In this article, we’ll cover some of the successful Cornell transfer essay examples for the 2022 application cycle. These were essays we consulted and helped work on with a client of ours. They managed to use these to help get accepted into Cornell.
Before we get to the examples, though, we think it’s important to cover our client’s stats.
Applicant Stats
- GPA: 4.0
- Intended School: Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management
- Extracurriculars:
- Started their own small business
- Online marketing and PPC ads strategy internship at a startup
- Worked at a hardware store
- Language courses and completion program abroad.
- Special Circumstances: Major gap in academic career between high school and college due to personal travel project.
We believe this is important to discuss the applicant’s stats prior to the Cornell transfer essay examples because they serve as a good marker for what it takes to get in.
Note: You do not need to be as competitive or more competitive than the applicant we put above. This is simply an example of what kind of student typically gets accepted if their essays are solid.
It’s also important to note that this student had an unusual circumstance in their transcript. Particularly, the applicant had a major gap of time between high school and the first year of college. This is because they took the time to conduct their own shoestring travel project. It’s a fair reason; however, instances like these need to be clarified to admissions officers.
Students sometimes come to us asking whether their gap years or other unusual circumstances in their transcripts will be disadvantageous. In truth, it can be. However, it can more often than not be explained away in the essays or in an email to the undergraduate office of admissions. In fact, sometimes unusual circumstances can actually be turned around to work in one’s favor. In this instance, the applicant used the gap year from their experience conducting their own travel project as a way of showing emotional and intellectual maturity in their essays.
So, just because you have something weird in your transcript doesn’t mean it’s always bad. And, if you’re smart, you can sometimes leverage your quirks into advantages in application essays.
With that said, let’s get right to the Cornell transfer essay examples. In this guide, we’ll show you what our client wrote to get accepted plus an analysis of what made the essays effective.
Table of Contents
- Cornell Why Us Transfer Essay Prompt
- Cornell Why Us Transfer Example Essay That Worked
- Cornell Continued Education Transfer Essay Prompt
- Cornell Continued Education Transfer Essay Example That Worked
- What Made These Essays Strong?
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Cornell Why Us Transfer Essay Prompt
Tell us what you’d like to major in at Cornell, and why or how your past academic or work experience influenced your decision, and how transferring to Cornell would further your academic interests. Responses should be no longer than 3000 characters.
Cornell Why Us Transfer Example Essay That Worked
“‘Water for sale! Cheaper here than inside!’
It’s no surprise that, while standing outside of stadiums in the Bay Area hustling water, I am in my happy place. After all, I am doing what I love most: business.
Over the past six years, I’ve fine-tuned this operation and amassed over $53,000, 80% of which is thoughtfully invested in stocks, and the rest in a shoe-string travel budget.
It wasn’t until my internship at Imperfect Foods that my work experience started to expand my perspective on the true influence business can have on bettering the world. I collaborated with their marketing department to help broadcast their mission: to prevent waste by selling “cosmetically quirky” foods which never made it to grocery stores.
Working at Imperfect Foods rewired my perspective on business entirely. It ignited my faith that business done right can truly make a positive impact on the world. This newfound perspective inspired me to pursue Cornell, as its similar philosophy on cultivating business for global change would be the ideal academic cornerstone of my vision to create something truly impactful.
In particular, I’d like to major in Applied Economics and Management with a concentration on International Trade and Development. Courses such as AEM 4450: Toward a Sustainable Global Food System: Food Policy for Developing Countries builds off the vision I was passionate about at Imperfect Foods. I will translate what I will learn at Cornell about sustainable food solutions into my projects to create a positive impact on developing nations. I would also love to learn more from the course instructor, Professor Prabhu Pingali. His vast experience with international affairs in agricultural development is inspirational, and I’d like to learn from him when forging my future global projects.
Furthermore, I’d like to apply for the SMART program to involve myself in international communities with a passion for global development. I would love to use the program to collaborate with the philanthropic Cornell community, learn from multiple perspectives, and prepare for my ambitious aspirations.
Dyson’s unique Grand Challenges curriculum also helps move my academic interests beyond the theoretical through courses such as AEM 3385 Social Entrepreneurship Practicum: Anabel’s Grocery. This hands-on learning experience would prepare me to become a successful social entrepreneur who can make a difference.
Utilizing Cornell’s rigorous education built on tackling societal problems, I would work towards my ultimate dream of catalyzing a worldwide impact. An impact much greater than anything I could do on my own. An impact greater than myself.“
Cornell Why Us Transfer Essay That Worked
Cornell Continued Education Transfer Essay Prompt
Please provide a 1,250-3,250 character statement discussing your educational path (approx. 250 – 650 words). How does continuing your education at a new institution help you achieve your future goals?
Cornell Continued Education Transfer Essay Example That Worked
“I rush into the nearest run-down coffee shop, order in Spanish, and fumble to connect to my Zoom class. Me. Grainy audio. Iced coffee. A view of the sleepy, burning Mexican desert.
