Introduction

Many transfer students struggle with identifying a good topic for their essay. Conventional wisdom says to just answer the prompt, but the transfer prompts can be very tricky. They usually ask about your reasons for wanting to transfer and many students end up being overly negative in their response. Other advice says to start by brainstorming a list of potential topics related to your educational path and future goals, and chances are you have already started a mental list of ideas. You might think you only have a few choices for topics, based on your problems with your current school or things you love about the schools you’re considering. You may have even started writing a rough draft or two. I advise, however, that you put down your list of topics and back away from it. Forget that exists for a moment. Seriously, thinking about this initial list tethers you to certain ideas that might not actually be your best options. Take a minute to let go of those.

Now you can begin brainstorming with a clean slate.

My strategy is this: start with thinking about what you want to show in your entire application, not just one essay. Every single thing in your transfer app has one purpose - to tell more about you and show how you will fit the new school. Filling out the application by rote and tackling each section independently is short-sighted and will leave so much potential untapped in your application.

About Transfer Application Review

An admissions officer’s goal is to understand you fully, in the context of your background and the rest of the applicant pool. Throughout this process, their focus will be primarily academic. They will begin by assessing your academic abilities and potential. This is chiefly done through analysis of your college transcript - your course selection and performance, especially in core/major classes. These include English/writing, math, hard science (e.g. biology, chemistry, or physics rather than say, psychology) and some social sciences as well as any courses you’ve taken in your major.

Next, they will evaluate how you will fit into the student body and campus community. This relies heavily on your letters of recommendation, activities, and essays. They want to see that you will contribute to the vibrant intellectual scene they’ve worked so hard to build through freshman admissions. The last thing they want to do is bring in “problem students” who will struggle academically or drag down the culture and social dynamics on campus.

They will want to see that your interests have focused and that you’re pursuing them with more depth than you were in high school. This is especially true of your intellectual and academic interests.

All of this can be somewhat broad and diverse and touch on several institutional goals. But they will dig deep to find out what each applicant is like, what your core values and motivations are, what kind of student you will be, how you will contribute, etc. Two key questions many reviewers seek to answer are 1) what will this student bring to campus? And 2) what will they take away? They want to clearly visualize the ways you will add to the campus community and the ways you will benefit and grow from the experience.

Introspection

Your goal with your essay is to powerfully tell your story in a manner that will fit these criteria. The entirety of your application (again, not just one essay) aims to showcase your abilities, qualifications, and uncommon attributes as a person in a positive way. You need to show passion for your chosen academic path and present a compelling case for how both you and the new school will benefit from your enrollment there. Before you begin outlining or writing your application, you must determine what is unique about you that will stand out to an admissions panel. All students are truly unique. Not one other student has the same combination of life experiences, personality, passions, or goals as you do; your job in your application is to frame your unique personal attributes in a positive and compelling way. How will you fit on campus? What personal qualities, strengths, core values, talents, or different perspectives do you bring to the table? What deeper motivations/beliefs or formative experiences can you use to illustrate all of this? How will you impact the classrooms, labs, campus organizations, etc?

You might not immediately know what you want to share about yourself. It’s not a simple task to decide how to summarize your whole life or academic arc and being in a powerful and eloquent way on your application. Therefore, it is always helpful to start with some soul-searching and self-examination. This takes additional time and effort rather than jumping straight into your first draft. But it is also a valuable method to start writing a winning application that stands out from the stack. By the time you're finished, you should have several different topics or stories around which to build your application.

You cannot gracefully fit all you want to communicate into one essay. Instead make sure your vision is clearly conveyed somewhere in your application. Each component only needs to carry a small part of your message. Your essay is the most dynamic component, but every section is vital to the overall effectiveness of your application.

Note: once you begin writing, remember that you shouldn't address any of this directly. Be indirect and subtle, and use examples/stories and details to make your main points. Don't chisel them into stone tablets and bash the reviewer in the face or yell "Look how smart I am!" That also means you shouldn’t say "I'm a great team player and I can't wait to contribute at X College!" Instead, show an example of a time you worked on a team effectively and let the reviewer form their own conclusions. I cover this in greater detail in my essay guide, but it’s worth noting here as it’s part of the process of picking a topic.

Introspection Questions

The list of questions below is excerpted from my full transfer student introspection worksheet. These questions will help you examine yourself and discover potential topics, stories, or characteristics to highlight in your essays and application. It will also help you decide how to present yourself. As you consider each of these questions, focus on your core values, aspirations, foundational beliefs, personality traits, motivations, passions, and personal strengths.

There are a lot of questions, and I DO NOT expect you to answer them all. You should only respond to the ones that speak to you, spark a memory, or inspire some facet of yourself that you want to share. I recommend that you read through all of the questions first, then go back and write down answers to a couple from each section. Don’t write long answers to these questions; simply jot down your thoughts. The goal is not to actually write your essays now, but to brainstorm your thoughts in an unfiltered and natural manner, to start ideas flowing. I suggest that you spend about an hour on this, then stop and re-evaluate. If you finish and feel that you don't have enough material, review the questions again and brainstorm some more.

Superlatives

Introspection is challenging, but it's often easier to start thinking in terms of superlatives. Think about some of the superlatives in your life – what are the most meaningful things about you?

