harvard high school essay contest

Harvard International Economics

Essay contest (hieec).

HIEEC provides students the opportunity to demonstrate an accomplished level of writing and understanding of economic theory. Through the contest, students hone their academic and professional skills and exhibit their knowledge. 

HIEE C 202 3 -2024

Hieec 2023-2024 is now closed. .

The 2023-2024  Harvard International Economics Essay Contest is sponsored by the Harvard Undergraduate Economics Association (HUEA). This essay competition is open to high school studen ts of any year and is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrat e an accom plished level of writing and understanding of economic the ory. T hrough the contest, student competitors hone their academic and professional skills and exhibit their knowledge to future employers and academic programs. 

Competitors must construct a convincing argument using economic theory and real-world examples. Winning essays will be published on our website  and will be available for the greater Harvard community to read. Essays should focus on argumentation supported with facts and references, although data-based support is also welcome.

Yiheng Lyu​

Audrey Ku k​

Hyoungjin Jin

Juyoung Chun

Kevin Zhang

Matthew Choi

Mikayil Sadikhov

Raunak Agarwal

Vallabh Himakunthala

Highly Commended

Aronima Biswas

Aryan Nangia

Kridaya Gupta

Leonardo Jia

Rohan Mathur

Anagha Chakravarti

Amberlynn Gong

Neha Shanavas

Donghyeon Oh

2023-2024  Essay Questions

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to affect growth, inequality, productivity, innovation, and employment. OpenAI’s ChatGPT, in particular, has greatly increased public awareness about the significance of AI and its implications for the future. What impact will the development of AI have on economic inequality, the composition of the workforce, and economic output as a whole? How can nations prepare for the micro and macroeconomic changes brought about by AI?

Measuring national and global economic activity allows us to understand how economies change in size and structure—how they grow and contract. In addition to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), government budgets, and the money supply, alternatives like the Human Development Index (HDI) and Gross National Income (GNI) are used to assess economic progress. What are the advantages of our current economic indices, including GDP, HDI, GNI, government budgets, and the money supply, and in what areas are they lacking? Which of these indices do you find most helpful, and how can we enhance or combine them to improve our understanding of economic measurement?

Proponents of income redistribution support the idea that redistribution policies will increase economic stability and give more opportunities to the less wealthy. Others, however, are more skeptical and believe it could have negative consequences for economic growth. Current methods of redistribution include taxation, welfare, public services, and other monetary policies. What strategies for income redistribution should the U.S. adopt from other countries? What economic impacts could a wealth tax or super millionaire tax have? What type of redistribution is most effective and feasible? What would be the impacts of the U.S. enacting universal basic income? Discuss the implications of any of these issues and feel free to expand on other areas of economic redistribution.

As the United States weighs the impacts of China’s rise to global prominence, economics and national security have become increasingly intertwined. As a result, the United States government has imposed both tariffs and investment restrictions on China to limit the nation’s access to both US markets and intellectual property (specifically in sensitive industries such as semiconductors). What are the economic implications of these policies for United States firms, consumers, and workers? Discuss the most important perspectives of the US-China trade war and provide suggestions on how both countries can manage the prospect of a changing economic order.

2nd November 2023 – Essay titles released

11:59pm EST 5th January 2024  – Essay submission deadline

Late February 2024*  – Highly Commended and Finalists notified

Early March 2024 * – Winners notified, results published on the website

*We received a high volume of submissions, therefore we anticipate  that it will take us a couple m ore w eeks to release the results. 

Entrants must choose one of the four prompts and write a response to it with a strict limit of 1500 words. Submission must be via the HUEA website and entrants are limited to submitting one essay with only the first submission being considered. Each essay submission will have a $20 reading fee which should be paid upon submission of the essay. If this fee will impose a significant financial burden on your family, please email us. The deadline for submitting the essay is 11:59pm EST January 5th, 2024. ​

Please submit essay submissions via this form.

If the above link does not work, use:  https://forms.gle/9NVDu9WVbU71iPpq6

*Be sure to read all the details in the submission form carefully before submitting, as failure to complete any of the steps correctly may result in your submission not being considered.

The essays will be judged by the board of the HUEA, with the top 10 submissions being adjudicated by the esteemed Harvard professor and 2016 Economics Nobel Prize winner Oliver Hart.

The top three winning essays will be published ( with the author’s permission) on our website. A finalist s list of the top  submissions will be published online and adjudicated by 2016 Economics Nobel Prize Winner Oliver Hart. A list of names that will receive the "Highly Commended" distinction will also be published online​. The judges' decisions are final.

Terms and Conditions

The word limit of 1500 must be strictly adhered to. Any words past the limit will be truncated. This limit excludes references, footnotes, titles, headers and footers.

Essays must be written only by the entrant. Any outside assistance must be declared in the beginning or end of the essay.

Only your first submission will be accepted. Any further submissions will not be read.

References must be included, and any plagiarism will lead to disqualification.

References must be in Chicago or APA format. 

The only accepted document formatting is PDF. Any other format will not be accepted, nor will refunds be given to those who do not follow this rule.

No refunds are granted.

Grades 9-12 are permitted.

The essay must not be entered in any other competition nor be published elsewhere.

No individual feedback of essays will be granted.

The decisions made by HUEA by the final round of adjudication are final.

All winners agree to their names being published on the HUEA website.

Past Winners

2022  prompts an d winners.

In recent years and decades, many countries have seen fertility rates drop, potentially leading to falling populations. Currently, China has a fertility rate of 1.3, one of the lowest in the world. However, in 2021, China experienced GDP growth of 8% with output totaling $17.7 trillion. Will this lowered fertility rate (with potential to fall further) affect China’s economic growth and policy? How so? What, if anything, can the Chinese government do to limit the risk of falling fertility rates?

U.S. mortgage rates recently passed 7%, making the purchase of a new home increasingly unaffordable. Meanwhile, the United States has suffered from a chronic shortage of available housing for decades, particularly in urban areas, leading to what many scholars and advocates call an affordability crisis. Why is housing so unaffordable in the U.S.? What can (or should) be done by private actors, state and local governments, and the federal government to alleviate the affordability crisis?

It is often suggested that a tradeoff exists between economic growth and the health of the environment, especially now as the threat of climate change becomes more dire. What economic risks does a changing climate pose? Can economic growth be consistent with a healthy environment? What policies, either market-based or otherwise, should governments enact to protect the environment while posing the least danger to economic efficiency? 

Central banks such as the Federal Reserve in the U.S. and the Bank of England in the UK manage their nation’s macroeconomies with the goal of ensuring price stability and maximum employment. Globally, inflation rates are rising to levels not seen since the 1980s, particularly in the U.S. and European countries. To what extent should the monetary policies of central banks in various Western countries differ or resemble one another as a reaction to the specific causes of inflation facing their economies?

