College
Application
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.