Common App Transfer Essay Examples with Key Steps Update
This article will focus on common app transfer essay examples. Irrespective of the type of school you or your child is in, find resources on test-taking and study habits, insight into admissions processes, plus guidance for dealing with roommates, managing workloads, and finding new extracurricular activities.
What About the Common App Transfer Essay?
Transferring to a different university can be a stressful process. Your Common App Transfer Essay, which is usually 500-words, is one of the most important features of your transfer application. The essay is your chance to show an admissions officer their school is the right fit for you.
Transfer essays are different than the original application essay you wrote to be accepted in the first place; transfer essays are more focused on:
- How you have grown from your time at your current university and
- Your specific goals for your future at your new university.
Common App Transfer Essay: Key Steps to Master
Do you know the three key steps to mastering the transfer essay? Let’s check it out in this Common App Transfer Essay Examples…
Step One: Establish why you want to transfer
Tell admissions why you want to transfer, and do so without speaking negatively about your current institution. Are you looking for a bigger school? Do you want to attend a university in a tech-centric city? Did you just discover your passion for a major that your current institution doesn’t offer?
Transferring is a big decision, so it’s important to show that your intentions are clear. Whatever the reason, refrain from speaking ill of your current school. You want to come off as optimistic and forward-thinking to admissions.
Step Two: Demonstrate your interest
Your interest in transferring to one school should be directly related to your reason for leaving your current school: What gaps or unmet needs will your prospective institution address?
Do you want to transfer for the school’s humongous alumni network, award-winning journalism program, or non-profit affiliations?
Illustrate your drive and maybe you’ll be hitting the ground running come the fall. (Hint: the best way to get the information you need is by setting aside a chunk of time to pore over the school website. Sorry, there’s no shortcut, even the second time around.)
Step Three: Establish the highlights of your collegiate career so far
You have an edge that most freshmen don’t: You’ve already been to college, so you know a bit more about the experience as well as your academic and career goals.
Being able to say that you know you will succeed at your school of choice because you flourish in small classrooms, lead in group projects, excel in the math and sciences, or whatever your reasoning may be is crucial.
Talk about what you have enjoyed about college thus far (again, be positive!) and how you hope to build on your experience at your (hopefully) new school!
What’s Next?
Once you complete these three steps, you will have all the ingredients for a fantastic transfer essay! But before you hit submit, a final word of warning: some schools require transfer applicants to submit supplemental essays (remember those?).
Do yourself a favor and compile a list of these in advance to ensure that every essay you write reveals something new and special to admissions. But first, pat yourself on the back. By reading this post, you’ve already given yourself a leg up (at least I think so). Keep reading…
As we proceed, I will analyze an essay example excerpted from College Admission Essays for Dummies by Geraldine Woods to complement the example for the University of Pennsylvania that we’ve previously critiqued.
The prompt for this essay wasn’t included, but it was probably for a school-specific essay. I’ll critique the essay as is and explain parts that might fit into the Common Application essay or a school-specific essay. I’ll analyze the essay one paragraph at a time.
Paragraph 1:
No, I am not homesick. I have friends. The work is not overwhelming. Nor has it interfered with my involvement in extracurricular activities. My first semester has been a time of transition as it is for most college freshmen.
Making decisions regarding course selection, seeking advice from advisors, and utilizing time efficiently have all been part of the process, accomplished at a distance from the familiar support structures and cues of both home and high school.
As a result, I have developed a greater sense of myself and my abilities, both academic and social. The experience has been satisfying. However, with all due introspection and now retrospection, I feel a change is necessary.
This opening is fairly weak because it is very general. I learned very little about this applicant from this paragraph, which could be entirely omitted to reduce the number of unnecessary words. Admission officers have many applications to read; there’s no need to burden them with excessive words.
Some of the best Common Application transfer essays I’ve read started with a brief “a slice of life” anecdote, a short narrative that captures an episode in one’s life. If you decide to feature an anecdote in your introduction, create a vivid image (or movie) of a piece of your life in the reader’s mind.
You would then have a hook. Other than including a short transition, avoid dragging this story into the next paragraph. Don’t make this episode the sole content of your essay.
For school-specific essays, which often have a tight word limit, writing an anecdote might not be the best use of the limited space. Instead, consider writing one or two introductory sentences and then diving right into your specific reasons for wanting to transfer.