​ Click below to view each winner's essay

Ashwin t elang  *   nanxi jiang   *   duncan wong, 2019 wi n ner.

https://www.economicsreview.org/post/when-is-one-choice-one-t oo-many

2020 Winners

https://www.economicsreview.org/post/covid-19-and-the-market

https://www.economicsreview.org/post/automation-and-jobs-this-time-is-different

https://www.economicsreview.org/post/making-rational-decisions

Apply for Oeconomia officer positions before July 1st! No previous econ experience is required.

Harker Oeconomia

Harvard international economics essay competition, description.

The 2023 Harvard International Economics Essay Contest is sponsored by the Harvard Undergraduate Economics Association (HUEA) in conjunction with the Harvard College Economics Review (HCER). This essay competition is open to high school students of any year and is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate an accomplished level of writing and understanding of economic theory. Through the contest, student competitors hone their academic and professional skills and exhibit their knowledge to future employers and academic programs.  Competitors must construct a convincing argument using economic theory and real-world examples.  Winning essays will be published in the Harvard Economics Review and will be available for the greater Harvard community to read. Essays should focus on argumentation supported with facts and references, although data-based support is also welcome.

HIR Academic Writing Contest Fall/Winter 2021 Medal Winners

The Harvard International Review is a quarterly magazine offering insight on international affairs from the perspectives of scholars, leaders, and policymakers. Since our founding in 1979, we've set out to bridge the worlds of academia and policy through outstanding writing and editorial selection.

The quality of our content is unparalleled. Each issue of the Harvard International Review includes exclusive interviews and editorials by leading international figures along with expert staff analysis of critical international issues. We have featured commentary by 43 Presidents and Prime Ministers, 4 Secretaries-General, 4 Nobel Economics Prize laureates, and 7 Nobel Peace Prize laureates.

Inspired by our growing high school readership around the world, we created the Harvard International Review Academic Writing Contest to encourage and highlight outstanding high school writing on topics related to international affairs.

Congratulations to all Fall/Winter 2021 medal winners on the quality of your submissions!

Alexander Gianola Cook . Stevenson School . “ China’s New Silk Road and The Scramble For Africa ”

Yueyang Lu. Shanghai Weiyu High School. “ Farm-to-Table: Will China Take a Seat within the Fresh Food Movement?”

Yilin Cai. Basis International School Shenzhen. “ Locked-up Santa, the Forgotten Cost of Travel Restrictions”

Mia Liu . Shenzhen College of International Education. “US Bar on Huawei: The First Steps Towards De-Globalization”

Zara Haque. Greenwich High School. “ Power Struggle: The Regional Implications of Germany’s Nuclear Phase Out ”

Longhao Chen, Fengshuo Wang . Lansdale Catholic High School, Allendale Columbia School. “ Two Superpowers Moving Apart: Hong Kong's Future Positioning as an International Financial Center.”

Gongkai Yuan. Hangzhou Foreign Languages School. “ New Forms of Global Education: Taiwan’s Soft Power Initiative in the Wake of Confucius Institute Closures”

Yi Xin. Beijing Huijia Private School. “ A Bleak Sky: Call to Reform Africa’s Aviation Industry”

Parmis Mokhtari-Dizaji. Phillips Exeter Academy. “ COVID-19 as a Driving Factor in the Isolation of Supply Chain Networks in the World and an Accelerator of Deglobalization”

Xuan Jin. Shanghai Pinghe School. “ Offline and Online: Increasing Hate Towards African Residents in China”

Silver Medal

Tianxin Yu. Shanghai Pinghe School. “ End of Slavery? Trafficking and Forced Labor of Illegal Latin American Immigrants in South Georgia”

Tiffany Wen. The Lawrenceville School. “ China's Divided Policies: Encouraging Globalization Yet Implementing Isolation”

Jessica Wang. The Bronx High School of Science. “ Frenemies: The Sino-Japanese Relationship”

Chenyue Liu, Yixuan Chen. Cheshire Academy. “ Global Crisis: The Uncompromising Trade War”

Angelina Richter. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. “ What the Upcoming “Surface Land Race” Means for Global Relations”

Xiyan Liu. Crofton House School. “ The Paradox of Pollution: The Environmental Impact of Space Exploration”

Wenhan Pei. Qibaodwight High School. “ India's Going Electric: Hyundai Invests in the Electric Vehicle Market”

Chenghou Wang, Zhenhao Li. Chengdu Experimental Foreign Languages School. “ Cyber Attacks Occur Frequently:Only Worldwide Cooperation Can Push Cybersecurity Forward”

Margaret Li. Eastside Preparatory School. “ Laws for LAWS: A Topic for International Discussion.”

Langrui Cao. Mingde High School of Changsha. “ HUAWEI in a Dilemma: Pursuing Globalization but Thriving in Isolation”

Isabelle Ravanas. Walter Payton College Prep. “ The Philippines Under Duterte- Increasingly Alone”

Yifan Zhou. BASIS International School Guangzhou. “ Chinese Education: The Pros and Cons Brought by Globalization”

Jiaqi Shou. Hangzhou Foreign Language School. “ An International Sea Power Storm Over Jersey Island”

Luming Jia. Beijing No.101 High School. “ Within an Ace of Success: How Globalization in the Aviation Market Might Hinder Independent Innovation”

Jiayu Pan. Shanghai Foreign Language School Affiliated to SISU. “ Where to go: Tourism industry in Thailand in the face of COVID-19”

Bronze Medal

Arrnavv Chawla. Fravashi International Academy. “ Our Link to The Sea”

Jiarun Yao. The Masters School. “ Invalidated Privacy Shield, Turbulent Data Policies, and the Blurry Future”

Zhou Shen, Feiyu Lin. Hangzhou Foreign Language School Cambridge A-level Centre. “ An Evolving Autopilot Industry: How Google and Tesla Head to Different Directions”

Fanghao Shen. Phillips Academy Andover. “ Anxiety, Automation, and AI On Methods of Identifying and Mitigating the Risks Posed by Technological Innovation and Automation”

Xiaohe Chen. Beijing Royal School. “ Becoming a “Global Citizen”:The Controversy of Bilingual Education under “Coro-nationalism”

Jiayi Wei. Keystone Academy. “ Climate Change and Extreme Weather: The Irreversibility of Globalization Resulted in Impossibility of Isolation”

Yufei Chen. Beijing 101 middle school. “ Loosen or fasten: globe supply chain restructuring in post-COVID-19 era”

Zhiyang Zhong. TABOR Academy. “ The Diversity Problem:Financial Globalization and Minority Groups”

Jia Han. The Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University. “ Carbon net zero: new dominance?”

