Northwestern is a fabulous and highly-respected research university in the Chicago area and nestled on the banks of Lake Michigan. As a large university with equally large resources, Northwestern has become a sought after destination for transfers who want a combination of community and opportunity. They applications from students coming from 2-year and 4-year colleges, and successful applicants will have typically completed at least one full year of college before arriving at Northwestern. Unsurprisingly, the high demand for transfer also means that it isn’t easy to get in.

Northwestern received 4,045 applications for the and accepted 484, or 12%. The university offers transfer applicants an Early Decision option, which is extremely rare in the transfer application process, and we highly recommend pursuing it if Northwestern is high on your list of transfer possibilities. The ED deadline is March 2nd, right about when most transfer applications are due, and the Regular Decision deadline is April 1st.

When you apply to Northwestern you are required to select a single undergraduate school (or a ) that you would like to be considered for. You also need to select a major, but Northwestern is quick to explain that you won’t be stuck with what you pick. The Northwestern curriculum is built for exploration — even for transfers.

If you are applying to the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Education and Social Policy, or the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science you are able to click “undecided” for your major. However, we highly discourage this. When assessing transfers, Northwestern wants to see a sense of purpose and passion, paired with academic rigor. If you click “undecided,” you’re basically giving up on all three and shrugging.

To help you pull off an impressive application, we’ve broken down each of the essays and other key components below. The best help, though, and as always, is personal.

We help strong students transfer to impressive universities.  Learn More.

You’ve applied to college before, but this is a little different. When you applied as a high school senior colleges wanted to see direction and passion, but were more willing to assess you on your potential as opposed to what you’ve actually pulled off. Transfer applicants are measured differently. You’ve had college resources for a bit, and they want to see what you’ve done with them. Of course, where you would be transferring from matters a lot here. If you are looking to leave another large research university that’s very different from finishing up an Associates at a community college. Northwestern knows this and adjusts appropriately.

Now, let’s get into where you get to show the strength of your focus to the Northwestern admissions team: the essays.

THE TRANSFER ESSAYS

We want to be sure we’re considering your application in the context of your personal experiences: What aspects of your background (your identity, your school setting, your community, your household, etc.) have most shaped how you see yourself engaging in Northwestern’s community, be it academically, extracurricularly, culturally, politically, socially, or otherwise? (fewer than 300 words) 

This is a classic “why us” supplemental prompt with a special focus on community. The admissions office structured it this way on purpose. One of the things that is missing from many transfer applications is community. A student looking to transfer often feels disconnected from the community on campus, and maybe even shifts how they are engaging. So, if a student writes about something from high school here it can be a flag for admissions that they maybe haven’t worked to contribute to where they are now.

With this in mind, we recommend starting this supplement with a story about something about your background that is currently relevant and connects to building relationships with others now. This could be academic, but it doesn’t have to be. It could be responsibilities to your family that kept you close to home for the start of college, a learning experience that led to a new passion that you hope to pursue at Northwestern, or a way that you contribute to your community that could transfer over to the community on campus or in the local area. What’s most important, though, is that this is a story. It should have imagery, narrative, and even possibly dialog.

The purpose of the story is to ‘hook’ the reader, then you can go into how that experience (or what the example is emblematic of) shaped you.

Finally, the last 75-100 words should be dedicated to contributing to Northwestern. Give specific examples of campus clubs and organizations that you would join (and even grow to lead!). In the next supplement we will go into academics, so don’t try to squeeze that into this supplement.  

Please share with us why you would like to transfer to Northwestern. (fewer than 300 words)

There can be lots of reasons for transferring, but there is only one that is super important for Northwestern to know in this spot: academics. Ultimately, you could go nearly anywhere for a different social experience, climate, or dining experience (to be a bit hyperbolic). What Northwestern offers that they want to see you obsessing over is the academics. To be specific, your prospective major.  

In this essay, you should outline your path to your core academic interest, why your current school isn’t the right option for pursuing that path, and then why Northwestern is the best option. This should follow a narrative arc that goes from discovery to challenge, challenge to great promise and possibility. The challenge, of course, would be that where you are now won’t work for this interest or, at least, the specific niche you want to find yourself in.

Do your research before you start writing. Find at least two courses you would love to take, a professor or two you want to study under, and academic group or society that would fuel your exploration outside of the classroom. Being specific shows that you truly have done the work to identify Northwestern as your perfect fit.

We also know there may be information or qualities not covered in our supplemental questions that you see as important to your application. To that end, we welcome - but by no means expect - your submission of a personal essay or additional information in the Common Application, which you can upload via your Northwestern portal. 

This is an open-ended sort of anti-prompt that can prompt two responses that are both incorrect. Some people decide not to add anything — it’s optional anyway, right? Others go wild, submitting something akin to a 20 slide PowerPoint presentation on everything they have done in the past 10 years. Neither of those are good options. In fact, they are terrible.  

So, you do need to use the space, but you also need to be careful. We recommend submitting something that provides additional context to your application. This could be a research abstract, a published paper or essay, a creative project, or something else that illuminates who you are from another angle. Keep it short, though. There is no guarantee that the application readers will get to every word of this section, so concision is critical.

RESUME

The last supplemental section for Northwestern is the resume. We advise our students to take the same approach to the college resume as they take when applying for a job. When you apply for a job, you don’t pack your resume with everything you’ve ever done. Instead, you pick and choose, including what is most relevant and applicable for the job you are applying for. Here, the job is pursuing a particular academic path at Northwestern. In all, the resume should be one page. If you still have trouble making it fit, it may be a formatting issue. Templates are great, and toss bullet points in favor of one-sentence descriptions.

As you work on your application, remember that Northwestern is test-optional for transfer applicants as far as the SAT and ACT are concerned. If you have strong scores, though, send them. And if you are interested in the Northwestern Qatar campus, remember that it is a separate application (also on Common App).

Getting into a great school requires strong strategy, contact us to get yours.