My educational path as a digital nomad was nothing short of unconventional. I signed into classes from medinas in Morocco. My “dorm” was a cave in Turkey, or a host family’s house in Nicaragua. My “clubs” involved scuba diving in Honduras and learning to meditate from monks in Thailand. My “commute” involved camel-riding through the Sahara with Berber nomads and taking public buses through Central America next to livestock.
I’m eternally grateful to have supplemented my online education with real-world cultural experiences. Self-funded solo traveling with no external program was a chapter I’ve always cherished.
However, I’m ready for a new chapter. I’m ready to expand my educational path.
As a traveler, student, and business person, I always braved the road less taken. In doing so, I manifested a new mindset.
I embraced failure.
This was the quintessential element of my educational and personal career. What people don’t see from my digital nomad life are the missteps: the conversations lost in translation, the late-night classes accommodating time zones, and the business ventures that failed to meet ROI.
But, failure often preceded success.
With more experience, I’ve become braver when treading unknown waters. I came back from my travels moved by the levels of inequality and poverty; it inspired me to pursue social entrepreneurship as an antidote to global inequity.
This led to Business Without Borders (BWB): a consulting group I created that collaborates with family-run small businesses around the world, like those I’ve engaged with on my travels. BWB provides services to those most overlooked to promote global equity, especially in developing countries. However, I’m no stranger to failure. BWB is an ambitious project and I would be naive to think it wouldn’t come without pitfalls and obstacles.
Thus, I would like to attend Cornell to nurture the proper disposition needed to tackle my ambitious visions.
Cornell’s tight-knit community and culture of camaraderie would empower me throughout the struggles. The entrepreneurial, hustle-positive culture creates a space that allows failure in hopes of achieving greater innovations.
In addition, the academic breadth of Cornell’s curriculum ensures I’m not narrow-minded on one business dimension. The exposure to other business principles and academic fields will expand my depth of learning.
On a broader scale, I plan to attend Cornell to learn how to make a positive impact on disadvantaged communities. Cornell’s commitment to teaching positive social change would parallel my aspirations for closing global disparity.
If taking my college Zoom classes across 18 countries and 123 cities taught me anything, it’s that being an entrepreneur and a student comes with failures I must accept and learn from. To succeed as both, I will need the worldly curriculum and collaborative companionship at Cornell to spearhead an international initiative with tempered passion and daring humility.“
Cornell Continued Education Transfer Essay That Worked
What Made These Essays Strong?
The Cornell transfer essays aren’t easy to write. In fact, when we worked on them with our client, it took a lot of consulting and editing to finalize these pieces to their completed final draft. More often than not, if you’re applying to Cornell, you probably have a few other highly competitive schools on your list. If so, consider getting expert college admissions consulting and editing services to ensure you submit only your best.
Though, if you want to know what constitutes a strong set of Cornell transfer essays, we’ve also compiled four characteristics of the example essays that we think made them strong. Keep these traits in mind when brainstorming and writing your Cornell essays.
Now, let’s cover four elements found in these essays that made them fantastic Cornell transfer essay examples.
Appealing to Cornell’s Moral Standards
Cornell’s Dyson School takes moral character very seriously. Check out what they have to say about their school and its priorities in the description below.
“Dyson is home to a diverse, distinguished faculty and brilliant students. Their collaborative spirit and drive to make the world a better place fuels this vibrant learning community. It’s a place where ground-breaking research happens, where real-world problems are solved in real-time, and where students gain a solid business foundation and the practical skills to put their knowledge and know-how into immediate action. At Dyson, today’s business students are tomorrow’s global innovators and leaders. The Dyson community demand to leave their world better than they found it. They tackle real global challenges, and they’re ready to make an impact.”
Cornell Dyson Official Webite
Now, not everyone is going to be applying for Dyson. This was just for our client in particular. If you’re not applying to Dyson, you should be appealing to the respective school you’re applying for.
In our client’s case, they needed to appeal to Dyson and its desired class. So, they connected their desire for entrepreneurship and business to make a better world with Cornell’s moral standards. The Dyson school demands to leave the world better than they found it. Our client used this as leverage in their essays.
For instance, take a look at this part of the second essay.
“Cornell’s commitment to teaching positive social change would parallel my aspirations for closing global disparity“
This is useful because the desire for an equitable future worldwide that minimizes disparity would align well with Dyson’s priorities.
When showing a parallel between your goals and Cornell’s you are showing the admissions officers that you are aiming at a direction that would mutually benefit the both of you.
There are many applicants who are perfectly qualified for Cornell and can academically perform in its hyper-competitive community. However, demonstrating your fit for the school by having similar aspirations is a fantastic way of showing Cornell that you’re a great asset to the school beyond just academic performance.
Generous Spacing Between Paragraphs
One of the biggest contributing factors to streamlined reading is proper spacing between paragraphs.
This sounds obvious, but improper spacing happens more than you think. We have many clients and students come to us with their rough drafts and, more often than not, they’re not spaced properly.
Mostly, students come to us with large blocks of text. This is usually not good.
