Monthly Archives: September 2010

My name is Danny Shin. I come from a small town called North Woodmere out in long island. I like to play sports, hangout and party. In high school, I played baseball, bowling, and volleyball.

My three concerns transitioning from high school to college at Baruch would be managing my time, getting distracted with social events, and getting use to larger classes. I have to manage my own time well because teachers aren’t going to baby you anymore and so its my responsibility to get work in on time. Also since my closest friends go to school at NYU and Pace, we will hang out a lot and so I might make a wrong choice and hang out when i need to study for a test. Lastly, since I was always in smaller classes, I feel a little left out in the larger classes.

Here at Baruch College, everything is more self motivated. Like I stated before, no teacher is going to baby you and to me, is the biggest difference between college and high school.

I think the first year of college will change me to be a more organized and independent.

Hello, My name is Marek Klepadlo. I am eighteen years old and i love to do sports, work out, and just hang out with my friends. I am also a ballroom dancer. I have been dancing since the age of seven and I have three national titles. I travel all over the United States as well as some other countries to compete against the best dancers in the world. This is not only a hobby it is also my job. I am a dance instructor in flushing. The best thing is that i love my job, i get paid very well and i teach what i love to do. In the future i plan to continue my career as a professional dancer.

My top three concerns for freshman year are time managment, grades, and freedom. Time is very important for me because as a dancer, i have a busy schedule. I need to practice with my partner every single day, work, as well as obviously go to school and do homework. I am scared i will have trouble managing my time and in consequence get less sleep :-/. My grades are my second concern because i was never the most studious person. I know that now i really have to focus on school work because college is a big deal. This determines my ultimate future. And once again, this is going to take time off for me to work on studying and homework. Lastly freedom is a concern for me because i don’t just want to be working hard in school and dance i would like to have a life too. I want to still be able to have time to hang out with my friends go out to the movies and just chill. I am hoping everything will work out for me…

I honestly think college is much easier than high school because you are not babied by your teachers and its a bit better organized. I never have the same class one day after another helping me to organize my studying. From what high school teachers kept telling us, i believe that college is overrated… But otherwise my college exprience so far has been very good. I met some really cool people and the atmosphere is very alive.

I think that college will change me in a positive way by helping me take on more of my own responsibilities and grow as an adult. Hopefully it will also lead me to a great career and good money. One other way that it will change me is that i will have new friends and hopefully stay close to them after i leave college.

-Marek Klepadlo 🙂

a) Tell us who you think YOU are!
b) Share your top 3 concerns about your freshmen year at Baruch College and explain why.
c) So far, what do you think will make your Baruch College experience different from your high school experience?
d) How do you think your first year at College will change you?

A. Hi my name is Edwin. I am a studen at Baruch College.

B. The three concerns I have or think I will have this year at Baruch College are:

1. Managing my time well so that I have time to relax, study, eat, etc. I need to balance my time well so that I will be prepared and not fall behind on anything while having time to relax and do my usual things.

2. Forgetting to hand in assignments in on time. I would not want my grade to drop because I forgot the due date.

3. Having good organization so that I know what I need to do and where my things are. I need to know what things are located where, what needs to be done when etc.

C. The workload will be much more than what is given during high school. There is so much more work to do in college rather than in high school.

D. I haven’t really managed my time well when I was in high school therefore many assisngments were either due late or the night before it was due. Here in college it will be way more crucial for me to get things in on time and way before the due date.

