<p>For those of you who successfully transferred, what did you use to help you prepare your essays? I'm realizing now that there were an abundance of resources for freshman application essays that I failed to use (i.e., just found Harry Bauld's book at the public library), and now as I contemplate my prospects for the future I'm hoping to not make the same mistake. </p>
<p>So... anyone have any input for books, sites, old threads, or writing samples? There aren't lot that are transfer specific, but it'd be great to get some background on what "works" and what doesn't.</p>
<p>I think talking about an experience (positive or neg) that you had and how you learnt/grew as a result of it works well. Colleges you apply to are ususally schools that you were just under the beltline when applying originally and they obviously rejected you b.c you were missing that one something. So talking about how you've grown from something can show to the school that you've bridged that gap that was the difference between acceptance and rejection perviously.</p>
<p>Rofflez, I had the same problem as you. I did not read any guide book at the time of freshman admission and now highly regret doing so. However, I would still read Bauld's book (just for wording and expression, not topics). </p>
<p>Selk21, I dont think your advice is pertinent here. But that probably could be since you've never seen the transfer essay topics. It goes sth like "your reasons for transfer and what you hope to achieve". As you can see, this is a very specific + factual/hopeful essay and there's very little space and reason to show how one has grown out of a experience. I'm not saying its not possible. Im just saying its neither appropriate nor easy, plus it coudl be risky since your essay may end up off topic.</p>
<p>Rofflez, form wht ive learned so far on the essay is that this is one part you shoudl spend most time on, and the thing that usually wither gets an applicant in or out , provided the academics are in line. So the transfer essay must be unique to each school otherwise you are already resigning yourself to a generic essay = rejection. No, just replacing brown's name on the essay with penn's wont work. However, i think your reaosns for transfer coudl remian same naturally. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, there is very little advice on the transfer process, leave apart transfer essays. The best advice would be to give very specific (and hopefully unique) reasons for transferring in your essay and have a clear plan (indecision regarding majors is probably NOT a good idea here), and probably make it SEEM (implicit, not explicit) like school X is the only school you are applying for transfer to and how much you would like to get in!</p>
<p>Is there still a creative piece for transfer applicaticants for the Ivy leagues? I.e. an essay (besides the "Why Transfer") that is similiar to a topic a freshmen applicant would write? </p>
<p>I asked this because I am also reading a Harry Bauld book, * On Writing the College Application Essay*. However, I am a little skeptical on writing a college essay that can be basically written about anything. For example, he uses examples like someone's best piece was thought about in a bathroom or how a young girl had trouble deboning a fish. Would such topics, if written correctly, be taken seriously as a transfer student or would an essay have to be a little more serious?</p>
<p>Rahimads, the colleges I applied to as a transfer did not have a main essay for 'why I wish to transfer', but following suit with their freshman essays. Some included a short answer field, but obivously if the transfer essay Q is more about why you wish to transfer, then talking about experience that changed you could be off track. But the essay I used for schools for transfer (altered slighty for each school) was about learning from my experiences and got me into all my one of my schools.</p>
<p>If a school requires the common app plus a supplement and the common app essay is "what are your reasons for transferring" and the supplement is "why do you want to transfer to X" shouldnt your common app essay be the same fairly generic essay and then your supplement should be tailor made for each specific school? Since the common app is supposed to streamline the process, it doesnt make sense to have a very specific common app essay and then presumably just write the same thing in the supplement.</p>
<p>a little bump... the essay is the main thing that can be "worked on" and I'd love to get more advice from people who have come and gone through the process. but it seems like most of them have left from the forum already... I guess I'll let this thread die, and bump it again come winter if I'm still undecided about spending 3 more years at my school.</p>
<p>What I plan on doing is to write a generic paragraph about why I want to transfer (2 year college so pretty obvious), and then another about what I hope to achieve, etc like the common app question asks. </p>
<p>Where is will be unique is the third paragraph where I will change it for each school and make it uniquely about the particular school that app is for. For example, I will just send the first two paragraphs to my first choice since they have a separate supplement essay about why you want to transfer there, but for schools without such an essay, I will just add a third paragraph paragraph about why I want to transfer to that particular school since that is the only place I have room to do it.</p>
<p>I'll go over a few things that worked for me with the essays.</p>
<p>The first is: try to be as specific as possible on the "why transfer" question. If you can, tailor each essay to the individual schools you are applying to. However, this is incredibly time-consuming (particularly so if you, like I did, are writing these essays during the school year and have to deal with actual coursework). So where I could I reused. My Harvard and Yale essays sounded very specific to each college, but in reality they were nearly identical with minor modifications (e.g. discussing briefly Yale's residential college system). </p>
<p>My second tip would be: don't be negative! When I first started writing my essays, I got caught up in the negativity I felt toward my old school. My "why transfer to Y" essay became "why I wanted to desperately get out of X". I think students who do this shoot themselves in the foot. At the same time, if there is a serious issue with your current institution, don't be afraid to mention it! The best way to reconcile this is to mention the problem, but instead of focusing on it, use it as a launch-pad to get into why school Y is great for you. For example, one of the biggest problems I had was with class size. Instead of harping on how crowded X was, I used it as a means to talk about school Y's intimate size + res. college system.</p>
<p>My third piece of advice is to make it personal. While this sort of falls under my first suggestion... I don't think specific automatically assumes personal. I could say college Y is great for a,b, and c without making any mention of how it is important to me. So what if Y has an intimate class size and an awesome college system? What does that do for you, your goals, and the growth you hope to achieve during your 4 year tenure? </p>
<p>This last one is pretty obvious, but... make sure it's well-written. You can have all the great reasons in the world but if it's not articulated well it doesn't mean jack. Get help with your writing if you don't think it's up to par. Have peers and parents look over your essays... get their input. It's often hard to objectively judge the quality of your own essay, and they can provide useful insight.</p>
<p>Sorry if this post is a bit scatter-brained, but I'm at work and should be... uh, working.</p>
<p>great post, thanks. was your essay more like a frosh essay (that is, story/creative-ish?) or was it more just like a conversation where you told them specifically how you felt/what you wanted?</p>
<p>How many essays do we need to write for transfer application through Comapp? I guess maybe one personal essay and one why-transfer essay? Thank you!</p>
<p>MagicTF has nailed it, post #13, and I will also copy his post to the Transfer Admissions 101 sticky thread. There is some other discussion of essays on that thread so all who have not checked that thread, should do so.</p>