Northwestern Essay....

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I have a question about Northwestern trasnfer essay
One of the essays ask you to write about your college experience so far(not the statement on activity one but the one on college experience), and I was wondering if this essay should be used to discuss about what I have achieved in college(such as what I have learned and how I dealt with problems in college) OR to discuss what factors have lead to my transfer decision(like why my current school is not a good fit for me).
Any advice would be appreciated~!</p>

<p>Thanks~!</p>

2

<p>i took the second approach...</p>

<p>however, in the beginning, i mentioned how i have been forunate to attend such a prestigious university (Cornell University)</p>

3

<p>i went with the first one, and used "what are you reasons for wanting to attend NU" partially to describe why my current school isn't working out. does that seem like a good approach?</p>

4

<p>well, another essay is entirely devoted to why u want to attend Northwestern, it says what are your reasons for wanting to attend Northwestern?</p>

<p>this essay, i think is asking more for the second approach</p>

5

<p>Yeah I'm writing mine like the 2nd approach. If they wanted to know specifically about your achievements, they would have mentioned it. I think a safe way to deal with this would be to say that your school isnt TOO bad, and you were able to achieve XXX (giggidy), however certain aspects of the school limited your achievements, which are blah blah blah...and you can summarize very shortly why NU would be a better match. But don't go too much into it as like bball87 pointed out, theres a whole essay to explain why NU is a better choice.</p>

6

<p>jacknjill, we are on the same page, i did exactly what u said, i started out praising cornell, saying it was a priviledge to attend...and then i explained why it wasn't the perfect fit for me</p>

7

<p>so you used two different essays to describe why you wanted to transfer?</p>

<p>i'm not transferring because it's a bad fit, i'm transferring because northwestern has my major and my school doesn't (and other misc factors make it best for me to study that major at nu instead of random college x). so really i just have mostly positive things to say about my college experience, except for the limitation on what i want to study</p>

8

<p>forgot to say i got rejected as a freshman (90% sure because of poor essays), so to clarify</p>

<p>1) personal statement
2) how i've changed, why the college environment has helped me improve ("describe your college experience to date" after all)
3) why i can't stay at my current school and why northwestern would be perfect ("why do you want to attend")</p>

9

<p>bump for new comments</p>

10

<p>...what are you asking? I don't understand the 1-2-3 list. </p>

<p>In the first essay, I'm writing about why, although I've been able to further myself in specific, limited areas, my current college hasn't and will not be able to offer what I believe is necessary for having a complete college education. I'm going into what I've been able to do, and what I want but can't do, and then say how NU will satisfy my needs. The part about NU should be relatively short though, sort of like a summary of your second essay.</p>

<p>My second essay is about why I think NU fits my goals and what it has that my current college doesn't. But I'd try make it so there aren't a lot of overlapping stuff, which is hard. </p>

<p>Perhaps it would be easier to write one long essay and then edit it into two.</p>

<p>If I were in your position, I'd try say more than "my current school doesn't offer my major, and you do". While it is obviously a very important factor, I think if you mentioned a couple of other things, you would look better in their eyes. </p>

<p>If a girl came up to me and said she wants to be with me rather than her current bf, and says that its only because I have blonde hair, assuming shes ok and whatnot, I'd say yes (just a hypothetical situation, no need to judge me), but I'd be in a moral dilemma I guess...If she came up to me and said that her current, while rich, rapes her and has black hair, and since I'm a nice guy with the same amount of cash, and I'm blonde she wants me, I'd say "awww you poor girl" and accept her to my life...I guess. this is wierd, but you get what I'm saying. To provide more reasons about your willingess to attend a college would make them more inclined to accept you.</p>

<p>bah, I suck at explaining.</p>

11

<p>Northwestern has three essays, and I was just saying how I used them.</p>

<p>The first is the general personal statement.</p>

<p>The second ("describe your college experience"), I'm using to explain how I've grown and improved since being rejected last year.</p>