Zhiyi Chen. The Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University. “ Harmony vs Hostility: Policy for International Students in the United States During COVID-19 Pandemic”

Leo Li. Benjamin N. Cardozo Highschool. “ The Ramifications of Cryptocurrency Regulation.”

Haoyu Guan. St. Stephen's Episcopal School. “ Smart Production for Service Production: the International Cooperation of UAV Delivery”

Naviya Kamdar. D Y Patil International School. “ The Exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar”

Zhehao Zhou. Hangzhou Foreign Language School Cambridge A-level Centre. “ Global Anger Grows Over Brazil’s Handling of Deforestation at COP26”

Baoyi Ouyang. Guangdong Shunde Desheng School. “ Vocational Education in China: Will Vocational Schools Become as Important as Universities in the Future?”

Yuanheng Yue. Shanghai World Foriegn Language Academy. “ Metaverse: The Iron Curtain of the New Cold War”

Ruoyu Zhou. Hwa Chong Institution Boarding School. “ Victim in the Global Economy : How to Humanise the Experience of Migrant Workers?”

Yifei Li. Beijing 101 middle school. “ The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: climate ambition and trade protection”

Aadya Medha Akkipeddi. The Commonwealth School. “ Globalization vs Isolation”

Ka Yan Choi. Shanghai High School International Division. “ Globalization Versus Isolation in Public Health: Coronavirus and Gain-of-Function Research”

Jiajun Li. Basis International Parklane Harbor. “ Social integration assessment: foreign merchants in Yiwu”

Inaugural High School Essay Contest Winners

The winning entry was "how the west was won" by emily martinez..

The Salient is pleased to announce the results of our inaugural high school essay contest. Winning entries were selected by the editorial team and Professor Harvey Mansfield for their thoughtfulness, compelling rhetoric, and strong reasoning. Congratulations to the top three contestants:

1st Place: Emily Martinez, Annapolis Christian Academy, 11th Grade

2nd Place: Emmet Schuler, Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh, 11th Grade

3rd Place: Will Fermaglich, Bethesda Chevy Chase High School, 10th Grade

The winning essay, by Emily Martinez, is below. More information about the contest and its prompts can be found here .

Thanks for reading The Harvard Salient! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

How the West Was Won

By Emily Martinez

It seems to many that everything in South Texas was made to hurt, and it's nothing personal—that’s just the way it is here; most everything hurts. Nopales have spines that stick to your jeans when you brush up against them to gather their fruit in the fall, and the native mesquite tree has thorns that can grow up to three inches long; their deep roots absorb almost every drop of water there is to get, and what they don’t use, the wildflowers do, or the tall grass hiding rattlesnakes that won't even rattle anymore for fear the feral hogs will eat them. The land is drought-riddled, and more than one million acres of dry grass began to burn on February 26, 2024. By its containment in mid-March, the Smokehouse Creek Fire was the largest fire in the state’s history, and as of now, it affects the local economy—allegedly, those fires will only be a smudge on the horizon of my state’s cattle production, and won’t even touch America as a whole, but the damage is still substantial to many families; the Smokehouse Creek Fire and others, like Windy Deuce, have impacted their homes, incomes, and property. This kind of catastrophe that cannot be controlled certainly shakes those who depend on the land, depend on the grass and the rain and the early calving. This kind of catastrophe is part of the reason that the suicide rate among farmers and ranchers is the 6th highest occupationally. 1 My family does not raise cattle. My family does not own 20 acres of native grass pasture. We have no horses, no tack wall, no stock trailer…we live in a suburb. What we do have is Cody Johnson; we wear boots to church, and we sit on the couch and watch Gus and Call on our television. Here lies the question; why does a life we don’t exactly lead mean so much to us, and every other family like us? Why do Texans, and Americans generally, care about the Cowboy, and why has he always given us so much hope?

As Texas poet Berta Hart Nance said, “Other states are carved or born, Texas grew from hide and horn.” 2 Criollo cattle were brought to the Americas by Spanish monks and explorers and arrived in Texas sometime around the year 1493. 3 Since that time, Criollo was developed and replaced by different breeds, but it is well remembered that much of cowboy culture, from the tack & technique to even the stock, comes from the vaquero culture that originated with the Spanish and Mexicans of Tejas. In the 1840s, around the time that Texas’ statehood was established, cattle drives were already being made to the Red River. From there, beeves (one head of cattle is a beeve) would be shipped to New Orleans for sale to other states; this happened at the same time that Ft. Worth, also known as Cowtown or Hell’s Half-Acre, was barely being founded. 4 By the 1850s, the beef cattle industry was truly what had built Texas into what we see today, as large oil deposits and college football were untapped commodities in Texas until the 1890s. 5 Around the American Civil War, the uncontrolled development of the Longhorn breed combined with the demand for beef in the North and South later led the state of Texas out of Reconstruction with a growing economy and job opportunities; the end of the War Between the States was the beginning of the Texas Cattle Drive Era. 6 The cattle business has made Texas what it has been forever, but the cattle business has forever been made of the men who got dirty and simply did what they had to do to make a living. These cowboys would often travel over a thousand miles with everything they owned; their horse, saddle, and everything that sat atop them both were all that they needed to survive the unfenced plains. Due to the difficulty of every aspect of cowboying: horsemanship, equipment use/maintenance, weather tolerance, stressful and unsanitary work conditions, etc, the cowboy was recognized in his own time as a man of grit—that word appears time and time again. In America, we are losing our grit. In general, about 40% of parents, regardless of political affiliations, are worried about the success of their children. Young people struggle with employment, mental health, education, and even marriage and family building, and the prevalence of these issues is alarming. Whether the weakening of our children was caused by the denial of a moral standard, inequality, poor leadership, or any plethora of possible catalysts, the problem with resilience in young people—the ability to overcome—is something that affects every area of their lives. 7  

A long-time symbol and inspiration of American resilience, the cowboy works through drought, disease, fire, and flood. He feeds and clothes us, and has rightfully been a legend in his own time for 200 years. Every American can still see himself in the cowboy because he was an everyday man. He worked with all he had, alongside who he had, to get a tough job done for the greater good of others. In the words of the musician and working cowboy Gail Steiger, 

I do what I can

that’s all I can do

the crew that I work with

they do the same too

And maybe someday

when they’re old and gray

they’ll think of me

and someone will say

He sure made a good hand

and we always did know

he would be there

when we needed him most 8

I live between the historic King Ranch and the old land of Calvin “Cal” Allen. That being said, I know real cowboys personally, and they always stress that cowboying is a lifestyle—one they’re proud that God has blessed them with. Their lifestyle is important to me because it's mine in many ways, from the food I eat and the clothes I wear to the phrases I use and the music I play. This lifestyle has defined a culture I'm included in, and as an American, the cowboy’s modest yet exemplary perseverance makes me proud. As an adolescent, the young boys two centuries ago who rode a thousand miles overland to drive cattle north inspire me today; because of the cowboy’s toil in the past, I have hope that I can achieve greatness in the future. Because I see real cowboys in the present, and I literally hear spurs ringing at the heels of my friends’ boots, I know that, in our hearts, we Texans truly honor our illustrious legacy by continuing to teach America determination.

