Dinner at the City Tavern Club

I woke up this morning a little earlier than I should have. I had enough time to pack up neatly with a lot of time to spare, so I found myself waiting down in the lobby. When everyone came down, we headed to the station and checked in our bags. We had nearly a full hour until our train arrived, so we grabbed breakfast at a store in the station and waited around for the train. We quickly boarded, which was easier without luggage to carry around, especially since I’ve been dealing with my broken bag. The train had some difficulties with the engine, I believe, so we departed much later than we should have.

When we arrived at Washington, D.C., we went to the baggage claim to retrieve our bags before we hailed cabs to our hotel, the Holiday Inn. We were able to check in early, and we went out for lunch soon after. We took the bus and walked to Chipotle, where I had a burrito. We were a little pressed for time since the train was late, so we didn’t bother with other restaurants. We walked over to the Georgetown campus soon after, and we found the location of the info session. After the info session, we had a tour.

I’ll spare you the details of the two and only focus on what I found significant about my visit overall. We learned that Georgetown was a Jesuit school that required two semesters of theology for graduation, though students of all sorts of denominations and faiths (or of none) enjoy their theology classes regardless. Georgetown is heavily influenced by its location in the nation’s capital; much of the programs that Georgetown offers are related to foreign affairs or politics. Georgetown has four schools like Penn, but the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Business were the only ones that interested me. Georgetown does not seem like the right place for those interested in engineering, unfortunately, because it lacks breadth in its engineering. Georgetown would be a great fit for those interested in international relations, politics, and health, though it isn’t the right place for me.

We ran into a little trouble with storms when our tour ended. It started to rain quite heavily, so we had to wait around for the rain to subside. We walked back to our hotel and got ready for dinner.

Waiting for the rain to end.

We took the bus to our venue (though there was a little extra walking, again). We went inside and found our private room, and we began to meet the students at tonight’s dinner. After everyone sat down, Mr. Mannix led the ceremonies and had everyone in the room give a brief introduction of themselves. I sat near a rising junior and a rising senior named Preston and Omika respectively. There were two others that sat near me, Adan and Jake, though they both had to leave early. I didn’t get a chance to speak to everyone at the table, though that made sense, considering the size of the group.

The conversations we had at dinner touched on so many different topics, ranging from fraternities to ice cream flavors! I must say, the students I sat near definitely sold me on the idea of joining a fraternity, because frats have so much networking potential! After all, a chapter of a frat is that—just a chapter. It’s connected to chapters across the nation, which means networking with individuals across the nation! I’m not particularly interested in the social frats; rather, the professional ones fit my desires much better. Another helpful piece of advice was to wait for financial packages until I truly make my decision in terms of colleges. If one college offers more money than another, it’s possible to use the offer to convince the other college to increase the amount of aid. Haggling for more financial aid will help significantly!

The Georgetown students were so enthusiastic and lively. It may have been the setting that gave a different vibe, but conversation felt so much better with these students. I told them that I wasn’t too interested in Georgetown because of the programs offered, and they were understanding and still offered plenty of advice.  Dinner with such amazing individuals was a great way to end the day.