How specific/honest can I get in Columbia Transfer essay?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
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<p>I am putting three major reasons for my transfer decision: 1. lack of non-theoretical, practical opportunities at my present school, 2. extremely limited advanced level electives for freshmen and sophomores, 3. not very good teacher-to-student ratio. The problem is that I dont know how far can I go with being detailed as I do not want to sound like I am trashing my school. I dont want to come across as being too critical, I just want to be as specific as possible. Any ideas on how to proceed?</p>

<p>By the way, does anyone know what a transfer essay prompt was this year?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

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<p>Transfer essays are a horse of a different color. I’m a transfer myself and the months I spent online I met up with a bunch of other hopefuls and each and every one of them was different. Now some of these people, more than some, didn’t get in but even among the contacts I knew that did none of them followed a clear formula. You can go as in-depth as you feel is necessary.</p>

<p>Some go full meta, writing short stories that serve as an allegory of their educational journeys, others were point by point lists of reasons (to specific teachers and clubs). Mine leaned more towards the standard.</p>

<p>My argument was that the school had a very strong economics department while still valuing various and classical ways of learning and areas of personal growth and knowledge (basically the core) and therefore provided a unique chance for growth. My grade school analogy was “I’m cookie dough; and I want more chunks in me than just chocolate”.</p>

<p>Only universal advice I can give is:

  • NOT because Columbia’s a prestigious ivy league.
  • NOT because Columbia’s in NY.</p>
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<p>dude, moveon (.org)</p>

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<p>"Only universal advice I can give is:

  • NOT because Columbia’s a prestigious ivy league.
  • NOT because Columbia’s in NY."</p>

<p>I agree with this.</p>

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<p>^^Columbia2002, I wonder what your response has to do with the question I posed. Please stay on topic.</p>

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<p>It has everything to do with the topic at hand. Figure it out. Think deeply.</p>

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<p>Think deeply about what? Your post was completely irrelevant to the question I asked. If you are asking me to give up on trying to get into Columbia, your advice is still irrelevant to what this thread is about - the thread is asking a specific question about a transfer ESSAY.</p>

<p>I was waitlisted at Columbia this year and I did not get in but probably I myself was not ready. University is quite different from high school and I have one more year to prove that I can do a rigorous work and then transfer where I always wanted to go. I do not understand what you are suggesting. “Think deeply”?, do you really think we are on a session with a psychologist? If you have something valuable to say, say it. If not then I do not know what you are doing.</p>

1 Like
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<p>lol maybe he’s telling you to “take a stand on certain issues” as the democracy in action website (moveon.org) boasts-- otherwise, that could be purely coincidince and he/she is really telling you that you aren’t good enough so move on and if that’s the case you should fight 'em.</p>

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<p>ChaoticOrder, I doubt that he meant anything positive with what he wrote. And the question is not even whether what he wrote was rellevant/irrelevant or positive/negative, the question is WHY did he have to write that? I was asking for something specific and he is just fooling around. He will not even admit that what he wrote was irrelevant, what a stuck up.</p>

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<p>by posting something irrelevant he was trying to say that your post is equally irrelevant. now whether it is or is not, is not the biggest point, you are looking for help.</p>

<p>i would suggest you let the waves settle a bit more, do a lot more thinking, actually get onto your campus and feel what it is like before you jump to conclusions.</p>

<p>and regarding point (1), what does that mean? you are applying to college, not a job, highly theoretical learning will impress adcoms. how does (2) have anything to do with college and same with (3). if your argument is that your school did not let you succeed enough to be admitted to columbia
well you probably have an argument there (many schools are bad out there), but you would not be the only one making that argument - a couple thousand people could say the same. there is nothing original, unique, personal or interesting about that argument. further, the counter argument could be made, so why didn’t you create those opportunities for yourself - to play devil’s advocate.</p>

<p>to this end, undisclosed hits most of the things on the spot. think about who you are, why you really want to go to columbia (please do not use arguments around how you deserve to be there, it is your dream to go there) and think concretely. what can columbia give you that no other school could. you might be surprised, perhaps your current school will impress you in what it can offer.</p>

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<p>Thanks for your answer admissionsgeek.</p>

<p>Well, I would not necessarily agree that “highly theoretical learning will impress adcoms.” After all college is not a high school and when a fresh graduate faces a job market I doubt employers will be impressed by “highly theoretical” things, they will look more for the “real” experience. The whole argument I am making in my essay is that although my school offers great academics in terms of giving me the opportunity to put that theory to something practical, it can not even compare to Columbia. My cousin just graduated from Columbia last year and many of his school mates have been given the opportunity to work at various NGOs, and one of them even at the UN office in Geneva. And that is even before they graduated! Now imagine how much of a difference that will make when they will be applying for a job. The argument I am making is not about who has better academics - because hundreds of universities in the US do - the argument I am making is who prepares its student body better for a real life and market, something beyond textbooks and wonderful professors. Why would that not be a fair argument? I have read some admitted ivy applicants’ transfer essays on here and they dont even get that specific.</p>

