Author Archives: rajdeep.singh1

My experience here at Baruch has lived up to my expectations. Most of my teachers are very helpful and I’ve met a lot of interesting people here. I actually feel at home here, which is something I didn’t expect.

My first semester has gone fairly well, except for maybe math, which was always hard for me anyway. The workload isn’t too tough (if you don’t procrastinate.) I didn’t do that well in the beginning of the semester, so I’lol look to improve my GPA in the second semester.

If I could do this semester over again, I would definitely have studied for calc more and actually done my work in the beginning of the year. I would also have tried to stop procrastinating.

I think since I’ve started at Baruch, my work ethic has gotten a lot stronger. I find myself handing most of my assignments in on time (except the blogs for freshman seminar :/) Personally, though, I don’t think I’ve changed too much.

“What diversity means to me: An extra credit assignment.”

What is diversity?

I treasure diversity. Living in the most diverse county of the most diverse country in the world, and going to a diverse high school and one of the most diverse colleges in the country will do that to you.

Diversity, first and foremost I think, means understanding. Diversity without understanding leads to confusion and then dislike and hatred. In a country like America, one must recognize other cultures in order to properly communicate, understand, and live and coexist with them. What happens if this doesn’t happen?

You get situations resembling the one in lower Manhattan, where 9/11 families are protesting a planned community center, that they are calling a shrine to the Islamic terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center because the top two floors are devoted to a Muslim prayer space. You get situations resembling the one in Michigan a few years ago, when residents in several towns protested after Muslims were allowed to amplify their call to prayer five times a day. You get situations like the one out in Long Island where Latino immigrants are being harassed and assaulted.

So unless American citizens learn to truly understand and respect our diversity, we can never be able to enjoy it, and these problems will in fact grow worse, because we are only growing more diverse by the second.

Secondly, diversity for me means development, and by that I mean personal development and growth. I grew up in Richmond Hill, a community largely populated by Indians and West Indians, and I went to elementary school and middle school with the same. But going to the high school I went to really shaped who I was because of the diversity I experienced there. There weren’t just Indians, and West Indians, there were Asians, white people, black people, Hispanics, etc. And because there were only about 400 people in our school (and 100 in our grade), we were able to become a small community and enjoy our diversity more. For the first time in my life, I hung out with Asians. In eighth grade, I didn’t know where Flushing was, but when I was in high school, I was going there all the time to eat, or play basketball, or just to meet up and chill. So diversity is an important part of one’s development because it enables one to open up and experience things that he or she hasn’t experienced before.

Which brings me to my last point which is that diversity also means exploration. There is so much to discover, not just in New York, or even America, but the world. Different cultures, lifestyles, food, music, ideas, religion, etc; there are all these things to find, and none of them would exist without diversity! One could sit and accept his or her own culture/life and not attempt any exploration of diversity, but life would then be pretty bland.

Diversity is an important concept to me. It’s important to treasure diversity because, especially in a country such as America, it’s extremely important in shaping your life and helping you to discover who you really are.

Who am I?

I’m Rajdeep Chahal, 18 years old, and born and raised in Queens. I like playing sports and video games, getting to know new people, making new friends, and just hanging out. I like going to Baruch, but dislike having to get up at 6 in the morning some days.

My first concern with going to Baruch is the commute. The commute to high school took only ten to fifteen minutes, but for Baruch it will take around an hour, meaning there’s a lot more discipline involved in getting myself up and ready to go. Another concern is getting to know new people in Baruch. I have made a few friends, but I hope to meet a lot more people along the way. If anything, I could just chill with the FOURTEEN other kids from my high school who came to Baruch with me. The last concern is the workload. It’s not something totally new since I went to a specialized high school, and all the classes there were honors level, so we were pretty well prepared. But I’ll have to try to stop procrastinating and get work done on time.

 The biggest thing that distinguishes Baruch from my high school is the size, both of the building and the student body. My school had only 400 students in it, 100 per grade, and coming to Baruch for the first time gave me a weird sensation of being in a “regular high school”. The only other major difference would be the independence that comes with going to college, and being able to go to school in the heart of New York.

 I don’t know yet if I’ll change in during my time in Baruch. My high school experience was vital in shaping who I am today, so I don’t really think college would do much, but there’s still four years left.

Good morning everyone, I’m Rajdeep Chahal, if you didn’t know. I was born in Richmond Hill, Queens, and I went to Queens High School for the Sciences in Jamaica, Queens.

I’ve really been enjoying the experience in college. The biggest change for me between college and high school is how big the college is compared to high school. My high school had only 400 kids, 100 in each grade.It was all of one floor in a two story building on the York College campus, and we had to use the college Performing Arts center for events and the college gym for gym classes. Going from a school with 400 students to one with 13,000 students was a big transition.

Another transition to make was the one from a high school course load to a college one. In high school I was told that we would only have about 4 or 5 classes compared to 7 or 8 in high school, but it turns out there’s a lot of work in each class. I do feel a little more prepared for college by going to a high school in which every class was honors level, but I’ve got a lot of work to do here in college since I didn’t do too well in high school.

I love meeting new people, and I’ve had a lot of opportunities to make friends here at college. I love being around people and just hanging out, especially with the new friends I’ve made, but also with the old ones, including the 14 others that came to Baruch from my high school. I play basketball with friends in the gym often, go to Chinatown to eat during club hours, and I’m looking into clubs to join to meet even more people. So I hope to get to know all of you soon.