Support the Salient

Murillo-Williams, Adriana, Fenton, Ginger D., “Why We Need to Keep Talking About Farm Stress,” PennState Extension , updated June 6, 2023, https://extension.psu.edu/why-we-need-to-keep-talking-about-farm-stress.

“Cattle, By Berta Heart Nance,” Cat Rotator’s Quarterly , posted January 8, 2020, https://almatcboykin.wordpress.com/2020/01/08/cattle-by-berta-heart-nance/ .

“Corriente,” The Cattle Site , September 29, 2022, https://www.thecattlesite.com/breeds/beef/84/corriente#:~:text=The%20name%20%22Corriente%22%3A%20In,not%20just%20for%20the%20type .

“Cattle Ranchers,” The Bullock Museum , accessed April 7, 2024, https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/campfire-stories/cattle-ranchers .

“Oil Production in Texas,” State Impact , NPR, accessed April 7, 2024, https://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/tag/oil-production-in-texas/#:~:text=The%20first%20economically%20significant%20oil,field%20while%20looking%20for%20water .

Carr, Amanda, “The Texas Tradition of Cattle Ranching Began in Tejas,” Texas Historical Commission , accessed April 7, 2024, https://thc.texas.gov/blog/texas-tradition-cattle-ranching-began-tejas#:~:text=After%20the%20Civil%20War%2C%20the,the%20Texas%20cattle%20drive%20era .

Reeves, Richard V., Smith, Ember, “Americans are More Worried About Their Sons Than Their Daughters,” Brookings , October 7, 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/americans-are-more-worried-about-their-sons-than-their-daughters/.

Steiger, Gail, “A Cowboy’s Prayer,” track 4, The Romance of Western Life , CD Baby, 1999, CD.

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Guide to the HIR Academic Writing Contest

• Last modified 2023-09-15
• Published on 2022-01-28

1. What is the HIR Academic Writing Contest

HIR Academic Writing Contest , created by the Harvard International Review, invites high school students from grades 9 to 12 around the world to submit a short-form article on a topic in international affairs. If chosen to be finalists, students will participate in a virtual HIR Defense Day. Students will give a 15-minute presentation and oral defense to Harvard International Review judges on the HIR Defense Day. 

The theme for this year is Globalization vs. Isolation. Potential categories include (but are not limited to): Agriculture, Business, Cybersecurity, Defense, Education, Employment, Immigration, Energy, Environment, Economics, Public Health, Science and Technology, Trade and Transportation.

The deadline for Fall 2022/Winter 2023 submissions is January 2, 2023. The deadline for Defense Day is February 5, 2023. 

2. What are the eligibility and requirements for the HIR Academic Writing Contest?

Students are eligible if they are in grades 9 to 12 in any of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. territories, or if they are U.S. citizens/lawful permanent residents attending high school overseas, or students who reside in countries outside of the United States.

For submission requirements, the submitted article must be around 800-1,200 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, or authorship declaration). For writing style, submissions must be analytically backed from a perspective on an under-appreciated global topic. Further information about the guidelines can be accessed HERE .

3. What are the reviewers/judges looking for when evaluating a student's works?

There are two components that judges are evaluating based on: Content and Style. The scoring rubric ranges from 1 (D/F) to 5(A+). 

Content:  Chosen topic, Content structure, Use of Evidence, Analysis, and Argument 

Style : Tone, Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation, Citation, and Coherence to HIR Writing

• The topic is underappreciated in mainstream media, relevant to international affairs, and connects back to the theme of this year (Globalization vs. Isolation) 
• The introduction should hook the reader and set up for author’s arguments 

4. How can I stand out in the HIR Academic Writing Contest?

HIR Academic Writing Contest is an excellent opportunity for students interested in international affairs and writing.

• Find inspiration from other emerging writers on HIR 

Since HIR Harvard International Review is a quarterly magazine focusing on providing news about international affairs, you can certainly start off your writing process by reading other articles on the site.

Within each category, HIR Harvard International Review provides examples of articles for you to check out:

• Practice writing analytical essay

An analytical essay is one of the five types of high school essays,  where students must provide an in-depth analysis of a topic. Analytical essays are critical in developing students’ writing skills because they require a deeper understanding of the topic of discussion while providing an objective and comprehensive overview of the topic. Students should not focus on persuading readers to a certain point of view when writing an analytical essay but to provide an analytically backed perspective with well-researched arguments and evidence.

So, how do you write an excellent analytical essay? To write a good analytical essay, you must focus on structure and style. This article will use several examples from HIR’s previous articles to better guide you through this process.  

• How to structure an analytical essay

An analytical essay’s structure is similar to other essays, with an introduction, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Before discussing the content, we will discuss a strong structure about the analytical essay, so let’s go into more detail! 

Introduction

The introduction is normally considered the most challenging part of writing, since your introduction has to hook the reader and effectively set up arguments in the latter part of the essay. 

Your introduction will typically include a hook, background information introducing the issue, and a thesis statement informing the reader about the purpose of your essay. 

Now, let’s look at an example from the article  Cutthroat Academia: Invisible Innovators , written by a Harvard student for the HIR Academic Writing Contest. 

“For immigrants chasing the ever-elusive American Dream, the phrase, “education is the greatest equalizer,” is repeated, then recited, until it becomes a promise. In academia and scientific research, fulfilled dreams abound. On the tip of the iceberg, the immigrant professors, just awarded tenure, or the immigrant scientists, perhaps now working on a COVID-19 vaccine in big pharma, are living proof of the American Dream. They are the lucky ones—sometimes the exceptional ones. Others become invisible workers driving scientific innovation and research; their stories are rarely told. This is too often the plight of the immigrant postdoctoral (postdoc) researcher. Placed into a system that tends to exploit immigrant labor, the unlucky ones go from blue-collar work to, in extreme cases, 100-hour workweeks inside clandestine labs. The American Dream is put on indefinite hold.” 

