Hi~everyone. This is my essay for admission into department of international studies degree as a dual-degree program student. Just you know, I am a non-native English speaker. This is my first draft, so, please point out anything like grammar, inappropriate expression, coherence or unity and everything that raises a flag. I would very appreciate your feedback.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ Until I graduated from middle school, I was rather passive and conservative person who mostly did something that my parents want me to do. However, after getting into high school, I started to think about what I am good at and what I really want to do other than my parents think. This thinking had led me to find that I had a talent for languages and prepare for exchange student programs. Even though there weren't any official exchange programs at high school in Korea, I applied and was chosen for the program conducted by Youth For Understanding (YFU), a private international exchange organization. While I went to public high school in Ohio just for a year, I happened to take international relation class which deals with the study of foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system. Since then, I found it very interesting that how different nations can cooperate peacefully and respectfully, and how we discuss ways to cope with problems as well as solutions for each country in the class.
In this respect, I've always thought that in the future, my goal would be to broaden my knowledge of world affairs and specialized in international studies concerned with the complex political, economic, social, and cultural interrelationships that exist among nations as well as an understanding of cross-cultural communication, issues of human rights, and conflict resolution. One of the reasons that I want to study at University of Oregon is that the Department of International Studies seems to have perfect curriculums which provides various opportunities for me to apply it to other subject such as public administration and policy science.
After my high school graduation in Korea, I entered the Department of Public Administration at Korea University instead of department of international studies. Because the courses they gave me as an example were not that reasonable to me. It seemed to focus on more about languages such as Chinese and Japanese. However, my major was more about what I have planned to study. The academic attention was paid to the areas of Public Law, including Administrative Law, policy science, political economy and so forth. By taking these courses, I learned diverse parts of political and social dynamics as either external or internal. Also, I realized that there were many different interests entangled towards the issues and problems that our nation faces today.
This intricacy made me explore more about the basic economic knowledge, as well as a broader view of the competition and management strategy among multiple international interests, so that I could be an international journalist of the press who could not only give integrated information of administration and international studies but also tackle international affairs to assist citizens to make rational choices for our nation's problems which could be solved by figuring out interactions among countries. To make this happen, I decide to study international studies through the dual-degree program at University of Oregon. My major study plan contains meticulously studying the relationship among countries and their resulting interaction in terms of international trade, sociocultural, economic, and political perspective on resource management strategies, diverse languages and the effect of media reporting on these issues.
Viewed at this light, I believe University of Oregon provides all the courses I am interested in, as well as the tools necessary for me to succeed and reach my goal. Your China flagship program perfectly suits my interests on developing the language proficiency. I prefer a comparative and specialized study, since my major focused on versatile issues and solutions based on specialized knowledge. Besides, Courses like "Dual-aspect of Globalization", "policy formation and implementation" and "International Economics" will extend my insight of globalization. Moreover, the sample courses such as value systems in cross-cultural perspective and issues about Africa today were very impressive and fascinating. By taking this major class, I could understand comparative analysis of development and social change, the politics and economics of cultural identity as well.
Thus, University of Oregon would be the ideal academic institution where I want to continue my learning on these issues. With the help of your curriculum, I can gain access to a wider perspective of international relationship. After all things considered, International studies would require various perspectives and cultural viewpoints. These acquired knowledge and skills will allow me to place myself as a reliable journalist on international issues, as well as increase my competence to work with the government.
I hope that my passion for studying on international studies will help you adequately assess my application and give me a chance to be involved as part of your students at University of Oregon.
I do like this essay and I think it adequately answers the prompt.
However, I'm not a fan of the last paragraph. It sounds a bit too contrived. Also, don't include the last sentence. It's unnecessary. Overall, nice work.
