A guide to embracing the application process

Incredibly, next Tuesday is the first day of November. For my part, I am thinking about how quickly the fall semester is moving, but for prospective students who are hoping to transfer for the spring semester, that date is looming as the deadline for spring admissions.

I still remember the process of putting together my application to transfer, and so I hope that my perspective helps any prospective students who may read this.

Just as with undergraduate admissions the first time around, it should be very clear by now that the personal statement is the most important part of your whole application. My best advice for this portion is to be yourself – truly. I think I wrote five or six versions of my personal statement before finally getting it right, because unsurprisingly, it can be very difficult to talk about yourself in a written voice that is recognizably your own after years of writing academic papers. The most comforting part of the personal statement is also the most intimidating part: you aren’t getting graded on anything more or less than what you bring to the table (read: campus) as a unique individual.

William & Mary students often talk with alternating degrees of pride and irritation about their identification with the idea of the “TWAMP” that sweeps across the campus and rests in the heart of every person who has graduated from here. The fact of the matter is though, that there is no actual cookie cutter “typical William & Mary person.” While there is certainly a common thread that runs through each of us (I like to think so anyway), we all are really quite different (perhaps this is what makes us all TWAMPs?). So, when writing your personal statement, don’t be tempted to show yourself in a certain light that you feel would make you appear to fit the TWAMP mold, because really, there isn’t just one.

The typical William & Mary person takes many forms, and one of the best ways to know if you should come here is by using your personal statement as a way to think critically about what it is that draws you to this school. For example, think about what you are passionate about: what drives you? What interests do you have that you would happily do without thinking about getting compensated? Or, if you don’t have concrete answers to any of those questions, talk about that! Because after all, William & Mary is a great place to find out what you want – and I can honestly say that I am a prime example of that. I came here planning on majoring in Art History, and in May I will graduate as a double major in English and Film and Media Studies. When I think about those academic choices now, they seem almost painfully obvious, but I simply did not know that coming in.

At the end of the day, your application should not cause you a lot of anxiety. Use it the way it is meant to be used – as a way to show the admission officers what you will bring to the William & Mary community. Everyone has a story, and whether you realize it or not, yours is interesting and unique. Don’t be afraid to be completely yourself – that is potentially the TWAMP-iest thing you could do.

-Megan Embrey ’17