Being vague on common app essay?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I’m trying to write my Why Transfer essay for the common app, but it’s hard to do it without mentioning the schools that I want to transfer to! I can’t find a way to be less specific about why I want to transfer without just writing everything I don’t like about my current school, but I don’t just want to badmouth. Like, I can’t write about how I love a certain city’s culture, since I’m applying to one school not in that city, and I can’t write about how I would benefit from being in a big school, since I’m applying to one smaller school. I’m not worried about not showing my interest, since I can do that in the “Why X School?” essay; I just want this essay to have a less dreary tone.</p>

<p>My essay has this format right now:
Hook/intro
Why I went to my current school
Why my current school is a bad academic fit
Why my current school is a bad social/location fit
What I can offer to other schools/conclusion</p>

<p>But it just seems so negative :frowning: The only sample essays I’ve found online are specific to one school, which seems so much easier! How are you guys dealing with this, and do you know where I could find some samples of this kind of “Why Transfer?” essay? Thanks!</p>

2

<p>My CA essays were sort of vague as well (although I made multiple CA copies and mentioned the specific schools in each). I was just very brief, while exceeding the 250 word minimum, and explained what kind of academic program and atmosphere I was looking for and what my goals were. I saved all of my really specific reasons for the supplement essays.</p>

3

<p>Although the CA gives you a warning about all main essays being the same, you can create different essay versions for submission to different schools, thus resolving your ‘big city’ type of problem.</p>