Thursday, June 18, 2015

Hogwarts in Georgetown?

This morning we all went to the National Mall before our Georgetown University tour. We visited the World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Martin Luther King Jr, Memorial.
World War II Memorial
World War II Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln himself!
Lincoln's speech
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
Our Georgetown University tour started at 12:30 PM so we didn't have that much time to spend at the Mall. We took two taxis to Georgetown University because the seven of us couldn't fit into one.

Georgetown University is beautiful. It looks like Hogwarts. The buildings are huge and made of bricks and stone. I don't see many brick buildings in California because of the danger of earthquakes. There are huge trees everywhere and the land is hilly.
Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University
At the beginning of our tour, we were introduced to the school by Kelly Young. She talked about what the school admissions officers looked for, and the details of applying to the school. Georgetown suggests taking three SAT subject tests that relate to your desired field of study. I really think I'm going to apply to Georgetown. The location is perfect for me because there are Fortune 500 companies that hire Georgetown interns, and you can intern for the government as well. I am interested in business, even though I'm not sure what type yet. Being right in the middle of D.C. is a prime location for being able to hit the ground running in my future careers though. 

Georgetown University also offers a lot of great courses for business and politics. Both the location and the courses are perfect for those interested in business, although my other interest (sports medicine) isn't offered. Georgetown also has an equestrian team which is great for me, as well as a club soccer and ultimate frisbee teams. 

The only drawback to Georgetown is that it is really far away from the Bay Area and I do like colleges that are on the West Coast, such as UC Santa Cruz, which also offers business, soccer, frisbee, and an equestrian team. 

After our Georgetown tour, we took taxis to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Holocaust Museum was eye-opening. My World History class spent a solid month on the Holocaust, so I knew  the backstory and most of the information. The part that hit me the most were the personal quotes by Holocaust survivors, victims, and those who saw it first hand. Their descriptions were so raw and poignant, the words of people who had experienced the worst and spoke without reservation. 
Photos of Holocaust Victims


As we were leaving the Holocaust Museum, we were caught in a short and heavy downpour of rain. I love rain and I enjoyed it, although Thao eagerly took out her rain poncho to use as protection.

We returned to the hotel and had to quickly shower and change before heading to dinner at the City Tavern for dinner with Georgetown alums and students. 

The dinner with the alums was so informative and fun I didn't want to leave. I sat with Kevin, Joe, and Abby for dinner along with Justice. It was really great to talk to them because they had first hand experience with the college and their own experiences. It was really fun talking to Joe about the online newspaper he worked on, The Georgetown Heckler. We also discussed time travel, nuclear war, large fish, lizards, and pinkie fingers. Kevin was really informative about how welcoming the college is and how you can go in wanting to study one field of study, but end up studying something different because of the wide range of classes. Kevin also explained to us how Georgetown really is all about teaching its students to think about problems and approach questions and theories in different ways and think outside the box. I think that's really cool because everyone needs to see the world in a different light and not just have one opinion on everything because it's not that simple. Abby was really great because she talked about how Georgetown was a great community and how people would reach out to help others without any benefit to themselves. She recalled a story from when she was visiting the school before she was a student, and how she went up to a student to introduce herself. That student gave Abby her number and information and offered to help her with whatever she needed or to answer questions, which is so cool because it came at no benefit to her at all. This spirit of helping others seems to be a great theme at Georgetown University. 

Before visiting Georgetown University through the Ivy League Connection, I never thought about Georgetown University as a possible college, but after talking with students and alums I am really interested in how Georgetown offers opportunities for their students to give them a great start in their future careers. 

2 comments:

  1. I love the way ILC is inspiring you to think differently and think big!

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  2. Please tell me that “frisbee” is not high on your list of criteria for selecting a school.

    ReplyDelete