Author Archives: sally.liang

Based on my experience at Baruch College, I felt that it has lived up to my expectations. As a high school student, I often thought that college would not be as hectic. There would be a lot more gaps in between classes, instead of that 5 minute break to run from one class to another. I also thought that being a college student would promote one’s sense of self independence and the ability to juggle one’s work load more efficiently. So far, these expectations have all been met, especially as the semester draws to a close. These gaps helped give me a break after long lectures, although at times, I do feel that some of these breaks are longer than I had expected. Being in college made me realize that we have to do everything ourselves and can’t keep relying on others to do them for you, and so in a sense, I became more independent. As for the workload, I expected the workload to be far greater than in high school, but now and again, I would still have trouble keeping up with it. Hence, my expectations have been met, but at times, I still needed to make adjustments.

I think my first semester went pretty well after I became adjusted to the environment of the school. So far, I do not think I am doing badly in my classes, but there are times when I know I could have done better. I felt that my first semester at Baruch College gave me an idea of what the rest of my experiences would be like and I think that is a good thing. It helped prepare me for what I should expect in the future and hopefully, this would reflect positively in my grades.

If I can do my first semester all over again, I would definitely stop my habit of procrastinating sooner. During the first few weeks of college, there weren’t much work and this gave me the notion that there really is not much work during the first year of college. However, when work started piling up towards the middle and end of the semester, I realized quickly how off I was. If I had gotten rid of the lingering effects of senioritis and my procrastinating habits, I would have been more prepared instead of feeling like I’m playing catch up all the time. Another thing is I would have chosen a different schedule, one that would not have such big gaps between classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. This is because at times, I feel frustrated that I have to be in school and wait two hours or so for my next class to begin, while I can be somewhere doing something.  

I do not think I have changed much since being in Baruch, although I have to say, I became more opened to the opinions flowing around me. I find myself learning more by just observing people and hearing what they have to say instead of sticking to certain facts and not budging on my view of them. I have not changed much in other aspects of my life, although anything can happen in the future.

Hi! My name is Sally Liang. I identify myself as a young adult who tries to make the best out of everyday. In my life, the most important role that I play is being a college student. As a college student, my first priority is schoolwork. When I first entered college, I tried to get rid of my procrastinating habits and finish my work ahead of time, but it didn’t exactly happen during the first few weeks of school. It is getting better though.

What I like best about myself is when I start something; I always try to finish it. Sometimes, I would run out of patience and be on the verge of giving up, but in the end, I will always go back to it. One example of this would be when I first learned how to play sudoku. On my first attempt, I tried plugging in numbers for about an hour and still I couldn’t solve it. My eyes were getting blurry from looking at the numbers and I was just running out of patience. At that time, I did give up on it, and left it alone for a while, but my mind kept going back to that one game. Finally, I just restarted the soduku all over again. It took me even longer, but in the end, I got it. I guess I integrated this habit of mine into my daily life too.

My personal motto is you should always finish one thing before you start doing something else. This is only because I don’t like multitasking. When I multitask, I can never finish both things. I find that when I multitask, it actually takes longer to complete them, as oppose to doing one thing at a time. One classic example would be doing homework while watching TV. The homework may take me only an hour to complete, but when I watch TV, it takes three or four hours. In addition to this, I was rushing through it, so the quality is not as good.

The thing I enjoy most is traveling, but sadly, I do not do this often enough. Traveling makes me happy because I like the anticipation of what I will see when I get to a new place. I like to get out of the city and see something other than tall skyscrapers and feeling the rush of New York City. I like it when I am at a place where everything just slows down. A couple of years ago, I went to Texas and I found this in Texas. The streets were practically empty, except for cars. You can maybe see three people on the street at one time. During the evening, I went to the nearby lake and there were a lot of people just strolling and relaxing near the banks of the water. It was just so different from New York because the atmosphere was so much lighter and stress free.

A very distinct memory of when I felt empowered was on the ride to take the specialized high school exam. On that day, my uncle was driving my cousin and me to take the test. At that time, I think my uncle was actually more nervous about the test than we were because he kept asking us what we need help on. He even brought along a practice book to show us how to do a certain math problem. As we were getting off from the car, he encouraged us to do our best and kept telling us that we can get into one of the seven specialized high school. After the test, I got a major headache, but a few months later, I found out that I got into Tech. Then, four years later, I am here at Baruch. 

When I first got into Baruch, I was intimated by the school itself. It might sound surprising, considering I came from a big high school, Brooklyn tech with its nine and plus floors, but I guess it just seem bigger because I was unfamiliar with everything. At first, I felt that it was a lot to take in, but gradually, I assimilated into the school. I finally got used to my schedule; know where I am supposed to be at and that feeling of being “lost” went away. My biggest challenge right now is managing my time. I feel that this is the time where work starts piling up and I just need to get rid of procrastinating habit. If I can manage to do that, then I think I will do fine in college.

My favorite monologue would have to be Lucas. Although he was the first one to go up, he still manage to get a few chuckles out of the crowd. I liked the part where he says his house straddles two places at once. I thought that was pretty cool and also the part about hunting for ghosts.

1. Hi! My name is Sally Liang. I am just an ordinary girl trying to find my way in my first year of college. I am considered to be supportive and loyal to all my friends. In return, I expect the same from them. School wise, I am dedicated, but somehow, I became friends with procrastination during the last few months of senior year. This is a habit I hope to change in college.

2. There are some concerns I have as a freshman in Baruch. The first one would be keeping up my grades in every class. I know that as long as I work hard and keep up with my work, I would do well, but nonetheless college is different from high school. I feel that I have to bring in more as a college student. My second concern is food. In high school, I have free lunch and I never have to worry about going hungry. Now, I have to find ways to eat lunch without spending too much money and the only way I can think of now is bringing something from home. My third concern would be trying to get rid of my procrastinating habits. I developed this during senior year and I need to get rid of it if I want to keep up with my grades.  

3. The fact that my classes start at different times makes my Baruch College experience different from my high school experience already. During my senior year, I had a first period class and the teacher would always say that classes should start as late as 9 O’clock because then people would not be coming in late or falling asleep. I start class the earliest at 8:40 am., but that is only twice a week. I start class close to the afternoon on the other days. I feel less tired and was able to concentrate more in class during these days. Also, the big class size makes my Baruch College experience different. When I am in a class with a hundred or so people in it, I feel that there are a lot more opinions going around as opposed to a class of 20 or 30 people.

4. I think my first year of college will make me a more responsible person. I will also learn to be more independent because I am learning that everything in college depends on you. Whatever you do will shape your future.