<p>Hello everyone. I’m hoping to transfer from Loyola University Chicago to UW Madison and I’m looking for opinions on my essay. prompt and essay are as follows. </p>
<p>prompt:
Tell us why you decided to apply to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition, share with us the academic, extracurricular, or research opportunities you would take advantage of as a student. If applicable, provide details of any circumstance that could have had an impact on your academic performance and/or extracurricular involvement.</p>
<p>essay:
When I arrived at Loyola University Chicago I knew exactly what I was going to do with my life. I was going to pursue a career in advertising and marketing. I was going to live in the honors dormitory and meet new intellectual people. I was going to join the advertising club, try out for a men’s a cappella group, and perhaps play an intermural sport. College was going to be great.
But college wasn’t so great. I found myself lacking an identity. The relatively small school was swept up in the bustle of a city nearly 3 million people strong. I also found the honors program, advertising club, and my communications class to be disengaging and irrelevant. I was pursuing a degree in a field I didn’t really know anything about and when it didn’t work out as I had hoped, I became lethargic; my grades were not as good as they could have been.
I had one saving grace, however—political science. On a whim, I’d taken a course about international relations, and much to my surprise I found myself hooked. Each class was opened with a short discussion of current world-events and their impact on United States policy. I became an avid contributor to these discussions, whether they were about war, human rights, hunger, or any potential subject. My interest became even more evident in my papers and class debates, and best of all I was getting marks I could be proud of. I made it a goal to pursue politics further during the second semester. Now I’m taking a course in political theory and I’m enthralled. I’ve come to realize that political science is what I’d like to continue studying, but I’ve also realized Loyola is not the place to continue studying it.
Now that my ambitions have changed, so has my ideal university. Given the stellar political science program and location not even a five-minute walk away from the capital building, that ideal university is the University of Wisconsin Madison. Not only is UW Madison’s program nationally renowned, but also the opportunity for internship and real-world experience is incredible. The popularity of the major not only speaks to the excellence of the program, but also guarantees that I will find peers who share my interests.
But Madison is more than just the perfect academic match; it’s my ideal environment. I was born in Madison and raised outside of Milwaukee, so I’ve been rooting for the Badgers my entire life. As such, I have firsthand knowledge of the school spirit that fuels every Badger, and a fix to my lack of identity here in Chicago. Madison also offers a plethora of ways for me to continue my involvement with extracurricular activities such as music, whether via a wide range of class offerings in music theory or student organizations like the Electronic Music Production club.
Thanks to my new interest in political science, my drive to learn and succeed is at an all time high, and it is my belief that the University of Wisconsin Madison the very best institution to help me channel this energy into success.</p>