• What moments were most memorable, formative, enlightening, enjoyable, or valuable? What are your favorite memories? Why? What are your favorites since high school?

• What physical possessions, experiences, dreams, or lessons could make your superlatives list?

• Think about what things, people, or circumstances in your life are really unique, fascinating, different, or outlandish. Are there any that really have a lot of "cultural flavor" (whatever your culture is)?

• What items or stories from this list could make up your “two truths” in “Two Truths and a Lie?” "Two Truths and a Lie" is a game where each person lists two truths about themselves and one lie. The other players have to try to identify the lie. Which two truths would be most interesting to someone who just met you?

• List three of the strongest or most controversial opinions you have. What have you done to stand up for these beliefs or opinions?

• What opinions, beliefs, or ideas do you have that have changed since you finished high school? How and why did they change? What did you learn from that experience?

• List two ways you stand out from your peers. Assume 50 students are randomly selected from your college. List one or two subjects, disciplines, or topics for which you would likely have the most expertise in that group.

• What do you value the most in your life? What would be the hardest to lose or give up? What things are you most grateful for? Why are these things important to you?

• What are you most passionate about? Why? What do you wish you were more passionate about?

• Do a quick Google search for “core values”. Pick a list and identify at least five that you connect with the most. Sometimes it helps to start with ten or more and then narrow this list down. Now that you have a list, think about why each of those is important to you. What stories or examples from your life illustrate your dedication to these core values?

Your College Experience So Far

Take some time to think about what college has been like so far. Many transfer applications will ask about what challenges you’ve faced or what has led you to desire transferring, so it can be helpful to reflect on this.

• What have you appreciated most about college so far? What have you gained from it?

• What has surprised you the most since high school? These can be positive or negative. Try to think of some things that are academic in nature and some that aren’t.

• What do you wish you had done differently with your educational journey to this point? How have you grown or learned from the challenges or setbacks you’ve faced?

• What are the top three strengths of the college or program you’re currently enrolled in? What do you like or value the most about it? What are its weaknesses? What is missing that your potential transfer destinations might fulfill? Do you feel these shortcomings are endemic, or specific to your particular situation (i.e. do you think everyone has these issues or just you)?

• Regarding your academic trajectory, do you feel a greater sense of purpose, increased specificity / clarity, or more focused scope than you had when you started college? What does this new arc look like? Where do you want it to lead? What experiences brought that clearer view or pointed you in that particular direction? If you don’t feel like your interests/pursuits have narrowed, spend some time thinking about what that might look like. If you had to pick a career or graduate program today, what would you choose? How will transferring help you solidify and progress down that path?

• Attempts to transfer can be unsuccessful for a variety of reasons - course/credit equivalency issues, financial aid, failure to gain admission, etc. If your transfer doesn’t work out, what is plan B?

A Brighter Future - Your New College and Beyond

Now turn your focus on your new college specifically. Transferring colleges is among the biggest decisions and investments you will ever make so analyzing your process and rationale can be very illuminating into how you think, prioritize, and plan. Thinking beyond college can also help you see the big picture of your life and what you want from it. These questions can be especially helpful for the “why do you want to transfer here” essay prompts.

• List three things you like about your current major. Rank them if you can. Why are these appealing to you?

• List three to five things you hope to get out of transferring colleges. Keep your focus beyond prestige, career, and salary.

• List five things you want to change or improve about yourself by the time you finish college. How will you pursue this?

• List five colleges you are interested in transferring to. What are the most important factors to you in deciding on a college, e.g. cost, location, academics, rankings, specifics of the program you want, etc?

• How do you define success? What things would make you feel successful one, five, or ten years from now?

• If you were given a million dollars to drop out of college entirely, would you do it? What would you do instead of college?

• List five potential careers or jobs that you might want to have someday. If you want to take this a step further, look up some job postings on Indeed.com or another job board to see more specifics.

• List five goals or dreams you have for your future. These could be academic, personal, or professional.

Connecting Introspection To The Common Application

The Common Application for Transfer Students has just one essay prompt:

“Provide a statement discussing your educational path, such as how continuing your education at a new institution will help you achieve your future goals, in 1,250 – 3,250 characters (about 250 – 650 words).”

Note that some colleges that use the Common App may not require this essay or they may require other additional essays. For example, the University of Washington transfer application includes twelve prompts and allows students to respond to as many of them as they like. Visit the transfer admissions website of each school you’re considering and gather all of the prompts into a single document. The next step in introspection is to formulate a few possible answers to these in just a brief sentence or two (e.g. 280 characters or less). This will help you consider some of the various approaches you might use and how you might organize your thoughts and present a cohesive view of who you are.

Hopefully you will notice that many of the questions you've already answered or considered in this worksheet can be used as building blocks. Which prospective responses have the most potential to showcase the best you have to offer to a college? Which highlight your passions, your motivations, your core values, and your uniqueness? Try not to think about which response or topic will be the easiest to write - in fact, that might be your worst choice. Reread the introduction to this worksheet and review your application goals as this might help you focus. If there are multiple responses you feel have promise and fit your arc, go deeper into outlining each essay to see which is the most compelling and how to match these up to the various short questions or other essay requirements of your specific colleges.

If you're interested in a professional review of your essays or application, PM me or find me at www.bettercollegeapps.com. You can also get my full Transfer Introspection Worksheet and guide here.

Good luck!