Looking to transfer using Common App - Common App Essay

Transfer Students
1

Hi everyone, I’m currently a sophomore at UC Berkeley and I haven’t been liking the atmosphere here. All the people around me are stressed and competitive and they seem to really judge you based on your major. I was originally going to be a business major, but the weeding of the pre-reqs here are terrible and I chose to settle on a less competitive major. An advisor told me to try media studies/communications and take marketing courses on the side since I want a career in marketing. Now I’m working towards declaring media studies with an emphasis on marketing. However, ends up Berkeley is accepting more students every year and the campus is overcrowded. Although I have an earlier class enrollment date, I still couldn’t get into any of my desired classes. I don’t even think I’ll be able to take any marketing courses even as a senior because all the spots are reserved for actual business students and only 5-10 spots are open for juniors AND seniors. I don’t see the point in paying for an education here if I’m not even getting the courses I want. I’m constantly unhappy here while being surrounded by stressed out students, huge classes, and a terrible environment and when I talk to my friends at other universities, especially the private ones, they all can’t believe that what I tell them is even true.

So now I’m planning to take the spring semester off to prep for transferring to another university. I want to go to a private one so I will be using the common app. However, I’m confused as to the difference between the transfer common app essay and the writing supplements. I’m planning on applying to 10 universities. So for example, I plan on applying to Cornell. The common application essay says “Please provide a statement that addresses your reasons for transferring and the objectives you hope to achieve” while Cornell’s writing supplement says “Tell us what you’d like to major in at Cornell, and why or how your past academic or work experience influenced your decision, and how transferring to Cornell would further your academic interests”. Should my common application essay mention Cornell at all? Should that essay be personalized for each of my ten schools or is it just a general essay asking why I want to leave Berkeley?

If anyone has gone through transferring with the Common App before, I would really appreciate your help! This is a really hard time to go through right now but I hope it’ll all be worth it once it’s done. Thank you everyone!!

2

The Common App essay that is non-specific to any schools is just an essay summarizing what you’re looking for in an institution, perhaps why you’re not enjoying your time at Berkeley, etc. This doesn’t mean that you should denounce Berkeley, but you need to effectively discuss what you think Berkeley lacks.

To follow your example, Cornell’s essay is pretty straight forward. Answer the prompt. Obviously, you should be consistent between both essays. Ideally, your goals should be clearly stated and expressed in your Common App essay, and then you could focus your goals and academic needs to fit into Cornell’s prompt, if that makes sense.

Ask yourself: “What do I want to ultimately accomplish in transferring? What do I want in an institution? Furthermore, why might I want to leave my current school?”, then ask yourself “How does Cornell fit the bill? And how can I talk about how Cornell is a better fit, while not straying too far from the prompt?”

Best of luck!