Honest Advice on Essay?

I am currently working on my essay to transfer from my current college. The essay prompt was to write about a theme that has been important in your life. I did that and then wrote about how the theme aligned with the university I am hoping to transfer to. In your opinion, does adding this seem too try-hard? I don’t want the admissions team to deny me for this. Also, the minimum word count was 250 words and I have 380. Should I make this longer? I tried to find a good place above the minimum but not annoyingly long considering they have to read so many essays and probably don’t want to read 1000 words.

Thank you!

As a reader of many job applications, my vote is for short and concise. If you are happy with what you have written, don’t try to pad it. And, without having read your essay, I think your approach of tying it to the new school is good, Just don’t hit your reader over the head with it. Let them draw their own conclusions about what you offer fits with their mission.

Thank you so much for the advice!

It is fine to draw your own conclusions in a transfer application.

Agree that being concise is important. Whether or not it should be short is not an issue here as you have gone well beyond the minimum requirement of 250 words.