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<p>Fellows, fellows, please. You’re equally big; no need to e-whip them out.</p>

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<p>stanford - you don’t get it. you are applying to college, not a job. worry about building skills during your collegiate years to impress employers. they are two different processes that although related require different emphases.</p>

<p>now will your argument work? maybe, i don’t know, it may or may not, but if you are admitted you will not be admitted because you talked about how much you want to do extracurricularly.
should you care what other people wrote? no. because you are an individual, and just because they mentioned one part of the app, you don’t know their whole story.</p>

<p>but in the end i think what I would like to emphasize is that colleges like columbia in admissions (which is different from their praxis) look closer at high level of academic ability first and foremost. yes you have to have some leadership, some social skills, ability to design and implement solutions (this can be shown in a number of ways both academic and co-curricularly), but if the level of analysis and depth of your academic exposure is not up to par - you could have all the practical experience in the world and that wont make up for it. so though i think it is worth exploring your long range interests and putting it on the application, don’t obfuscate or forget the most essential - do you have the intellectual chops.</p>

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<p>^ I think you did not get my point this time either. I know that I am applying for a college and not a job and that was not why I mentioned practical experience. I am not telling Columbia to accept me because of practical experience, I am providing the lack of practical opportunities at my present school as a REASON for transfer and thats what they are asking in essay. “worry about building skills during your collegiate years to impress employers”, but how am I going to do that if the school does not give me the opportunities and does not have any networks ! thats the whole point I am making. Acceptance and their criteria of selecting people is one thing, but me selecting a transfer school is another, what does that have to do with my academic abilities? Academics are important but in the end, why do you need academics if not to be competitive on the job market? People are not going to hire you because of your grades or because your professor had a nobel prize. You are not going to a school because you necessarily enjoy everything you learn, rather it is to get you prepared for life. If it was all about theory, there are 1000 schools where I can get wonderful education (including the one I am at and I will mention that)</p>

<p>This thread, just like they usually tend to do on this forum, slowly ceases to be about what it was initially meant for - are these transfer REASONS reasonable and legitimate? I was not asking for a panacea of getting into columbia or people discussing my academic strength.</p>

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<p>you are conflating issues, and getting agitated without cause here.</p>

<p>so to break it down.</p>

<p>1) i don’t think the reasons are that reasonable ore legitimate because i think you can offer better reasons.</p>

<p>2) i am confused if you haven’t started college how you can be making these statements already.</p>

<p>3) none of your reasons for transferring to columbia (supposing this is the case) are specific to columbia.</p>

<p>4) you can ‘create’ practical opportunities anywhere. at columbia you need to do this just as much as anywhere else. columbia is not going to hand you things, you need to work for them.</p>

<p>5) college admissions, transfer admissions is primarily about your academic preparedness for the institution. i wanted to clarify that as a means to induce you to think of academic reasons for transferring. colleges are educational institutions first, and job networking and preprofessional development places second. so you might learn something that will have nothing to do with your future career. </p>

<p>so your statement here “Academics are important but in the end, why do you need academics if not to be competitive on the job market?” is wrong. academics do not make you more or less competitive on the job market. what does it do? a) it tells the employer you can work hard, b) if you went to a good school it says you probably have worked hard for many years before this, c) if you go to a good school it means you are working alongside some of the best, d) if you take some classes or have a certain major, you might have preference in some jobs
 other auxiliary things will help you of course, if a nobel prize winner writes a letter of recommendation, you might get a boost. if you have good relationships with your professors they might know someone who knows someone. </p>

<p>these are, however, superficial reasons for the most part and in truth have little long term impact on how you do. employers care what you have done for them lately and less whether or not you actually know anything about 17th Century British Literature. what makes you most competitive on the job market are the following (a brief, concise list, denzera could give you the long full version) - a) previous experience (internships, employment) - some schools are better than others here, but unless you are talking about very very hard to get jobs, an entrepreneurial student at any university has a chance to do well. b) ability to communicate, understand, analyze, comprehend the tasks set before the student. c) and how well the candidate meshes with the office dynamic and priorities. with the exception of (a) where you could say career development matters in helping you get your first job or networking, the major factors that matter have 0 to do with where you went to college, and how well you do academically. and the further you are from college, the less it matters where you went.</p>

<p>so when you realize the disconnect between your long term future, and your immediate collegiate future i think that is when it becomes clear that when you look for a college seek an academic or personal experience that you will most enjoy, that will challenge you, and give you confidence to tackle the world after (keep your time frame to 4 years, not 40). if you worry too far down the line 1) you more than likely wont impress the admissions officers, and most importantly 2) you wont enjoy college.</p>

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<p>1.) could you tell me what in your opinion Are legitimate reasons of transferring?</p>

