What it means to be a grad student overseas

So Japanese students interested in international affairs may complain about their tuition fee being ridiculously expensive (which everyone here totally agrees), materials and methods being too West-centered, etc. That's not the point. That's not what you should be looking at when you consider attending a gradschool in Japan or overseas. I can talk only about US gradschools, so that limits my point a little bit here. But I daresay this. Coming to study in the US is not about what you learn. It's about opening your eyes to the whole world and making yourself a part of that whole world.


I'll give you an example. You know there was a score of terrorist attacks in Munbai? Here is what happens in my gradschool. On our mailing list, people start posting the web articles and analyses that they thought were worth reading, and of course their own views. They have worked in India, have lots of friends in Munbai, and are from India themselves. You may have the same access to the information that we share here, thanks to the Internet. But would you really go out of your way and collect it yourself? Or would you here the opinion from a Bhutani diplomat on the potential impact of the incident? That's what happens here.


This mailing list that I am talking about contains a huge amount of interesting tips and perspectives from all around the place. You see a forwarded message from someone looking for an intern at the defendent team for a prominent war criminal being tried at ICTY. You hear from someone going to DR Congo for research and looking for some contacts there. Off the internet, when you are looking for an internship, your roommate happens to know an expert in the field. That's what happens when a cluster is formed with people sharing the same type of spirit but different expertise.


That's why I love this community, but feel humbled by what I have to offer in return. I'm telling you, if you are thinking about attending a gradschool like Fletcher right after graduation, postpone it. The schools won't go away. You'll enjoy it a lot more when you come with something to tell from the bottom of your heart.


So yeah. I might need to do the same.