This was actually an essay written by a college applicant applying to
colleges/universities. The author of this essay, Hugh Gallagher,
now attends NYU
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 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.