<p>The third ("what your reasons for wanting to attend...") I'm using to explain that I want to major in something my school doesn't have, as well as describing the boatload of other factors that makes me think NU will be a better fit for me than my current college, in addition to being better than other colleges that also offer that major. I have quite a lot for that essay; it's at ~600+ words right now. It's definitely not just "you have my major."</p>

<p>What I'm saying is, I don't think the last two questions should be "one long essay edited into two" - I think that they address different things (they ARE separate essays, after all), and that it's a mistake to use the "describe college experience" essay to say why the current school isn't working and then the "why NU" essay to say why NU works, because those are really the same sort of answer. I think "describe college experience" should be more about proving you can succeed at NU (as well as giving the adcom a window into your outlook about college), and "why NU" should be entirely about reasons for transferring, both about why your school doesn't work now and why NU will work. What I'm asking is: is this a reasonable approach? If not, why not?</p>

12

<p>The third essay doesn't directly ask about why your current college isn't working for you. </p>

<p>The second essay asks about your college experience to date. </p>

<p>I think each essay should be college-specific. If you talk about how you have 'grown' and improved at college, it isn't an evaluation of your college but more of an evaluation of your self. I'm not saying you shouldn't talk about your self, rather you should express how you've grown and improved through your CURRENT college and how the COLLEGE affect you and helped/limited you. </p>

<p>"Please write a statement assessing your college experience to date"</p>

<p>I can see why you would think the way you do, and I'm not saying that its wrong, but I would rather do it the way I suggested. Good luck</p>

13

<p>But the question isn't asking for an evaluation of your college, it's asking for an evaluation of your experience. The last question is the one wants to know why you want to come to NU, and that's implicitly asking you to defend your decision not to stay at your current college instead.</p>

14

<p>Technically, the last essay asks for why we want to "attend" NU. It's not asking why we want to transfer out of our current college and go to NU. I think its asking us specifically on our wishes to go to NU. </p>

<p>Like I said, this is my interpretation. You may be right, and in all honesty, I doubt it matters TOO much. Theres still over a month left for the deadline so its all good.</p>

15

<p>Me:
I am applying to transfer to Northwestern University, and I was curious as to what we are supposed to specifically write in two of the essays. One essay asks us to "Please write a statement assessing your college experience to date" , and another asks "What are your reasons for wanting to attend Northwestern?". With the first one, should we write about our college experience in general, for example, explaining how we have matured and grown, without reference to the college we are currently in, or should we talk about experiences specific to the college and why, as a result of factors that limit our achievements, we want to transfer to Northwestern? If you want the former, should we talk about why we specifically want to transfer out of our current college in the essay asking us why we want to attend Northwestern, or should we not even mention that? </p>

<hr>

<p>Them:
Thank you for your interest in Northwestern University.</p>

<p>The statements give you an opportunity to tell us a little bit about yourself. We are interested in learning about your college experience from a personal and academic point of view. We are also interested in why you are interested in transferring to Northwestern and how you have prepared yourself to do so. It is helpful if you go into some detail about the academic program you are interested in and your preparation for that specific area of study. The questions are left open-ended, because we are interested in your interpretation of the questions and you can give us a much or as little information as you choose. Most student write a paragraph or two.</p>

<p>I hope this helps.
Thank you!</p>

<hr>

<p>So yeah. Go crazy. </p>

<p>They didn't clarify the situation, but now I know I should talk about my major more. Good luck</p>

16

<p>Wow, thanks for following up on that!</p>

<p>Good luck man.</p>

17

<p>How much did everyone write for those last two essays? Will a couple paragraphs do?</p>

18

<p>yea, umm how long should these essays be? i remember talking w/ an adcom and she said that they should be about a page or so, but my memory is fuzzy. how long were all of yours (in terms of words)?</p>

19

<p>my essays are going to be around 600-700 words</p>

20

<p>mines are almost 600 but not over</p>