A Professional Head Start: Fletcher’s Combined Degree Program

From his earliest days at Tufts, Jacob Hafey was connected to The Fletcher School (quite literally: Hafey lived in Houston Hall, directly beside Fletcher’s Cabot Intercultural Center). Each day, as he passed Fletcher’s Hall of Flags and watched graduate students in international affairs stream in and out, Hafey saw what felt like a glimpse of the future. 

“I knew that I wanted to go into international relations and Chinese language and government,” Hafey says. “It seemed obvious that the next step for me would be applying to Fletcher.” 

Then he discovered that he wouldn’t have to wait.

Through a combined-degree program—offered jointly through Fletcher and the School of Arts and Sciences or the School of Engineering—highly qualified undergraduate students can begin taking Fletcher courses before completing their senior year. In their final undergraduate semester, they matriculate fully as Fletcher students, gaining access to the school’s faculty, advising, and global network. When they graduate, they hold both a bachelor’s degree and a master of arts in law and diplomacy (MALD).

“Standing Among Giants”

For Hafey, A18, F20, getting that head start meant stepping into a classroom unlike any he had experienced previously at Tufts. He suddenly found himself attending class alongside mid-career professionals, military officers, and civil servants. “You feel like you’re standing among giants,” he says.

But any sense of intimidation Hafey felt quickly gave way to excitement. For example, in a class he took on civil/military relations, he was thrilled to discover that some of his classmates had served in the armed forces or worked in defense ministries. “When they talked about the Iraq war or Afghanistan, it wasn’t just theory,” he says. “These were people who had first-hand experience. It was incredible to learn from them.”

Julia Shufro, A22, F24, felt something similar when she entered Fletcher as the youngest student in her cohort. A French and history major, she first cross-registered for a Fletcher course during her junior year. Once in the program, she found herself, like Hafey, surrounded by classmates who had spent years in diplomacy, the military, and foreign service.

She felt conscious at first of the age difference between herself and her fellow students. “But once I realized that if you’re admitted to Fletcher, you’re meant to be there, it became one of the most transformative experiences of my life,” she says. 

Shufro credits the program with giving her a “broad and sophisticated” professional perspective, along with practical tools in conflict resolution and negotiation that she now draws on in her work as a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton in Washington, D.C.

In fact, she says, her Fletcher experience has shaped her entire career. Her current position came through a Fletcher classmate who personally recommended her to a recruiter. In her role, she has found herself pulled into projects because colleagues are aware of her Fletcher background. 

“The Fletcher network is incredibly strong,” she says. “People go out of their way to help each other.” 

That network extends well beyond Washington. Shane Suksangium, A16, F18, who is originally from Thailand, knew of Fletcher even before he submitted his undergraduate college applications, in part because many high-profile Thai diplomats and politicians are alumni. He knew he’d want to apply to Fletcher someday, and he learned about the five-year combined pathway early in his undergraduate career. 

Once he began the graduate program, at first, Suksangium found it challenging to navigate the experience gap between him and many of his classmates.

“At that time, the closest thing that I had had to a real job were internships,” he says. In contrast, many of his classmates had already spent years working. “That made me quiet in classes at first,” he recalls. “But that was a good thing: it allowed me to learn from the people around me.”

After graduating, a connection through his Fletcher thesis advisor led Suksangium to a position with the Climate Investment Funds at the World Bank, where he spent seven years before moving to the Asian Development Bank. Fletcher coursework in climate and development policy was pivotal to his path, he says. “I would not be where I am today if it hadn’t been for the things I learned in those classes.”

Skills for Real-World Problem Solving

The mentorship and close-knit classroom environment of the MALD also played a role in his success, says Suksangium. In smaller seminars, he found that students often formed lasting relationships with professors and classmates. A course he took with Professor Kelly Sims Gallagher, who is now the school’s dean, proved especially formative. “A lot of us became close through that class. We formed friendships directly through class discussions,” he says.

For both Shufro and Hafey, one of the most important features of the MALD was the breadth and flexibility of its curriculum. Rather than confining students to a narrow policy track, the program encourages them to engage with a wide range of issues and approaches across international affairs.

Shufro used that range to pursue coursework that blended policy analysis with practical skill-building. Alongside classes in international relations, she sought out training in negotiation and conflict resolution—courses that emphasized real-world problem solving and collaborative decision-making. “I use those skills in my work every day,” she says. 

The same is true for the skills that Hafey gained—but in an unexpected way. When he arrived at Fletcher, his interests centered largely on Chinese language and government. But a cybersecurity policy course exposed him to the regulatory and geopolitical questions surrounding emerging technologies, and he was hooked. 

“The program offers you the freedom to explore,” says Hafey. “I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to take that cybersecurity course. It set me on the path to my career.”