Transferring out of WUSTL to peer institutions (Rice, Notre Dame, Cornell)

You are allowed to tailor your ‘why leave’ essay to suit the particular things you like about each school. You are a math person- look at the math track at WUSTL v your prospective schools- are there divergences that are meaningful to you? Don’t gin up flimsy differences, but there may be aspects of math as a major that you get now, that you might not have as a HS student. Similarly, check out the diversity- of all kinds!! - at your prospective schools and for those where that is a particular strength and value, it is fair to say that you underestimated the importance of that to you.