Paragraph 2:
Sociologist Lev Vygotsky believed that peers play a major role in an individual’s development and learning. The students and friends with whom I grew up were extraordinarily bright, competitive, and creative.
In high school, discussions and opinions on almost any subject were spontaneous and interesting. At Central State, the small class size and the seminar formats have presented a great setting in which to learn.
The highly motivated professors, who encourage participation, have been the highlight of my experience thus far. However, the level of student interaction has not been gratifying.
Conversations concerning classroom topics and related materials have been limited. I have not been sufficiently challenged or stimulated by my peers.
This paragraph has an interesting topic sentence. Also, the applicant writes positively about her current school, citing, for example, its small class size and the seminar formats. Avoid sounding overly negative about your current school because you don’t want to badmouth any school.
Despite its positive aspects, this paragraph lacks concrete details. Why is it that “the level of student interaction has not been gratifying”?
What did the writer mean by stating, “Conversations concerning classroom topics and related materials have been limited”? Adhering to the word limit, make sure to reserve space for specific details that will help the reader understand exactly why you want to transfer.
Paragraph 3:
During my first semester, I have come to realize the influence a community has on my learning and growth. At Central State, the campus is active from around eleven in the morning until three in the afternoon, Monday through Friday.
One Saturday in October, while walking to the dining hall, I realized that I was one of five people on campus. With the majority of undergraduates living in on-campus dorms, the campus of Northern State fosters a unique intimacy. The campus is lively throughout the day.
Such activity creates a comfortable environment that promotes interaction and the formation of strong bonds between members of the community. Having experienced a year of college and dorm life, I am more aware of what is best for me. As a transfer student, I would appreciate this style of living even more.
The type of information in this paragraph is well-suited for a school-specific transfer essay. The writer has now moved from focusing on classes to discussing campus life.
Brief examples should be included to show how Northern State “fosters a unique intimacy” and how it is “lively throughout the day.” To conclude this paragraph, the applicant writes, “As a transfer student, I would appreciate this style of living even more.”
I wonder what she plans to do to take advantage of this style of living so that she can be more appreciative of it.
Paragraph 4:
Based on conversations with current students, it is my understanding that members of the Northern State community make it a unique place to live and learn. Many renowned professors choose to teach at the undergraduate level.
Having the chance to interact with an instructor such as Avery Marks, whose passion and mastery of botany are unrivaled, would be quite an experience.
The most defining aspect of Northern State’s faculty, however, is the manner in which they approach their role in influencing a student’s life. Professors, instructors, and advisors guide the student so that he/she can make independent decisions.
By the end of the paragraph, we still don’t know how “members of the Northern State community make it a unique place to live and learn,” but as you’ll see, she gives a clear example in the next paragraph.
Here, the applicant includes interesting, specific examples to show that she knows about the school and has compelling reasons to want to transfer there. Mentioning a specific professor that you’re interested in would show that you’ve researched the school.
If you plan to major in biology and you’re especially interested in plants, highlighting a professor who specializes in botany, as in this paragraph, would be appropriate, but avoid empty name-dropping.
Paragraph 5:
Furthermore, the structure and aspects of Northern State’s residential colleges foster the formation of relationships. For the remainder of my undergraduate years I want to return “home” to a very close group of friends for nightly dinners and conversations concerning daily activities.
The strong bonds that are formed within a diverse group of people who make up these individual communities create an optimal atmosphere in which to grow, socially and intellectually.
This paragraph, which emphasizes a unique aspect of Northern State, provides an example of information to include in a school-specific transfer essay.
Concluding paragraph:
All aspects of Northern State seem to enhance learning. Guidance from faculty members and challenges from peers within Northern’s close-knit community create a setting in which I can pursue current interests and discover new one while simultaneously discovering my future direction. This is the purpose of the undergraduate experience.
The best part of this conclusion is its brevity. I’m not sure what “this” refers to in the last sentence; many writing guides suggest that you place a noun after “this” to avoid ambiguity.
Finally, Each transfer application is unique, and therefore, we cannot provide an exhaustive list of details and information that should be included.
Use this analysis as a guideline for writing your Common Application essay(s)–whether you’re making it school-specific or not–and school-specific essays and try to critique your essays in the manner we’ve done here. Thanks for reading, please endeavor to share with your friends.
CSN Team.
