC, USA
Languages
Japanese, Spanish, English