<p>2.) At the end you still admit that “some schools are better than others” when one looks for internships,employment dont you? (because that’s the point I was trying to make the whole time) Do you not think its a legitimate reason to transfer?</p>

<p>3.) So I should not worry “too far down the line” because it wont impress the admissions officers? Oh, why? will they be offended and/or surprised to find out that they are not the central part of my entire life? What do you suppose I tell them, something like “I want to come to Columbia because I like to learn?”. Admissions officers are humans, why would they expect that their school be the center of universe for you. After all the whole purpose of going to college is to get a degree, and the whole purpose of getting a degree is to get a job so that you can do something in life. Do they need a fairytale? To some people it is like a fairytale and they might never end up using their degree for anything valuable - and there are quite a few on this forum with thousands of posts that I suspect do exactly that - they are there to enjoy and have fun, well others are not exactly that way. There are things you will enjoy, there are things you wont enjoy.</p>

<p>The bottom line is that if the variety in available course selection, faculty-to student individual relations, and internship opportunities are not legitimate reasons for transfer, then what are?</p>

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<p>1) i did
2) compelling, but not sufficient. i wouldn’t transfer just because a school was slightly better at internships. if that was the case, maybe i would’ve gone to Harvard. even if some schools give you a head start, it is how hard you work that matters. so deciding to transfer just because you want a head start is pretty superficial. especially when you haven’t given a school a chance.
3) i am beyond confused here. this was a ramble, what does this mean “Admissions officers are humans, why would they expect that their school be the center of universe for you.” “a fairytale”? to reiterate: columbia is a high-powered intellectual place where academics are serious. to be admitted - you should like columbia’s offerings specifically, and at least make a nod that this is a reason you are applying. because columbia is not the only school with variety of courses, faculty student interaction (which if you value, an LAC rocks more), and internship opportunities. if you want to use these vague rationales, well you are not giving yourself the BEST chance to be admitted. </p>

<p>anyhow: you want to transfer, so why should something like legitimacy get in your way? you want to “trade-up.” you are not the first person or the last to desire it. however, when you write about how your school wont let you become something even before you start classes, it ticks me off because that is a huge insult to your current university. you are going to college. less than half of the people who should graduate high school this year are going to graduate college.</p>

<p>so you want to know what a legitimate reason is? you tried it your hardest at your current school and despite exhausting every effort you still believe that there is something specific about columbia and its experience that you believe you could not have. if you find at any point that your current school perhaps is more amenable than you first thought, it isn’t worth transferring (legitimately) because the amount of energy it takes to move into a new situation is not worth it. consider all of this - make your own decision, but my guess from this post is that you already have.</p>

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<p>“you are going to college. less than half of the people who should graduate high school this year are going to graduate college.”</p>

<p>You see, this is something people use to calm others down and make them feel better about themselves. But I remind you, this is not a session with a psychologist : -)</p>

<p>If I compare myself to ppl who dont go to college at all, I will feel better and have a sense of accomplishment. If I have an ok house and compare myself to a homeless person, I will have a sense of accomplishment. If I have a 50,000 dollar income and compare myself to someone who has 12,000, I will have a sense of accomplishment. The problem that we need to recognize here is that this sense of accomplishment is False. It is not real.</p>

<p>In any case, I have not gone to my school yet but I know for sure what it is like, what its academics are like and what the school is like in terms of opportunities or location or even my personal taste. Little discoveries that I might encounter when I will actually go there are not likely to change my mind.</p>

<p>In regards to “something specific about columbia and its experience”, well I think even something specific about columbia can be shared by several other universities and I doubt there is something very unique about it (unless I start talking like everyone about core curriculum and New York City) I do think, however, that their political science department is the best in the world but that is something that many other people say.</p>

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<p>i would say one of these ideas - but more developed.</p>

<p>“I doubt there is something very unique about it (unless I start talking like everyone about core curriculum and New York City) I do think, however, that their political science department is the best in the world but that is something that many other people say.”</p>

<p>and something specific that is not unique is more interesting than something vague that is not unique.</p>

<p>in the mean time, go through the professors at your current school, find the most interesting academic (and if you want to PM me and tell me your school i can help you find someone) and have them be a mentor and a possible faculty rec. i believe wholeheartedly in mentors, someone older and smarter with experience who will help you navigate processes. if you want help approaching this man or woman, i would be happy to help you broach that subject.</p>

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<p>Well another reason I am using is the lack of variety of the international relations classes. For example, our school seems to concentrate more United States politics and Constitutional law, leaving only a small room to basic courses on international relations, subfield of polisci interesting me the most. On the other hand, Columbia University offers an endless opportunity of taking internationally oriented classes about European Union, globalization and its effects on international politics, international relations from an economical point of view as well as foreign policies of the post-Soviet states and American foreign policy. I am trying to tell them that the lack of these classes will affect my viability as a professional in this field and I think it definitely will.</p>