The two questions seem very similar. 1. Please provide a statement that addresses your reasons for transferring and the objectives you hope to achieve. and 2. College of Arts & Sciences - How do your possible career or professional plans relate to your planned course of study?
Does anyone have any advice/examples for how to answer these? I feel like they overlap a ton.
IMO, the first question is primarily about why your current school isn’t meeting your needs.
In the second question, you can delve into the specifics of the program you are applying to and how they can help you meet your career objectives.
It’s two distinct questions-- why do you want to transfer, and what do you want to study if we admit you?
Crowdsourcing ideas for these transfer essays isn’t a good plan. Do your research. Ask yourself why you want to transfer to these other school.
To me the first question is key whenever someone wants to transfer. The exception might be if they are currently at a community college and want to transfer to a 4 year university.
There is a cost to transfer. For example, you need to make new friends and find your way around a new campus. Finding internships and research opportunities is likely to be easier if you know your professors, and changing schools probably means that you don’t know your professors at the new school. Thus it makes sense that the school wants to know why it is that you want to transfer.
The second question to me makes sense for anyone who wants to attend university. Do you have career plans that are related to what you want to study? Whatever it is that you want to study, you could study it at your current school (unless they do not offer the major), or the new school, or some third school. Thus “what you want to study and why” is probably unrelated to transferring. However, you should have a reason to study whatever it is that you want to study.
To me these look like good questions for anyone who wants to transfer. However, you need to give your reasons. Whatever reasons I might have had do not matter. Your reasons do matter.
Which leads to the next question: Can you tell us why you want to transfer?
What are your reasons for transferring? The more info we have the more we can help.
The second question is a Why Us essay…identify things that the school has that you will be involved in…you need to go to each school’s website and do the research. Like you asked in your UVA thread. What major? What classes will you take? What professor would you like to do research with? What clubs and orgs will you join? All that info takes time but is available with simple google searches.
I am doing my research… but i don’t go to the school and I think there are things that only current students know