who am i? i think we went over this in class already once but talking about who i think i am is easy enough so i really do not mind questions like this. . .its probably one of the easiest questions I’ve been asked during the few short weeks I’ve been at Baruch college. I like to think I’m alot of really cool awesome things like a pirate, astronaut, or even someone with a real job who goes to work from 9-5 and goes home to a wife at the end of the day. but for now im none of those things. i’m just a normal guy whos having a little bit of trouble adjusting to the workload at Baruch. It kind of bothers me how senior year of highschool is a breeze and you can get by without doing any work and spend all summer goofing off and doing nothing with your friends (or girlfriend like i did haha, my friends weren’t too happy about that) and then get thrown into a school thats more demanding than any place i’ve ever gone before in my life. its a tough adjustment so far. but. . . i think im starting to slowly get the hang of it, i actually logged into webwork to do online math homework about a week ago. its really not as difficult as it seems this whole college thing. i find its mroe about time management than anything. if theres one thing my freshman year will do for me its this; wake me the hell up. i havent really legitimately put more than an hour into school work since freshman year in highschool. everything was just so easy i had all the time in the world to do things but now i know ill fall behind if i dont keep on top of things. even with the realization of the amounts of work and how serious college really is im still worried that i might not be able to balance out all of my time, this is going to take some serious effort. i remember when i was a kid and an hour felt like a day, you would look foreward to Christmas as soon as thanksgiving was over and that 25 day countdown would feel like an entire lifetime. but now days go by so fast i blink and i feel like i missed everything important thats happened. my grandfather always told me that one day i would wish i were a kid again and that pretending to run around as ironman would be the days i wish i could have back cause they’re the ones that feel like they last forever. i didn’t believe him until i went to Baruch. my grandpa knew what he was talking about. college forces you to grow up. noone holds your hand through your assignments or cares if you fail out or not. its kind of like the biggest wakeup call of your life if your not prepared for it. im just hoping to make it through the year with a decent average so that i can transfer out if the school doesn’t impress me by January. i hope i did this blog thing right, its not punctuated right or planned out i just started typing but its my blog and i can do what i want so it should be correct. . .shouldn’t it?

Hello, everyone~ My name is Ada Li. I like children’s stories and olde-timey music, like Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf. My favorite television shows are Doctor Who, Torchwood, QI, Adventure Time with Finn and Jake, and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. I’m someone who just wants to stay as a kid forever and never grow up. My dream is to win the lottery so that I’ll never have to. I also like to think that I’m a pretty righteous lady too. I fight evil, protect the innocent, support causes, attend protests, etc.

My top three concerns about my freshman year are making friends, finding time to sleep and getting my work done. Sleeping and getting my work done are self-explanatory. Making friends is what worries me. When I came to Baruch, I noticed that almost everyone had friends and that “cliques” had been established already. I feel like the odd one out because only one other kid from my high school had decided to come to Baruch and  she’s not in any of my classes. I’ve made some friendly acquaintances, but I don’t know how to make the transition from being friendly acquaintances to friends. I’m terribly self-conscious; I don’t want to be that kid (you know, the one who forces himself/herself into a group by latching onto them? It’s not righteous in the least.), so I don’t know how I’m going to make friends this year.

I don’t find college all that different from high school aside from the class hours and that my lack of sleep has grown.

I don’t think my first year at college will change me in any significant way. Everything taught in my classes are things that I’ve already learned, to an extent. Being in the city every day isn’t new to me either because I’m in the city all of the time anyway. Also, I’ve already been really independent since I was 13. For the past five years, I’ve pretty much lived on my own; My parents lived two floors above me and only checked up on me once every few months. I’ve cleaned, done laundry, bought food, etc. Eventually, I even got a job to pay for my own expenses. Nothing is new to me in college. I don’t think I’m going to change. I hope I’m wrong and that I do change though (but not like Gregor Samsa).

I hope my post is adequate, hahah.

Everytime someone asks me a question like this I go one of two ways. I either don’t know how to answer it and simply say I’m still working on it or I say whatever i feel is the answer that day. Today I’m going down the second road, I think I am a complicated individual whom, in a way, is a different person to or around certain people. It’s a little complicated to explain and I also don’t feel like elaborating on the matter.

My top 3 concerns about my freshamn year here at Baruch are as follow. Concern numero uno, That I’m not working as hard as i should be and i need to get my head in right damn place. The key exaple is one you can see now I didn’t do the easiest thing i was assigned to do by not posting this blog on time. I mean really I dont know what i was thinking I was pretty busy with things over the past few days but not THAT busy that i couldn’t do this. I need to get my head out of my ass and start working harder starting now. Concern number deuce, I really don’t like the people i’ve met so far here at Baruch. Well actually thats not all true, I sould say that I don’t like all the people i’ve met in my classes and school cause the people i know on the swim team are really cool. The only people i stick around during school are my buddies Joe and Seamus, (but he tends to go by james in classes) The reason why is because I’ve known Joe for 14 years and I’ve known Seamus for about 12 years i think. I’m hoping there are some more interesting people somewhere out there in this College. 3.) I’m concerned about that I really don’t know what the hell I wanna do, major wise, I originally came in thinking business but now I’m thinking thats not the way I wanna go. Recently I’ve been thinking Psychiarty because the mind and all those disorders really interests me. Now I would say i’ll just transfer out but thats out of the question for two reasons, reason one I really like the swim team and the people I’ve met on it plus I’m that good yet for D1 and some D2 schools and I wanna swim in college. Reason two I CAN’T AFFORD IT. I’m paying Baruch with my own money right now and I’m pulling my hair out wondering how i’m gonna pay next year. I cant go to my parents cause they’ve done enough for me so far and i can’t burden them anymore plus I’m basically a dumbass so Its not like I got scholarships coming out the butt heading my way.

