<p>How involved with international affairs were you when you applied? What did you show in your extracurriculars that reflected this? To what extent do you think you need to show this?</p>
<p>Well I would say that your extracurriculars don’t really matter … an interest in IR will show through more clearly in your essays than anywhere else. An extracurricular interest in politics will help (e.g., having volunteered on some campaigns or some such), but frankly it’s hard to impossible for most high school students to demonstrate an extracurricular interest in IR as such (hint: no one cares how well you did at Model UN), unless you happen to live in the right place and know the right people.</p>
<p>i’d say studying abroad experiences would help establish an IR interest. The State Dep’t has fully funded programs to study various languages abroad for high schoolers.</p>
<p>I think it’s great if you have some kind of IR experience but I personally had none of that when I applied. I was very interested in service and in making a difference in this world and it reflected in my essays. We had to respond to an essay topic about a world issue that we care about and I wrote about AIDS. As long as you are passionate about what you write about and it comes out in your essay, you can be a good candidate. Of course, other factors like SAT scores, GPA, extracurricular involvement, leadership qualities, etc. do matter. However, you do not need anything extra beyond a strong passion for and interest in international affairs to get into the SFS.</p>
<p>Thanks very much, these answers have been extremely helpful.
Quick follow up - since there is the specific essay set aside for a world issue, is it alright to deviate from international affairs in the standard personal essay?</p>