This opening is effective because the writer discusses the American Dream, an attention-grabbing hook for readers interested in the topic of immigration. Then, she moved on and provided background information about the living proof of the American Dream, immigrant professors, and scientists who are working tirelessly to create scientific innovations for America and the world. In the end, she steadily transitioned to the main topic of argument: The underrepresented truth of immigrant people working in academia: the exploitation of immigrant labor in the academia system, career outcome, and the future of visa sponsorship. Her thesis statement is, “Placed into a system that tends to exploit immigrant labor, the unlucky ones go from blue-collar work to, in extreme cases, 100-hour workweeks inside clandestine labs. The American Dream is put on indefinite hold”

Body paragraphs

Your analytical essay will generally cover 3-4 main points that you want to discuss, with each main point’s length being up to 2-3 paragraphs. Typically, a high school essay follows the five-paragraph (or five-point) structure, where you write three body paragraphs, accompanied by an introduction and conclusion. However, in the HIR Academic Writing Contest, none of the students used the 5 paragraph structure. Primarily, this is due to the word limit of 1,200 words, which is around 2-3 pages in length. If you write in a five-paragraph structure, your essay will be challenging to follow for readers because your body paragraphs will be lengthy. 

Therefore, we suggest students focus on the main discussion points rather than writing only three paragraphs. For example, in the article we cite, the student has three main issues surrounding the immigrant workers in academia: Indentured to Research, Visa problems, and Green Card. Under each point, she has 3 to 5 paragraphs introducing and analyzing the issue in detail with evidence. You may choose a transition sentence at the end of each topic to raise the following point you will discuss, but it’s not required. In the HIR Academic Contest, you can use the headline for each topic as a transition sentence.  

Besides arguments and explanations, students must provide evidence (data, graphs, quotations, etc.). In giving evidence to strengthen your argument, keep in mind that your evidence should be highly relevant, compelling, and credible. In connecting evidence with arguments, the HIR guide suggests the author to “consistently employs analysis that draws logical conclusions from the evidence they provide” and know how to bring the evidence to life, rather than letting the evidence as a standalone sentence. 

Generally, body paragraphs include: 

• Topic sentence summarizing the issue you will cover in the paragraph 
• Explanation and arguments with contextual evidence to support your points 

In the conclusion, you will not introduce any main points but reiterate the key arguments you have made. A conclusion is a great place for students to rephrase their thesis and introduce concluding thought through connecting the topic to a more significant underlying issue.

The fundamental problem in combating the exploitation of foreign postdocs, and immigrants in general, is the lack of visibility. Most of the time, these postdocs simply go unseen even though it is clear that they and other junior researchers are responsible for much of the output in research institutions. The current system in academia and domestic politics is designed to lure and almost coercively retain highly skilled foreign researchers. It uses them, but refuses to acknowledge them through protective regulations. After postdocs leave one institution, most universities and research institutions do not track career outcomes for immigrant postdocs. They effectively become transient workers. Some continue building successful careers in academia, or find lucrative positions in industries. As for the rest, do they bounce between low-level, low-paying academic jobs or simply relocate back home, dreams unfulfilled?

In this conclusion, she summarized the vital issue with immigrant workers in academia and rephrased her arguments explaining why this problem happened. She ended the article with a thought-provoking question, encouraging the readers to reflect and think deeply about the issue.

A conclusion normally includes: 

• Thesis statement reiteration 
• Summary of analytical points 
• Concluding thought 

Style In addition to the content and structure of the analytical essay, students should also focus on developing an appropriate style for the analytical essay. The kind of the essay is determined by the tone; spelling, punctuation, grammar; and citations.

Tone The tone of an analytical essay can be mistaken for that of the op-ed. The difference between the two is that while an op-ed focuses on the author’s opinions who has a unique perspective on the subject, an analytical essay focuses on the analysis of the issue. Analytical essays should not just be a collection of facts, but a connection between facts and academic analysis. For the HIR Academic Writing Contest, we suggest that you read previously published articles on the site linked above understand the tone of an analytical essay.

Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar After writing your analytical essay, you should always proofread and revise. The revision process can be done by you and other credible people that you trust. Because you will have the chance to be published in a world-renowned magazine, there should be at most one mistake related to spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

Adherence to the HIR Style Guide Another point to remember about style in participating in the HIR Academic Writing Contest is that articles should adhere to the HIR Style Guide. The HIR Academic Contest follows the AP style guide. Writers should use the correct acronyms, capitalization, citation, foreign expression, symbols and numbers, titles and names, pronunciations, cultural sensitivity, place names, etc.

Citation is the most important component in an analytical essay since everything you discuss must be backed by a reliable source. Give credits to the source you have used. Here is the general guide when it comes to citations and research, found in the Citations and Sourcing section of this document published by  HIR:

• The HIR does not use footnotes. 
• Plagiarism: The HIR’s general guideline is that three or more words or any distinct phrase or word unique to another source should be treated as a quotation. Writers are required to place quotation marks around such words and then hyperlink their source to the strongest verb and/or most important noun in the sentence.
• Generally, try to limit your hyperlink to one-three words . The shorter the better because hyperlinks can become distracting!

Analytical essays offer writers tremendous benefits in developing their writing skills, structure skills, and argumentation skills, regardless of genre. HIR Academic Writing Contest is competitive for students worldwide, for an opportunity to be published in a long-standing quarterly magazine. Each issue is read by over 100,000 print and digital subscribers, from officials, executives, to students. So why wait? Start writing today and submit to HIR!

Aralia just opened a new HIR Academic Writing Contest program for students who are interested in the program and wish to submit their writing to the competition before the upcoming deadline: 

Further reading for Academic Writing enthusiasts:

• Difference: HS and College Writing
• 5 Common Types of High School Essays (With Examples)
• How to Write any High School essays

HIR Academic Writing Contest

Students will use college-level economic theory and models to analyze economic issues of major significance today, connected to international affairs. The instruction will provide students with the tools necessary to write an 800-1,200 word essay, which can then be submitted to the Harvard International Review Academic Writing Contest. The class will guide students to integrate their acquired knowledge of economic theory, phenomena, data, and policy, and to apply this knowledge to studying a topic shaping the world today, based on the theme of “Globalization vs. Isolation.” Students will gain the analytical tools to make informed policy recommendations for how to best address the economic issues raised in their article.

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Photo Essay: Celebrating 2024 Commencement

"As you become alumni of HDS, I ask that you take the School's vision, its mission, and the responsibilities of upholding such aspirations with you wherever your journey may lead.

"Harvard Divinity School Class of 2024, we need you. We need religious leaders to help us navigate sorrow and celebrate life's greatest joys."—HDS Dean Marla F. Frederick

Harvard Divinity School celebrated the Class of 2024 during the Multireligious Commencement Service on May 22 and the Diploma Awarding Ceremony on May 23.

