<p>hey fellow Georgetown hopefuls, i need some advice on my Walsh School of Foreign Service essay. It asks for the applicant to write about a current global issue and propose a solution. I really want to write about immigration and the need to reform immigration laws, but am afraid that it may be too political or could disturb my chances of admission if the reader has differing views. I am positive that i would be able to argue my point, and i have collected research from newspapers, books, and personal experience working with immigrants. </p>
<p>What should i do? Should i write about a possibly controversial subject, or should i look for a new topic?</p>
<p>where did you get that essay prompt? Is it on the regular first-year application ? My transfer part II has a different question.</p>
<p>Anyways, in regards to the topic for your essay:</p>
<p>1 - “should I write about a possibly controversial subject”? - “global issues” in many cases are global often because they are controversial. So if you want to choose something you know about and that something is an important issue, there is no reason why you should avoid certain subjects, its about demonstrating your knowledge and way of thinking/reasoning ability.</p>
<p>2 - I am assuming you are applying from the US. if you are going to write about immigration, I hope you will not write about just US immigration (meaning US mexico border issues etc). If it is global, make it global. Do not limit yourself. I personally would not call US immigration problems global. There are plenty of things going on in Europe from immigration standpoint (illegal immigration from places like northern africa or refugees etc.) and after all try to make it international oriented. They would want to know how much knowledge you have about things that are not right from your backyard. Try doing it in a way that demonstrates that you have a knowledge of regions or places that many applicants probably dont know as well. I think it is all about picking something that will help you stand out. Imagine how many people might choose the same subject. Think about how many people will choose subjects like Iranian Elections (try not to do this one) or North Korean problems. If you look carefully, there are many global issues that most people do not pay as much attention to because of media, but they are truly global. Possible topics: write something about countries using energy and carbohydrates as political weapons (Russia), write something about the importance of energy independence, or the NATO expansion,… dig something interesting up. Something not too obvious that anyone who watches TV can easily pick.</p>
<p>I hope this helps. Usually the more specific you get, IMO, the more effective the essay will become.</p>
<p>FutureTransfer, with regard to your question about the prompt itself, I’m fairly sure that minikc123 does have the correct prompt. That prompt was the one for first-year SFS last year at least. Transfer apps do have quite different purposes than first-year apps after all, so your prompt is almost certainly different.</p>
<p>For my SFS essay last year I wrote about immigration. I was very careful of how I made my argument however. I made sure to talk about how it is a problem not just in the US but the world as a whole. My parents were illegal immigrants so I added my own personal story to the essay. I was born in the US so I wrote about how it is an economic, social, and political problem. </p>
<p>I talked about how the issue deeply divides people all over the world. I talked about the lack of understanding on both sides of the aisle. I also discussed European illegal immigration and how they are not handling it any better than we are. </p>
<p>Just make sure you look at it in a global context and I think it could make a great essay. Good luck :)</p>
<p>thanks so much zenenj, that was amazingly helpful! i am going to mention US/Mexico immigration problem, but mainly focus on illegal immigration amongst the central american countries (since i hope to concentrate on latin american studies)</p>