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- This is an actual essay written by a college applicant to NYU.
- The author was accepted and is now attending NYU.
-
- 3A. IN ORDER FOR THE ADMISSIONS STAFF OF OUR COLLEGE TO
- GET TO KNOW YOU, THE APPLICANT BETTER, WE ASK THAT YOU
- ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION:
-
- ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR
- ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO
- DEFINE YOU AS A PERSON?
-
-
- I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I
- have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making
- them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic
- slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time
- efficiently.
-
- Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.
-
- I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can
- pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook
- Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco,
- a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.
-
- Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly
- defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious
- army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am
- the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large
- suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays,
- after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.
-
- I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie.
- Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear.
- I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have
- been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I
- toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat
- 400.
-
- My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany
- circles. Children trust me.
-
- I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy.
- I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day
- and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I
- know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have
- performed several covert operations with the CIA. I sleep once a week;
- when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I
- successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small
- bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.
-
- I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On
- weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami.
- Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down.
- I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a
- toaster oven.
-
- I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan,
- cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the
- Kremlin.
-
- I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have
- spoken with Elvis.
-
- But I have not yet gone to college.