<p>Does anyone have any idea what SAIS is looking for on Essay 2 for the MA program?</p>
<p>Do they want a scholarly review of James Galbraith’s latest publication? Or, just a few thoughts on a topic I am interested in?</p>
<p>Thanks for any pointers.</p>
<p>Post the particular question if you want some opinions/feedback.</p>
<p>Off the cuff, I doubt very much they want something scholarly. More likely they want you to demonstrate how your mind works, how you analyze, how you write.</p>
<p>[Johns</a> Hopkins SAIS Admissions | Application Materials](<a href=“http://www.sais-jhu.edu/admissions/apply/application-materials.htm]Johns”>http://www.sais-jhu.edu/admissions/apply/application-materials.htm)</p>
<p>“Essay 2/Analytical Essay (M.A. only): Discuss an issue of national or international importance and its concern to you. This essay should be no more than 600 words.”</p>
<p>Here you need to talk intelligently and passionately about something you have thought about, have concern about, and preferably have had practical experience with in the area of national or international affairs.</p>
<p>Here would be some possibilities:</p>
<p>“Living in Wuhan, China for the past 2 years, watching the place become enriched and the economic base grow literally from day-to-day, I have faced the local implications of China’s growing power in the world. This experience caused me to reflect upon China’s growth (some might say return) to being a major regional and global power. This realization especially came home to me in the run-up to the Olympics.”</p>
<p>And then look at the economic, military, political etc. implications in succinct but incisive form.</p>
<p>Or:</p>
<p>“This year’s unfolding presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain has underscored the importance of qualities that we demand for our presidents to be considered competent global leaders. In my opinion, understanding military power can be a crucial component of being a good global leader, but the job requires much more than that”…and then state the things you think it takes.</p>
<p>An essay of the former type which talks about your experiences overseas will be much more compelling. If you have any way of working an essay like that, go for it. But if you haven’t spent significant amounts of time overseas, you might not be able to shoot for that. So you’ll have to really nail the second type of essay. Really work on that.</p>
<p>Good luck. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>The more you can meld the personal with the analytic – leaving out scholarliness but being very intelligent – the better I think you’ll do.</p>
<p>Don’t try to be too high-minded or sound profound, IMO. Unless you are a very skilled person coming from seasoning in a top notch international relations program with a lot of writing experience, chances are the more profound you try to sound, the more pompously naive you will probably come off sounding.</p>
<p>Get other opinions.</p>
<p>Thanks bedhead. That’s great advice. I work for one of the big four accounting firms in their customs and international trade consulting group. I’ll probably talk about about trade (specifically in Latin America, which is where I’m from).</p>
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<p>Read some books by Tom Friedman, books pro and con globalization, relate it to real issues…you’ll do fine.</p>
<p>I think the trick, again, is to show that this has personal relevance for you at the same time that you are analytically sophisticated.</p>