Below is a selection of photos featuring our new graduates with their student colleauges, HDS faculty, proud family members and friends, staff, and alumni.

For more pictures of 2024 Commencement, please visit  HDS on Instagram .

Graduates make their way into the tent on the Campus Green before the festive Multireligious Commencement Service. / Photo: Justin Knight

The HDS Justice and Music Collective jammed together, singing and opening the Multireligous Commencement Service with their rendition of “This Little Light of Mine.” / Photo: Justin Knight

As a part of the Multireligious Commencement Service, graduating students were invited to share part of a religious text or arrangement that showcases their faith or practice. Here, Amin Qureshi, MTS '24, recited chapter 1, verses 1-7 from the Qur’an as a part of the offerings of wisdom. / Photo: Justin Knight

Francesca Robinson, MDiv '24, and Eve Woldemikel, MDiv candidate, led a powerful singing meditation of Molly Bajot’s “Change Is Coming.” Alongside the HDS Commencement choir and band, their voices were a testament to the transformative power of community imagination. / Photo: Justin Knight

From the Assamese tradition, Twyla Barkakoty, MDiv ‘24, performed a Bihu dance, “Sotote Sokori X Boxontor Janoni,” choreographed by Lakhinandan Lahon. / Photo: Justin Knight

HDS Dean Marla F. Frederick delivered the faculty address during the Multifaith Commencement Service. She spoke about her family and how her experiences with grief, hard work, and joy have informed her time as Dean of Harvard Divinity School. She concluded with a call for love to guide our work and to never to stop believing we can create a better world. / Photo: Caroline Cataldo

Auds Hope Jenkins, MDiv '24, was the class speaker at the Diploma Awarding Ceremony on May 23. Jenkins' address began with the poem, "If I Must Die," by Refaat Alareer, and concluded with a call for graduates to stand in their truth, united with the force of their love. / Photo: Justin Knight

During the Diploma Awarding Ceremony, HDS Dean Marla F. Frederick hands Samirah Jaigirdar, MTS ‘24, her diploma. / Photo: Justin Knight

—by Maddison Tenney, HDS communications editorial assistant

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Albuquerque Academy

May 24, 2024

Sophomore Selected as Finalist in Profile in Courage Essay Contest

The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation announced that Aarush Tutiki ’26 was named a finalist in the national John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest for High School Students. In his essay, Aarush profiled Leonidas Dyer, former U.S. Representative of Missouri.

For this year’s contest, 2,313 essays were submitted from students in 50 states and Washington, D.C., and from U.S. citizens in Canada, Ecuador, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Namibia, Nigeria, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Vietnam. The foundation selected one winner, a runner-up, five finalists, ten semifinalists, and eight honorable mentions.

The annual Profile in Courage Essay Contest invites high school students from across the nation to write an essay on an act of political courage by a U.S. elected official. The contest is a companion program of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award™, named for Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book Profiles in Courage , which recounts the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers by embracing unpopular decisions for the greater good.

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San Bernardino high schooler headed to Harvard after acceptance to dozens of universities

By Joy Benedict

May 24, 2024 / 5:38 PM PDT / KCAL News

As thousands of high schoolers prepare to graduate and move on to college, one San Bernardino student has made her dream come true after accepting an offer to one of the nation's most prestigious universities. 

Silvana Vazquez, currently a senior at San Gorgonio High School, was accepted to more than 30 different schools before she was accepted to Harvard University. 

Despite all of her hard work over the last four years, she's still shocked that she beat the odds in the extremely competitive admissions process. 

"I at first though it was such a long shot, but the first one for me was Harvard," Vazquez said. "That has been my dream school for seven years — since fifth grade — I just knew I had to put that on the top of my list."

That list was quite lengthy, as she applied to 41 schools overall and was accepted to 32. Some other options included the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Notre Dame and UCLA.

Still, she didn't think her dreams were practical, as less than 2,000 of the more than 50,000 were accepted into this year's freshman class.

"I didn't think it was a realistic option because I tend to compare myself with other students. ... I mean, I met someone who owned their own foundation or their own nonprofit," Vazquez explained. 

Even with the doubt clouding what became reality, people who knew her said it's not a surprise at all. 

"I felt she was deserving, and if anyone could have done it, she would have been that person," said Diane Dawson, who teaches history at SGHS. 

She says that to her knowledge, no other San Gorgonio student has gotten into Harvard. The school is located in an underserved community of San Bernardino, where 88% of students are eligible for free and reduced lunch.

Nearly a quarter of San Bernardino City Unified School District students fall below the poverty line, and 20% are English language learners, meaning they have to take special classes because they aren't proficient in English. Vazquez was once in the same boat. 

"When I entered kindergarten, I knew very little English but I made sure to put in my effort to learn" she said, noting that she took those classes until she got into 4th grade and tested into the district's regular curriculum. "They would pull me out and have me speak English and learn more English. I'm grateful I had to do it early."

Now, she's the school valedictorian after ranking first in her class with a 4.87 GPA and will become the first member of her family to go to college, all on a full ride scholarship. She credits her passion for learning to her parents. 

"They always told me it doesn't matter where you go, we'll always be proud of wherever you go as long as we see you thrive in education," she said. "What I believe got me into Harvard was my passion to serve my community. What I wore in the short essays to Harvard was how passionate I am to be able to serve and represent the impoverished communities of San Bernardino and my school."

Part of that passion comes from watching her father's dedication to his family. 

"My dad works at a gas station, he provides a lot for the family," Vazquez said. "He wakes up at four in the morning, comes back at four p.m., because he's done a lot to give me and my siblings a lot."

Vazquez will graduate next week with honors and a future as bright as she chooses to make it.

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NIH Announces Winners of 2023-2024 High School Mental Health Essay Contest

May 31, 2024 • Institute Update

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is pleased to announce the winners of the  2024 Speaking Up About Mental Health    essay contest. Out of more than 370 submissions across 33 states, NIH awarded 24 youth (ages 16-18) finalists with gold, silver, bronze, and honorable mention prizes.

Supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and the  Eunice Kennedy Shriver  National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the essay contest invited youth to address mental health and reduce mental health stigma that young people may face when seeking mental health treatment.

The winning essays addressed complicated topics such as stigma, trauma, resilience, equity, anxiety, and more. Teens also wrote about specific ideas for improving well-being, such as broader access to leisure sports, reducing time spent on social media, and normalizing mental health treatment and care.

NIH awarded a total of $15,000 in cash prizes to gold, silver, bronze, and honorable mention recipients. Read the winning essays at  nimhd.nih.gov/EssayContest   .

