Hi im a prospective freshman transfer student currently filling out applications and I happen to be applying to three schools of which I had applied to my senior year in high school for normal undergrad admission.
My question is would these schools have a record of my old application? (ie. my essays, recommendations, interviews etc). They are all small schools if that makes a difference. Also for many of those schools the supplemental essays are similar or the same as they were when I applied originally, so am I expected to write new essays or can I salvage my old ones or just modify them slightly? Thanks any help if appreciated!
Any application to transfer that requires essays or recommendations will require you to write new essays and provide new recommendations, even if the college still has your prior file. In fact, you need to prepare the transfer application and provide required materials the same as if you had not applied before. Nothing, however, prevents you from taking your prior essay, if you have a copy, and updating it and submitting the updated version.
Colleges can vary as to what they keep and how long. If you applied and were rejected, or were admitted but did not accept admission, a common hold period is until one year after the appicable class year start date, meaning, for example, if you applied in Fall 2015 for entry into Fall 2016, the file will be kept until about September 2017. Also, even if they dispose of most of the data in the file, they may still keep some basic information indefinitely such as your name and address and the decision for admisison made.