PR 1A

My experience at Baruch college has not lived up to my expectations. there isnt a lot of time to chat and i greatly underestimated a commute school. The travel time makes getting to school a real pain and because everyone has to travel it is really hard to make close friends. most people either have to go to work right after classes or they have to head straight home. There is a wide variety of professors at Baruch, which was something i had expected, but what i didnt expect that not all of them are good at teaching. i guess some of them focus on their own research rather than teaching the class.

I think my first semester at Baruch could have went better. i was ill prepared for the amount of work that i got. when i first game to collegemy mindset was that few classes meant less work. it was soon after i started that i knew that i was completely wrong. The amount of work was more than high school just like they have told us but i had never really believed it. During my senior year at high school i had gotten to a relaxed mood and i felt like it carried over into college. i know i could have done better in this first semester if i tried.

If i could do my first semester over again i would definally try harder by doing the work ahead of time and using the help centers to improve the work quality. if i had not waited for the last second to do my papers i would have done a lot better.

i believe that i have become more responsible and become better at managing my time. back in high school i did all my work within the last 24 hrs before it was due. now i start to work on my papers days or even weeks in advance. hopefully these skills will help me do better in the future years to come.

1:I have a Fear of heights. At the same time i find it hard to resit looking down from a high place. That habit can become annoying but it makes me wonder if i really am afraid of heights or do i enjoy them.

2:Hanging out with my Friends make me happy. I also enjoy playing video games and watching TV.

3: Something that is important to me is my privacy and my freedom to do whatever i feel like doing

4: so far school has been tiring and it takes up a lot of time. the travel distance is always annoying Having to spend over 2 hours every day on the train can pile up.

I cant’ believe my first semester of college at Baruch is coming to a close. I remember the first day I walked into the vertical campus for orientation, then convocation, and then for my first day of classes. Overwhelmed and intimidated I was unsure how I would last a whole semester at Baruch College. Looking back on this first semester, I came to many conclusions and realizations about Baruch. I expected college to be laid back, partying, free time and only being overwhelmed with work during midterms and finals. Unfortunately, none of those expectations were fulfilled at Baruch. I had not much free time because of the stressful, continuous heavy workload and because Baruch is a commuter school there aren’t many events or parties among the student body. I expected professors who didn’t care about attendance but were very strict about following the syllabus and due dates. Instead, most of my professors had strict attendance policies and quite leanient about late assignments and accomodating students. I was hoping that it would be very simple to meet people and make friends in a college environment but that was not so at Baruch. Being a commuter school it is very difficult to have close relationships with people because many students go to class and head home when they are done. I was expecting many events at school that bring students together but instead I find myself being one of the many students that I mentioned that goes to class and immediately after goes home. I think my first semester at Baruch went somewhat well. I got to meet some new people through my block schedule where I traveled with mainly the same people to every class. I also met people on my baseball team at Baruch when we played a short fall season. I believe that I am doing well in my classes which is most important to me. At first, I was hoping to just pass with C+ but now I am striving to excel in my classes with A and B grades. If I could have a second shot at my first semester and do it al over again I would try to reduce the stress I put on myself. I think at many times I waited until the last minute to do things because I thought that it wouldn’t take me long to do assignments but in fact they were more complicated than I had thought. If I managed my time better and balanced my academics with my social life, I could have reduced stress. Procrastination was the cause of late nights which led to sluggish starts in the morning and then it became hard to concentrate in class. As you can see, procrastination has a domino effect that can cause any students downfall. I believe that Baruch has changed me in just one semester. With many group projects, I have learned to work and complete tasks with people that I dont know whichh brings me outside of my comfort zone. I have become more independent as I have to stay on top of my workload everyday and balance my life.

-Daniel DeRiso-

Now nearing the end of my first semester at Baruch College and i can honestly say it was a huge change in my life. The transition from high school to college was not what i had expected but i still readjusted to college life pretty easily. My expectations of Baruch were at first that it would be difficult to make friends and difficult to adjust to the grading. Baruch College has proved me wrong in both areas.  I did make friends pretty fast. And not just freshman. i have made enough friends raging from freshman to graduates. And also all my current classes aren’t as hard as i thought a college class would be.

I think that this first semester has been pretty unexpected and eventful. All for the better. I enjoyed it more than i thought i would have. I made plenty of friends throughout all grade levels, even through graduates.  I joined plenty of organizations within Baruch such as ALPFA, Wall Street club, Hellenic Society, and VITA, and met many people within them. I also learned how to navigate around the city now. Its a nice skill to have i would suppose. Its also nice to have some family and friends envious of me going to the city everyday for school and also hang out there a lot. And also i get to see these landmarks and architecturally interesting buildings nearly everyday.

Something i would do differently in my freshman year at Baruch College if I could do it again would probably be to study a little bit harder in all my classes so i could get that little extra boost in my GPA. And also to be more open to other people from the very beginning of the semester. I am very open and have many friends throughout Baruch College but in the beginning i was very very shy to most people. I also wish i had the ability to choose my classes but since i came tot he last orientation there was no way but still I cant complain since I’ve met some pretty cool people and my classes aren’t THAT bad. Also i wish i could have bought more clothes during the summer cause I’m running out of them and i hate wearing the same clothes over and over again.

How have I changed since i came to Baruch College? I can honestly i changed a lot and these changes will stay with me for a while. Since i started at Baruch College i have studied more than i ever have and I’m sure this habit will stay with me for a while. After a while at Baruch College i have picked up communication skills thanks to COM 1010 and also networking skills with professionals thanks to the groups i am a part of. I have gained a passion for business more specifically Finance and i now meet professionals in the industry on a weekly basis and i have conversations with them very often. 4 months ago i would have never thought I’d be in a position like this.

Wow so this was a different semester then i thought it would be. Baruch is not a bad college…the social events are taking place in various times but there is always something to do if you get involved. The more people you meet in Baruch the more you find out there is a lot of stuff to do. It could be sports, game room, joining a club/fraternity/sorority, etc. I think if people aren’t open minded enough to different things then of course they will get bored at baruch. Most people do go to classes then go home but if you find the right people then you guys can hang out any time of the day. We are in the CITY! Baruch isn’t the best place to hangout with friends so its best to gather up friends and go explore the city and try new things. College is all about finding yourself and the people you best work with. Thats why the beginning of my semester was a slow start because i only when to classes then went home. But eventually i met more and more people and now im in the city 10x more then i would be at home. Cant wait for next semester to start because i know its gonna be a lot better then this one. And if i could go back in time, i guess i should have taken some of my classes more serious.

~Ryan Johnson~