[krackers]

Actually I think for transferring the "why us" essay is fine, mainly because you're transferring for some specific reason and the "why us" essay just allows you to reflect on that reason and whether the new university will truly be any better than the one you're switching out of.

[wolfgke]

Consider the opportunity cost involved in writing such an essay: The time you invest to write such an essay cannot be invested into much more important things.

[Bartweiss]

This is actively the point of college admission essays, though. Especially for post-high-school applications, each student only has enough time to write and edit so many essays, so requiring college-specific essays keeps applications-per-student lower. That raises enrollment rates per acceptance, which helps colleges manage the size of their income class.

The Common App didn't save time for most students, it let them do more applications via the same number of essays. So yeah - those essays exist as a transaction cost to weed out the uncommitted.