You need to segregate your text into multiple-spaced-out paragraphs to help admissions officers read and analyze your points seamlessly. If they’re not properly spaced, readers may have to deconstruct a large block of text, thus making it harder for them to properly assess you.
You also want to provide enough paragraphs that are short so that the admissions officers can read each individual point you’re making without losing track. It’s easy for the admissions office to lose track or be disorganized with your writing if it’s spaced oddly or if one paragraph has more ideas than it can chew.
We recommend segregating the whole essay into individual short paragraphs, with each one indicating the transition into a new idea. So, take the second essay for example.
“…I’m eternally grateful to have supplemented my online education with real-world cultural experiences. Self-funded solo traveling with no external program was a chapter I’ve always cherished.
However, I’m ready for a new chapter. I’m ready to expand my educational path.
As a traveler, student, and business person, I always braved the road less taken. In doing so, I manifested a new mindset.Cornell Transfer essay second paragraph
I embraced failure...”
Notice that the paragraphs here can technically be bonded into one whole paragraph. However, we’ve chosen against that and separated them into individual paragraphs. Moving from recognizing privileges to desiring a new chapter in life, to taking the road less taken, to developing a new mindset is a major jump in topics. Lots of things happen in these paragraphs, even if the word count is small. So, even if you’re using few words, you’ll need to separate your paragraphs by the chances that occur.
Of course, you don’t always have to do this. You only really need to have good spacing that is spaced out enough that the admissions officers can conceptualize what you say in a streamlined manner. It doesn’t need to be perfect, they simply need the ease of access to analyze your text seamlessly. So, don’t use large blocks of text.
Cornell is Critical to YOUR Definition of Success
When we spoke with our client about what they wanted out of a business education at Cornell, they said they wanted to have the traditional education experience they didn’t have as a traveling online learner. But, they also mentioned that they wanted to pursue the good that can be found in the world of business.
This does not mean the money and fame; but, it means that they looked forward to upholding the moral virtues that came with entrepreneurship. The world of business has the power of providing help to the disadvantaged and underserved in one’s community. That was something that they aspired for and found inspiration in.
Everyone’s definition of success may be different. If you’re also a business major, maybe your inspiration and desire for success mean making a big impact on an industry that you’re passionate about. Or, maybe you want to fulfill the tradition in your family of running a business that grows with every generation. Perhaps you’re not planning on applying to Cornell for business, and instead, you have another major in mind. That’s okay too! You simply need to clarify what success in your own definition is.
To our client, success in their field of business meant contributing something big in the world of social entrepreneurship. They wanted to conduct projects that would use the power of business for good, not greed. Clarify what your own definition of success is in your intended major; then, capitalize on it by writing how Cornell and its resources can help you fulfill that specific definition of success.
Show Humility; Admit Naivety
Despite Cornell being a T20 school, one of the best things you can do for top-tier schools like these is to demonstrate humility for your achievements.
We’re going to be transparent here. You need to be at the top percentile of academic performance, extracurriculars, test scores, and many more metrics across the board in order to have a strong chance of getting accepted into an elite school. Now, to even be qualified for schools like these, you’re probably already groomed for success wheresoever life takes you.
We’ve seen many students who fit these criteria. Perfect T20 school fit. Perfect performance. Groomed for success. As a result, they’ve garnered a large ego to come with it.
So, it’s quite a surprise when we tell Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs who feel overshadowed by their parents and their achievements that they need to take this time to show humility.
“Really? After all this? I need to show that I don’t really know everything? Wasn’t this supposed to be the time to show off everything that I’ve learned and worked for?”
Yes, it’s true that the college admissions and essays process is a moment for you to shine your greatest traits and attributes. However, you should also consider that most people applying at the undergrad level are anywhere between 18-22 years old (with some exceptions). Most people at this age range are naive and need to show humility, that includes the prodigies groomed for success.
Why is that? Well, that’s because this is Cornell.
Cornell, like many other institutions, is a place of higher learning for those who have the aptitude, grit, and potential to learn. So, what good is someone who already knows everything? If you started your own online SaaS business and generate .5 million ARR, but that’s the extent of your desire to learn and develop, then there’s no point in going to Cornell.
But, if you’re talented and inspired, yet you still feel like you have much to learn to develop both your character and skills for the future, then Cornell is a great fit. You can’t really do this without having the humility to admit to yourself and the admissions officers that you have much to learn from them.
Showing humility and grace in your ability also shows that you have the proper growth mindset Cornell needs in its students to produce conscientious world-changers who can make a significant difference. Cornell will be judging not just the achievements you show in the admissions essays, but your character as well. So, demonstrating your humility and honesty will go a long way in showing admissions officers your maturity.
If you’re not confident about the quality of your Cornell transfer essays, don’t be afraid to contact us for a free 30-minute phone consultation. Cornell receives perfect 4.0 students far too often. So, distinguishing yourself in the college essay section is crucial to competitive schools like Cornell which are vying for unique and special students. Our college admissions essay editors and advisors are experts in helping students do exactly that: write and edit essays that stand out amongst the sea of other perfect students.