Gold winners

• Max, California - Tenacity Through Tumultuousness
• Michaela, Maryland - Exposing the Impact of Social Media on Teenage Mental Health: A Journey of Self-Discovery
• Raphael, Hawaii  - Let's CHAT: Mental Health Impact on Teens Living with Speech Challenges

Silver winners

• Aditi, California – Embracing Authenticity
• Anna, New York - Change Our Approach: How Sports Can Play a Role in Mental Health
• Ciniyah, Illinois - The Roots Affect the Fruit: A Personal Journey of Trauma to Triumph
• Kathleen, Maryland - Behind A Perfect Life
• Paige, Texas - Learn to Live and Accept Your Journey
• Rylie, Maryland - Drowning in Plain Sight

Bronze winners

• Argiro, Pennsylvania - Out in the Open: A Conversation about Mental Health
• Dresden, Maryland - Normalize the Care to Destigmatize the Conditions
• Gabriel, New Jersey - Keeping My Head Up: My Experience with Dad's Brain Cancer
• Hailey, Arkansas - Access for Adolescent Athletes
• Jordan, New Jersey - A Weighted Wait
• Kathryne, North Carolina - Embracing Openness: Unveiling Silent Struggles Surrounding Mental Health
• Maya, Maryland - Speaking up for Change
• Rachel, California - Embracing the Journey Towards Mental Health Acceptance
• Savannah, New Jersey - Taking a Step Today, for a Better Tomorrow

Honorable mentions

• Agaana, Maryland – Accountability for Authority: The Responsibilities of Schools
• Gisele, Pennsylvania - Breaking the Silence
• Jillian, Illinois - Navigating Mental Illness in Teens
• Kyle, North Carolina - How the Neglect of Mental Health Within Black Communities Causes Underlying Issues
• Mason, Maryland - Social Media as a Possible Method to Reduce Mental Health Stigma
• Minsung, Georgia - Hope to Bridge the Gap

If you are in crisis and need immediate help, call or text the  988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline     at  988  (para ayuda en español, llame al 988) to connect with a trained crisis counselor. The Lifeline provides 24-hour, confidential support to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. The deaf and hard of hearing can contact the Lifeline using their preferred relay service or by dialing 711 and then 988.

From Russia, with code

Seas competitive coding team performs well at world finals.

Eric Zhang and Franklyn Wang know all about programming on the biggest competitive stages. As a high-school student, Zhang (A.B. ‘23) served on the U.S. team for the International Olympiad in Informatics, earning a pair of gold medals.

Wang (A.B./S.M. ‘22) finished fifth in the U.S. Computing Olympiad, just missing out on making the U.S. team for the international competition.

Harvard Computing Contest Club members Franklyn Wang, Eric Zhang and Moses Mayer placed 13th overall and third among North American teams at the International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals in Moscow. (Credit: Yingying Wu)

So as the final minutes ticked down at the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals, Wang felt the pressure of his last coding competition. Wang, Zhang and Moses Mayer (A.B. ‘23) were the three members of the Harvard Computing Contest Club (HC3) competing in Moscow, and they were trying to solve a problem that had stumped the best teams in the world.

With about four minutes to go in a five-hour competition, and after 17 wrong attempts, HC3 became the only team to solve Problem N, as it was known.

“This was my last programming competition ever,” said Wang, who’s concentrating in mathematics and pursuing a master’s in computer science. “Since I was the one who solved the hardest problem in the last four minutes of a five-hour contest, that part felt really great for me.”

It was a fitting end for Wang’s competitive coding career. The solution helped HC3 tie for 13th overall, and third among North American teams.

“There are a lot of very, very smart people here,” said Zhang, who’s concentrating in CS and math at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). “Some of these competitive programmers have very large trophy cases, so it felt really great to be among these people who are some of the best of the best. I was personally really excited by our results.”

The ICPC World Finals consisted of 15 problems, of which HC3 solved nine. Fifty-eight teams from all over the world had to solve as many problems as they could by writing computer algorithms, which judges would then test.

Each problem was first framed as a real-world challenge, such as predicting where to stand to photograph the colorful domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Russia in a specific order, or deciding which phone to buy based on a combination of cost, performance and user-friendliness.

“Every team of three people gets its own table to sit at, and they’re pretty well separated,” Wang said. “It’s not that loud, but it’s also not that quiet. We’re all huddled around each other, talking about how to work through the problems.”

Problem N challenged coders to design an algorithm to recommend ice cream flavors.

Zhang didn’t remember the flavor (pun intended) of the challenge, but definitely remembered its mathematical and programming requirements.

“You needed to make several very non-obvious observations about the structure of the problem,” Zhang said. “It looked like this extremely complex application of this very advanced optimization technique, which is not feasible to implement in five hours. But if you think about the problem for a little bit longer, cast aside the initial first glance that it’s too hard, you can perhaps make this observation that the problem reduces down to a much simpler standard algorithm. And then it becomes a linear algebra problem.”

Eighteen attempts later, HC3 came up with the right solution.

“You want to find the minimum norms solution to a linear system of equations,” Wang said. “This is a very standard problem, but if you haven’t seen it before you’re unlikely to come up with it on the spot.”

HC3 placed second at Regionals and third at Nationals to advance to the World Finals. Both qualifying competitions took place in 2019, but the World Finals were delayed to October 2021 due to the pandemic. Pranay Tankala (A.B. ‘21, S.M. ‘22) helped HC3 through the qualifying rounds, but Mayer filled in at Worlds.

“The ICPC is a pretty unique event,” Zhang said. “It’s the biggest gathering of competitive programmers in the world. It’s really quite relaxing to just hang out with these people. They come from all over the world, and it’s very cool to meet all these people with the same interests.”

Both coders joined HC3 as freshmen, having known about the ICPC through their competitive high-school careers. Wang compared competitive programming to traditional athletics, referring to the activity as “sport programming.”

“This idea of solving algorithmic problems is really exciting, because it distills down the essence of the creative problem-solving you need to explore the limits of computation,” Zhang said. “Competitive programming in particular was a really fun and engaging way to not only explore these kinds of tricky problems, but do it in a very fast-paced environment with a community of a lot of other people who like it as well.

Wang and Zhang have learned numerous lessons about emotional resilience and motivation from their time as competitive programmers. It’s also made them faster, more efficient coders, and given them a methodical approach to problem-solving that directly applies to their schoolwork and potential careers.

“It’s definitely encouraged me to try to excel in everything I do,” Wang said. “It’s shown me that if I can excel in one thing, I can potentially excel in everything else as well.”

