Georgetown Might Be For Me...Maybe

Arriving in Washington DC was a lot easier than Pennsylvania because we woke up at a reasonable time. I also got about an extra hour of sleep on the train. When we arrived at the Holiday Inn, we were able to go into our rooms right away and we had about an forty-five minutes before getting ready to get lunch. We decided to get lunch at Chipotle because it was just easier. I didn't really eat my lunch because my burrito got messed up but life goes on. 

After lunch, we headed down to Georgetown University for our Information session and tour. At first, the information session started out like any other, and nothing really stood out to me that made the school special. But there was one aspect about Georgetown that caught my attention in a bad way. It was a "catholic" school. The reason I was skeptical about this is because I'm generally more secular minded so hearing that it was a Catholic/Jesuit school sort of turned me off to the school. Even our tour guide tried telling us that even though the school was "Jesuit" on paper, it really wasn't like that on campus. He said that the school embraces all form of religion and that there's a place for everyone. But it was hard to believe what he was saying while there was a cross on almost every building and inside most rooms.

How many crosses can you count?

One really cool aspect of the school that I did appreciate was their Med School program. It was possible for a sophomore in Georgetown to also be in the school's Medical School at the same time without taking the MCAT. I though this was really interesting and it appealed to me because I'm not really a fan of tests either. However, the program is very competitive and requires the minimum GPA of 3.8 in order to even qualify. But the benefits that the program offers is definitely worth the hard work.

After our tour ended, we had to wait out the rain inside the Georgetown bookstore. It only took about twenty minutes but while we waited, we talked about our apprehensions about the school's theology based curriculum with Mr. Mannix.

Within an hour of getting back to our hotel rooms after the tour, we were at The City Tavern Club. It was this really fancy but comfortable setting. I had the Onglet Steak but my food was the least interesting aspect of the dinner. The dinner was so lively and natural that if you were an outsider looking in, you would probably think that we were all just old friends looking in. We hosted eight Georgetown students and one alumni. We all introduced ourselves which made things easier. I sat closer to Micheal, who was a rising sophomore in Georgetown. I thought he was so accomplished because he came from a family that didn't even consider out of state schools to be an option. He made the best of his situation and now he is working at Coach and still hears from his parents everyday. Leann, however, was a rising senior in the school of Nursing who was ready to take her MCAT. She had so much to say about Georgetown's Pre-med program and gave me some advice because that is the field that I am pursuing. I also sat next to Josie who was a rising Junior at Columbia who was studying International relations at Georgetown. She gave me a lot of useful advice for the SAT's which is coming up so soon for me. I was so grateful to be in the presence of such lively people, who had so much pride in their school. We were able to talk about sports during dinner, and I learned that almost everyone near me had played soccer at some point in their lives. I also learned that the social life in Georgetown was pretty simple. I became aware of the fact that you are going to make in friends in Georgetown but it was important to not be trapped in a bubble because there are so many people in Georgetown. The diversity is really there and it is what makes Georgetown special. We even touched on my apprehensions about religion playing a big role in Georgetown. They said that besides the two-semester theology requirements, you would never be able to tell that Georgetown was a Catholic/Jesuit school. The school was created in order to embrace different religions since the beginning, and that is one aspect of the school that is still there. 

Georgetown might be for me. I'm not completely sure, but I've learned that it is okay to not know sometimes. Micheal and Josie stressed the fact that finding the right college for you was all about research. Which means I will do more research about Georgetown before I can truly see myself making a life here. Besides that, I love being in DC, the sights are beautiful and I could get used to the weather. I can't wait to experience Fourth of July in DC tomorrow.