Undergraduate / 'Machines, tubes, wheelchairs'. Georgetown short answer. [3]

In the space available discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved.

Machines, tubes, wheelchairs. Walking through the halls of Children's Hospital was depressing-until I met David. As a hospital volunteer, it's hard to see sick kids. I get emotional playing with the three year old girl, strapped down in her wheelchair, unable to move. I tear up when the little boy screams at the sight of the needle. I cringe when I see a tube sticking out of a toddler's mouth. And when I met David, who lived with a sac-like apparatus outside of his body, I felt the same way. I'm not sure exactly what was wrong with him. He had trouble speaking and walking, he breathed heavily and would always lift up his shirt to show me his impaired stomach. But seven year old David wasn't sad. He never complained. Each Friday he greeted me, at four p.m. sharp by the elevator on the third floor, holding his younger sister's hand just as all big brothers do. He would walk in, smiling, ready for the new day. It didn't matter that a bag protruded from his stomach, that he couldn't talk, that he was different. David was perfect and loved life. I haven't seen David for months. I'm not certain where he is now. But whenever I stand by the third floor elevator I'm reminded of his impactful presence. Because of David, walking through the halls is no longer depressing, it's inspirational.

Am I completely off track??

Undergraduate / 'My mom says I'm an overachiever.'; Georgetown supplement [2]

As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you.

I am approximately 536,112,000 seconds old-excluding leap years. And in those 536,112,000 seconds I've never been able to figure out exactly who I am.

My mom says I'm an overachiever. She says my perfectionist tendencies cause me to stress too much over the little things and not focus enough on the important things in life. She thinks I'm crazy for getting three hours of sleep a night, she thinks I'm crazy for spending so much time on schoolwork, soccer and volunteering. She thinks I'm crazy for trying to get our school to break a world record by participating in a music video to raise money for Children's Hospital. But she doesn't understand-that's who I am.

My dad says I'm a worrier. He says I need to relax and stop overworking myself. He doesn't understand that volunteering makes me happy. He doesn't realize that helping other people relinquishes some of the stresses of school and soccer, that tutoring Brandi at Whiz Kids makes me forget about my poor ACT score, the "B" I received on the calculus test, the goal I let in during the game against Mason High School. He doesn't understand that helping others helps me.

My friends say I'm perfect. They see my good grades, my involvement in extracurriculars and my athletic abilities and automatically assume that I'm flawless. They see my cheery and positive demeanor and think that I'm always happy. But they only see the superficial me. They don't see how I got to where I am today-the sleepless nights I spent worrying about school, the days I locked myself in my room and studied for hours on end trying to improve my math standardized test scores, the hours I spent rehabbing my knee to recover from two torn ACL's and anterior compartment syndrome. They don't see what happens behind the scenes. They see the smiles, the laughs, but they don't see the tears, the pain that exist within.

I say I'm esoteric. I'm nothing and everything at the same time. I put so much pressure on myself because I fear disappointment. I want to please people, I want to make them happy and if that means that I wear a mask to cover up my true feelings, then I'll do it. I don't know exactly who I am-that's just me.

But that's why Georgetown suits me. The students and professors are focused on research-they want to make discoveries, find cures, help others. I want to be involved in their revelations, I want to have an impact on others no matter what I decide to do.

And maybe, in the next 126,227,704 seconds that I'll spend at college, I'll also discover exactly who I am.