Entering Our Nation's Capital

Around 11:00 AM we arrived at our final destination before Vanderbilt: Washington D.C. Unfortunately, our train was delayed. Therefore, we had to rush to eat dinner. After we checked in at Holiday Inn, we took the Circulator to look for food. We decided to have lunch at Chipotle.

This is our new hotel room at Holiday Inn.

We then walked over to Georgetown University. We started with the information session. We received information about the schools's different programs. The four different schools they have are the Georgetown College, the Walsh School of Foreign Service, the McDonough School of Business, and School of Nursing and Health Studies. They do not have a pre-med program, but they do have a pre-med concentration. I thought that was very interesting because you can major in anything, but still have a pre-med concentration. I was also intrigued by the Nursing School's permanent patient named GUS. GUS is a robot that has been programmed to show any type of disease as a human would. This allows students to understand what it would be like if they were dealing with an actual patient. From the information session, I also learned that Georgetown has a different application process.

This is a view of Washington D.C. from the top of Georgetown University.

Later on we took a tour around the campus. I learned about some of the traditions of Georgetown. The story goes that a student from Georgetown had started painting the Georgetown seal on the steps outside the building; however, he was not able to finish the seal because he was dropped out. Therefore, if a prospective student steps on the seal, he or she will not be accepted to Georgetown. Even though the tour guide told us, I still absent-mindedly stepped on the seal. Despite this incident, I am still considering applying to Georgetown. Another interesting tradition is that seniors steal the clock hands from the clock tower and mail them to the person they want to come to their graduation. We also looked at the different dorm rooms. I was surprised that Georgetown has an online site for choosing roommates because most colleges randomly assign roommates. I really like the idea of finding a roommate who has similar preferences because it makes dorm life more comfortable. 

This building reflects the architectural style of Georgetown University.

We ended the day by having a fancy at the City Tavern Club with students from Georgetown University. I discovered that the City Tavern Club used to be a favorite dinner place for John Adams when he would visit Washington D.C. We had a great and exciting time. There were nine students from Georgetown in all. One of the students -Adan- was doing an internship at the White House. I was seated in between the president of the student body Trevor and the vice president Omika. After everyone arrived, we went around the table and introduced each other. I learned that Omika's family is also from India which allowed me to relate to her. I was able to clear some of the questions that I had. At first I had thought Georgetown was heavily religious-affiliated. However, all the students persuaded me that religion does not play a role in Georgetown's education. I also learned about an interesting feature of Georgetown's medical program. In their sophomore year, students can apply to Georgetown's medical school; if they qualify, they do not have to take the MCAT. I found that to be one of the highlights of Georgetown. 

Besides learning about Georgetown, I received useful advice from the students. We drifted into the topic of "ego-drop", which is when students feel discouraged their first semester because they are going through a large amount of stress. Josie- a rising junior- used a great analogy. She told us to think of college as similar to swimming. If you swim in your lane and concentrate only on reaching the end, then you can accomplish anything. However, if you start looking at other people's lane, then you will lose track of your own goal and it will put you behind. I found this to be very inspirational.

I really enjoyed Georgetown's tour as well as the dinner. Although I enjoyed touring Columbia and University of Pennsylvania , I think Georgetown satisfies my needs the most. It has a great medical program, and the students have a tremendous amount of spirit.