Congratulations! You’ve all finished your first week of college. Do you feel accomplished? I believe you should. For many, the first week of school is a very scary experience, because they are entering a new world, and for some people, they are entering this new world alone. As some of you may have realized, college is a different environment from High School. How many of you thought that college was going to be like this but your first experiences at Baruch turned out to be like this and this. What were your first days like?
I remember my first day of college. I walked into the Vertical Campus really nervous, and I thought to myself. ” I have to start all over”. What do you think I meant by this statement? In high school, I felt like I was bigger than the shows American Idol and America’s Best Dance Crew put together. I mean this in the most humblest and un-egotistical way possible ( I hope that made sense). Like now, in high school, I was involved in just about everything. I was Student Government Vice President, an National Honor Society Scholar, Lehman Brothers mentee, YWCA member and much more. When I say, I knew a lot of people, I literally knew everyone ranging from freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors to security guards, school aides, teachers, and the top administration. Even the principal knew me on a first name basis. I was one of the poster boys for Murry Bergtraum High School. Murry Bergtraum was a place where I knew, I would always be accepted. Just when I thought things were going perfect, my world came to an end…I graduated… I didn’t want to leave High School, I didn’t want to start over.
When entering into Baruch, I could have done two things:
1) Sit back and get lost in the crowd (after all, it is pretty easy. Baruch has more than 14,000 students or
2) I could jump, scream, and do cartwheels or
3) Put myself out there, try new things and meet new people…
As some of you may have guessed, I followed choice 3. Aside from taking my academics seriously, I wanted to take my social life just as serious. One of the things I did, was join Team Baruch. ( I strongly recommend all of you to consider it). Through Team Baruch, I applied to be an Orientation Leader, Freshmen Seminar Peer Mentor, and Peer for Careers. Through Team Baruch and these different positions, I was able to meet a lot of new people, ranging from students to administrators, learn more technical facts about the school, and most importantly, I gain confidence. The other night, I took trying new things a step further and I went to the Toga Party (My First College Party). It was really fun, and the energy was very positive. I guess what I’m trying to say is, college is what you make of it. College can be anything you want it to be. You have to pick and the choose paths, that will not only be right for you short term, but long term as well. Personally, I want Baruch to be the best years of my life, and I know for a fact, you want the same too. Do any of you want to take over Baruch with me?
What were your first thoughts. Were any of you scared, excited, or both? Did you have any expectations? What HW assignments do you have? Did you attend any of the welcome week events? If so, which ones? Did you join any clubs? How do you feel about the size of the school? Is this a positive or negative? Explain why?
Note: You don’t have to answer all of these questions, these are just conversation starters.
Over and Out,
Robert Smith
Peer Mentor
The transition from high school to college has felt weird. I was starting to feel very comfortable at my high school, then all of a sudden four years past by and know I’m at Baruch. Its the whole Big Fish, Little Pond, becoming a Small Fish, in a Big Pond.
I still have to get use the fact that instead of six classes a day I only have three and I get such long breaks in between my classes. I can’t wait to join some clubs.