My dad just read my Huntsman essay and, needless to say, we had a disagreement on the interpretation of the prompt. This year’s prompt is:
Discuss a current international issue, which demonstrates how international affairs and business intersect and explain how the Huntsman curriculum might assist to resolve the issue. (max 500 words)
So how do you guys interpret the prompt? Should I discuss the issue, mention solutions, and talk about how Huntsman can help me apply the solutions to the issue? And how specific should I be when mentioning aspects of the Huntsman curriculum?
This is definitely a tricky question. Here’s a few pointers I would give:
When addressing the prompt, make sure that you add in something about yourself. The prompt talks about an international issue but the admissions committee cares about you, not the issue. Although you should follow the prompt make sure that the issues you choose and the explanation you provide says something about you!
When describing how the curriculum will help you, take care not to end up just listing reasons why the Huntsman program is good. Penn already knows that the Huntsman program is good, what they need to know is why you would be a good fit.
@IvyWin Thanks for the advice! That’s what I thought I should do, but it’s a relief to know that I’m not the only one who interpreted the prompt like that.
Kind of late, but I thought that I can offer some words of comfort… I’m applying to Huntsman too this year, and I used the same approach as you. Since my target language is Mandarin Chinese, I addressed an issue that I noticed when I visited Shanghai last year. I was born in China and immigrated here when I was around seven, so I started off the essay with my memories of China before the problem and then I described the issue and how Huntsman’s curriculum can offer ways for their students to resolve it. I figured that since we aren’t studying college level economics yet, there’s no way that they would expect us to come up with a fully fleshed out fiscal plan for the problem(mine’s real estate related) so I just outlined how students can use what they learned to relate to the general population and understand the cause of the issue.
hey @xinjie I am also applying to target Mandarin! All the best. I have heard people do many different approaches. My other friend discussed a comparison of education between the US Switzerland and the area of his target language. I think it is a pretty open question.