UT Austin Submitted

By Johnny Fuery ⋅ January 4, 2007 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

I took the “open-ended” section from my Davis app and used that as my personal statement. For the “friend I hope to meet” question, I submitted this.

Fire in the hole!

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The primary reason I want to be a Longhorn is to rediscover the youth I never had. The friends I hope to make at the University of Texas will be optimistic about the world and their place in it, ambitious about experiencing everything life has to offer, and have the wisdom to savor the tapestry of existence from moment to moment.

I’ve lived and learned a great deal in my short number of years on the planet. My many experiences, on both sides of the socioeconomic divide, as both an adolescent and adult, offer an unparalleled perspective. I know, intimately, the details of adult life, with all of its struggles and triumphs, hopes and disappointments, smiles and tears. I know what 80-plus hour workweeks feel like, just as I know the satisfaction of completing that week and enjoying - truly enjoying - the well-deserved respite that follows.

Yet, I am still young enough to also assimilate seamlessly into university life. I expect to be looked upon as an equal, with all of the normal social anxieties every new transfer student faces and ultimately masters. I am the contradiction, bridging the gap between the juggling act of adult life and the focus, comparatively speaking, of term papers and office hours.

However ironic it may sound, I hope to meet, see the world through the eyes of, and be both inspired and accepted by the proverbial boy or girl next door.

Such a student and friend would have both the academic wherewithal and the common sense to describe the world in terms I relate to, yet offer the “normal” perspective so different from my own. Just as I would hope to convey the struggles of growing up alone, or facing gun violence, or assimilating into corporate life, I want to vicariously absorb the nuances of coming of age in middle class America. I desire to learn how a high school student decides to run for student body president, what goes into that decision, and where it leads them. What is it like to play high school sports? How does one approach life differently when they have lots of parental support? How does where one grows up, both geographically and socioeconomically, effect the big decisions one makes regarding career, life purpose, and even, perhaps just as poignantly, less striking issues, such as style of dress, colloquialisms, and musical preferences?

Furthermore, I think that the peers I’m alluding to will be afraid of what lies ahead, of making that final transition into adulthood after graduating from college, when they first, gingerly, leave the nest completely unassisted. I want to empathize with even that seemingly unpleasant sensation, for I grew up too quickly and at too young an age to ever have known that fear. At 15, I was so naive, in fact, that I didn’t know how easily I could have failed.

I think that sharing notes and bumping elbows with these younger peers will put me in better touch with my own humanity, helping me to grow and progress in ways I cannot even comprehend at this point in my life’s journey.