Actual College Entrance Essay!

This is an actual essay written by a college applicant when he applied to 
colleges and universities.  The author of this essay, Hugh Gallagher, 
attended NYU in 1993.

3A.  Essay
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 for 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. 

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