Keeping My Options Open

Today was a day devoted to Georgetown. We toured Georgetown University in the morning, ate Georgetown cupcakes in the afternoon, and dined with current and past Georgetown students later in the day.

We began our day by eating a warm and filling breakfast before our walk to Georgetown University. On our way there the usual humidity and heat still filled the air; however, there was plenty of wind which made the walk to Georgetown a lot easier.

When we arrived at the session, I noticed that it was nice and small. However, the speaker for this particular session seemed overly-rehearsed and everything he said about Georgetown didn’t seem convincing. Because of this, he did not make very much of a connection with all the students present; I mean hardly any one even asked any questions. A lot of the things he talked about also did not give me a clear view of Georgetown; he only skimmed through the surface of most of the topics. Many of the things he told us about, like programs and colleges within the university, were explained superficially.

However, some interesting components about Georgetown are that there are great interactive ways to learn in classroom. For example, there is a robot named GUS who basically is as healthy as a sickly 90 year-old man. To help GUS out, the medical students take care of him and do all sorts of things to make him feel better. I think this is really helpful for the students, and prepares them for a real patient someday.

Another thing Georgetown has is speakers, and lots of them. They always have famous and important speakers around to talk to the students about a long range of topics. The speakers include anyone from the Prime Minister of Spain to former President Bill Clinton. I think a person speaking to students like this is extremely helpful to them because it can inspire and motivate them about anything the current guest is talking about.

Georgetown also has great colleges that students can apply to. There are four schools that include Health Studies, Foreign Service, Business, and Georgetown College. Although all four are exceptional programs, with many choices within each, it is not simple to switch colleges. Also, it is not as liberal as I’d like, especially since students cannot take on majors in other colleges.

When we went on the tour at the university, I saw how beautiful the buildings were. All the buildings were modern-looking and made of brick. The campus reminded me of a huge, spotless high school; it was so – perfect looking. Also, the campus was small and easily accessible, making it easy to travel from class to class.

A Beautiful Building

A Classroom

Great View

After the tour, we all decided to go eat. One of the things we ate were these famous cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes. There is this show on TLC called D.C. Cupcakes where it is said that this place has the best-tasting cupcakes. Since they had such a good reputation, I wanted to try them for myself to see if they were that good. The line for the cupcakes was long and the sun was burning on my back but the Chocolate Birthday Cupcake was worth it. I mean, it wasn’t the best cupcake I’ve eaten but the buttercream frosting was absolutely delicious and I loved every bit of the soft and creamy frosting. The funny part is though, I hate frosting. To me, this proves that these cupcakes were pretty good. After eating we headed back to our room to get ready for our dinner at Peacock Café.

Once we arrived at the classy restaurant, we ordered our drinks and waited for our guests. It didn’t take too long and before long, we had a total of 6 current and past Georgetown students. I sat next to the mellow and down to earth student body president, Clara, and the friendly and intelligent undergrad, Hao. However, I did talk to all the guests throughout the dinner and learned a lot about their thoughts about Georgetown. In all honesty though, I learned a lot more through them than I did through the informational session and tour.

In Georgetown, you can actually still take classes in one major while majoring for another, which is a pretty cool thing you can do. Another helpful thing Georgetown offers is internships. There are many types of internships and there is a very high chance of having one. These internships help you in work experience and will aid you in your journey to find a job once out of the university. This would save a whole ton of time for me in my journey to find a job when I get older. These internships also help you make connections with other people as well.

Clara also told me about the great study abroad program Georgetown has. I have mentioned before that I am interested in this type of study; however, the difference with Georgetown is that you can make your own study abroad program. For instance, one of her friends was able to make a trip to Iceland and this fall, she and a few other students will be on their way to this beautiful country.

Hao then began telling me one of his favorite things about Georgetown – the teachers. He says that they usually work around the area and teach at the same time. All of them are very knowledgeable and are involved in the community and world. For example, one of his favorite teachers went on a week leave to help in the Korean hostage situation. When his teacher returned, Hao learned exactly what happened through his teacher, who experienced this first-hand.

Overall, the dinner was a success. I learned so much more during the dinner, than I did through the tour. One of the alums, Sean, who was president of the alumnus organization of Georgetown, also agreed that they needed to work on their plain tour. Anyway, I am glad I got to meet this wonderful group of people and I hope all goes well with their future plans.

Nevertheless, Georgetown still remains as an undecided university for me. They have many pros; from their teachers to the campus. However, I still feel that Georgetown is not completely suitable for me. One reason is because I did not feel an attraction with the school. I trust my instincts on this case; however that does not mean I absolutely won’t think about this again, and maybe my feelings will change later on.

In the end, Georgetown is a great school and I wouldn’t mind going here; even so, I would still like to keep my options open. The next college on our list is the University of Pennsylvania, the home of the Quakers.