Gushing, she stepped up to the microphone. “I just want to say that you’re the most gorgeous man on Earth,” one student said during the Q-and-A session following Bradley Cooper’s (COL ’97) speech to a packed Gaston Hall Thursday evening.

With interest running high and lines stretching all the way to Red Square, students who did not make the cut were diverted to the Intercultural Center auditorium for a live broadcast of the event.

Cooper, an actor known for his roles in The Hangover and Wedding Crashers, began the talk around 7 p.m. by detailing his acceptance to the university as a transfer student from Villanova.

“I had the greatest experience at Georgetown,” said Cooper, who was an English major in the honors program. “I do think it’s because I was rejected out of high school and I was devastated.”

Cooper described visiting the university while in high school and finding an idyllic college campus. “I swear to God Socrates was teaching in the corner, and there were tons of Frisbees and Golden Retrievers. All the women were from California,” he recalled. “And then I got rejected.”

Once accepted as a transfer student, Cooper said he was thrilled to join the ranks of his Georgetown peers.

He cited a recurring suspicion that he didn’t deserve his spot in the Class of 1997. Even when completing a rudimentary task such as a swipe of his GOCard, Cooper was unnerved by small errors. When the system rejected his motion, he explained he thought he had been found out. ‘

Cooper spoke about arguing with friends at other universities over Georgetown’s then-underwhelming ranking in U.S. News & World Report. He said he told his friends, “Hey, Georgetown doesn’t have an endowment because it’s a Jesuit university. [ ]… Northwestern? Please.”

Following Cooper’s speech, the evening quickly transitioned into a giggle-ridden Q-and-A session in which students asked Cooper anything they dared.

While one student asked Cooper for his water bottle – and retrieved it successfully – another requested he take his shirt off. Though Cooper declined, she persisted by asking for his sock. A third asked him to be her date to the Diplomatic Ball in the spring, a request Cooper respectfully declined. Nevertheless, he granted several hugs.

Asked to lend advice to the students present, Cooper emphasized the importance of possessing a willingness to fail. “Just fall on your face. Who cares? Really, it’s the only way you’re going to learn. The only way. God help you if you never fail.”

And Cooper certainly made an impression.

“Smart, sexy and from Georgetown . my dream man,” Alex McCue (SFS ’13) said.