HC3 has a long history of qualifying for and performing well at the World Finals. The team placed third and took home gold medal honors as recently as 2016. HC3’s coaches are Chris Tanner, Lecturer on Computational Science at SEAS, Yingying Wu, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard University Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications , and Bob Walton (A.B. ‘66, Ph.D. ‘95)

Wang’s time with HC3 is almost over, but he wants to make sure new students get the same positive experience out of competitive programming that he did. He designed the problem set for the upcoming Selection Programming Contest for the 2022-23 team, which will take place later this month.

“It’s been a really fun community,” Wang said. “Most of my best friends I made through this community, so I value that a lot. There’s something that’s very unique about the experience of spending so much time getting better at this type of challenge.”

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Trump’s V.P. Pageant Has an Unexpectedly Strong Contender: Tom Cotton

Donald Trump’s interest in the Arkansas senator reflects a desire to choose a running mate with experience and the ability to run a disciplined campaign.

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By Michael C. Bender

Reporting from Washington

• May 24, 2024

Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas has unexpectedly emerged as a top contender to become Donald J. Trump’s running mate, a signal that the former president is heavily weighing experience and the ability to run a disciplined campaign over other factors.

Mr. Cotton’s ascendance comes as Mr. Trump’s leading vice-presidential options have increasingly come into focus, according to three people with direct knowledge of Mr. Trump’s thinking who insisted on anonymity to discuss private meetings.

These people said that Mr. Trump’s other current favorites were Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota and three of Mr. Cotton’s Senate colleagues: Marco Rubio of Florida, Tim Scott of South Carolina and J.D. Vance of Ohio. The former president has also discussed the five Republican men as potential candidates for administration posts if he were to unseat President Biden in November.

Still, the people close to Mr. Trump cautioned that his vice-presidential preferences might change. The former president declined to reveal his leading candidates in an interview on Thursday with News 12, but mentioned Mr. Rubio and Mr. Vance as well as Ben Carson, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Representative Elise Stefanik of New York as examples of people “who would do a really fantastic job.”

But his current list of top five picks reflects Mr. Trump’s desire to choose a running mate who would carry relatively little risk of creating unwanted distractions for a presidential campaign already facing multiple legal threats.

Mr. Trump’s interest in Mr. Cotton, who won a second term in the Senate in 2020, reflects this do-no-harm mentality.

The former president has said privately that he views Mr. Cotton as a reliable and effective communicator in cable news interviews. Mr. Trump has also praised Mr. Cotton’s Army service, which included deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and the fact that he is a fellow Ivy League graduate. Mr. Trump went to the University of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Cotton attended Harvard, earning undergraduate and law degrees.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Cotton declined to comment. When asked about serving in a second Trump administration, the senator has said that his discussions with the former president have focused on how to win a second term.

“I suspect only Donald Trump knows who is really on his short list,” Mr. Cotton said on Monday on Fox News. “When we do talk, we talk about what it’s going to take to win this election in November — to elect President Trump to another term in the White House and elect a Republican Congress, so we can begin to repair the damage that Joe Biden’s presidency has inflicted on this country.”

Of course, Mr. Trump can be unpredictable.

One person close to him said that the former president had not indicated a particular favorite or shown outsize interest in anyone in his top tier. That could suggest a desire by Mr. Trump to play his cards close to his vest but could also signal an opening for another contender to swoop in and secure the second spot on the ticket.

Mr. Trump appears in no hurry to make his decision. In an interview early this month with Fox6 News Milwaukee, he said that he was likely to make his choice closer to the Republican National Convention, scheduled to start July 15.

“I’ll be picking, but probably not too much before the convention,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Cotton has long been considered one of the party’s rising stars, ambition that could hurt his chances with Mr. Trump, who has undermined allies in the past when he perceived them to be intruding on his spotlight.

Mr. Cotton also voted to certify the results of the 2020 presidential race, a move that flew in the face of Mr. Trump’s insistence that the election was stolen. But Mr. Rubio and Mr. Scott also voted to certify the results, and Mr. Burgum has said that former Vice President Mike Pence did the right thing by resisting Mr. Trump’s pressure to try to overturn the results.

Still, Mr. Trump has spoken highly of Mr. Cotton for years. After winning the White House in 2016, Mr. Trump considered the senator for an administration post, and the two men fostered a close relationship during their time in Washington. They worked closely on immigration issues and shared an affinity for the conservative populism fueling the Republican Party.

In response to questions about Mr. Cotton’s vice-presidential prospects, Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump, offered a statement that the campaign has repeatedly provided to reporters: “Only President Trump will rule a contender for Vice President in or out, and anyone claiming to know who he will choose is lying.”

Mr. Cotton’s presence on a presidential ticket could help reassure Republicans in the party’s dwindling traditional wing, particularly fellow foreign-policy hawks. Many of these Republicans remain undecided about a second term for Mr. Trump and might be put off by the selection of an inexperienced MAGA loyalist.

But Mr. Cotton appears to offer limited political upside for the ticket, representing a state that reliably votes Republican in presidential contests.

He could also carry some risks. His past endorsement of a national ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy might hurt the ticket’s appeal to moderate voters. And his support for Mr. Trump’s push to deploy troops against protesters in 2020 could motivate liberal voters who remain unenthusiastic about Mr. Biden, but are outraged over the former president’s authoritarian inclinations, to vote for the incumbent.

Michael C. Bender is a Times political correspondent covering Donald J. Trump, the Make America Great Again movement and other federal and state elections. More about Michael C. Bender

Our Coverage of the 2024 Election

Presidential Race: News and Analysis

Donald Trump’s conviction on nearly three dozen felony counts  plunges the country into unmapped political terrain , a rare moment that could reshuffle a 2024 race  that for months has been locked in stasis and defined by a polarizing former president.

President Biden’s absence in the hours after Trump was found guilty testified to the awkward position confronting  the current occupant of the White House when it comes to holding his predecessor accountable.

Moments after a jury found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 counts  in his hush-money trial, he worked his conviction into the story of persecution  at the center of his presidential campaign.

Fixing Social Security:  A small tax increase would make the essential national retirement program  secure for decades, our columnist says, but lawmakers would have to take action.

Flip-Flopping on Abortion:  Republican candidates in the country’s most competitive Senate races have changed their approach on the issue of abortion , softening their rhetoric, shifting their positions and even embracing policies championed by Democrats.

New Jersey Senate and House Races:  On June 4, Democrats and Republicans will choose nominees  for the U.S. Senate. In the House, Representative Rob Menendez faces a strong primary challenge.

Clashing Appeals to Black Voters:  Biden and Trump both see Black outreach as critical to winning in November. But their approaches differ in fundamental and revealing ways .