So far I dont know what will make my Baruch Experience different than my highschool experince other than class size and length.

Hopefully my first year of college will make me stronger academically and a bit more mature and definitely a better swimmer.

Hello everyone! My name is Lily Qin and I am an 18 year old kid from Ardsley (it’s in Westchester). I am proud to say that I am chinese, but I have no artistic ability so those stereotypes don’t really relate to me. However, I am very competitive in almost everything except academics. Also, a big part of who I am would be the people I love, which are my friends and family.

One of my largest concerns about this year was if I could leave part of my old life behind and create a new one with new friends and new people. I have always been an introverted person so meeting new people always led to awkward conversations, but now I don’t worry about it because it seems like everyday I’m meeting new people so you could say I’ve gotten use to it.

Another one of my concerns was if I would get terrible teachers. In high school, I did horribly in classes where I had a bad teacher. Because it is college and I didn’t want to mess up my GPA in my first semester, I was scared that that would happen to me. Luckily, all my teachers are alright, and the classes aren’t that bad. The only thing that is new would be the amount of reading that the teachers assign….not fun at all.

Another one of my concerns was if I would get lost in the city, around Baruch and even in Baruch. During my freshman year of high school, I was late to all of my classes for the whole first week because I kept on getting lost around the school. The fact that Baruch is twice the size of my high school scared me into thinking that I would be late to all of my classes. It turned out okay though because professors didn’t mind latenesses on the first week.

I think my Baruch experience is different from my high school experience because I have more freedom and independence here, where as in high school, I had my parents looking over my shoulder every day.

Frankly, I am loving my new independence. Currently, I dorm at 101 Ludlow and it has made me grow up a little. For example, now, I have to go buy my own food, do my own laundry and all the things that my mother usually would do. By the end of this year, I think all of this will mature me in a way so that I don’t have to consistently lean on my parents.

Who am I? My name is Imran Murji; I am 17 years old and was born and raised on long island. I enjoy interacting and meeting new people, it is always interesting to learn about other individuals besides the ones you read about in your history textbooks. I used to be a lot more active in sports throughout high school but, ever since senior year came by, I have been the total opposite. Now, I find it a task just to walk from Penn Station to Baruch.

My main concern is one that will probably last throughout my years at Baruch which is none other than being able to maintain a good GPA throughout the years to come. I have been brought up with the mentality that education is priority especially in today’s economy. And on top of that my parents always tell me how I should take advantage of the good schooling systems here. Another concern that I have is being able to adjust to the “college life”, which includes all the liberty we have been granted the responsibilities we have to take upon ourselves. For example, if a professor teaches something in class and you are not able to grasp it, there is nothing like re-teaching the topic. It is up to you to find a solution on your own, whether it means setting up a tutoring session or approaching the teacher outside of class. The other concern that I had during my freshman year was not being able to set up my own schedule, but hopefully that will change as of the second semester. Because of that I was stuck with a schedule of my last choice; all my classes started at 8:40 in the morning which is not too bad but if you are commuting it eventually takes a toll on you. And not to mention I am not really the “early bird” kind of guy, I like to enjoy every bit of my sleep.

As I mentioned before the big difference between high school and college is that I have a lot more freedom; there is nothing like teachers standing over my back, making sure I am on top of everything. In college, all the professors could care less of how I perform and whether I come to class or not. This feeling is great only if I know how to be responsible for my own decisions and actions.

So far college has been a new and exhilarating experience, although the work can be overwhelming at times I have to learn to manage my time accordingly. At least that is what I hope my first year at college can teach and instill into me. Not only will I be able to use time-management skills throughout college it can definitely be beneficial to me in other aspects of life.

On the few occasions when I’m asked who are you and questions of the like two things automatically come to mind; the song Who Are You by The Who and a quote I had once read online by E.E. Cummings:

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”

The quote mentioned above doesn’t necessarily answer the question who am i, but it reminds me of the person I don’t want to be.

I’ve gone through many phases in life including the extremes from hanging out with potheads and never going to school or doing anything for that matter to only focusing solely on school and work and kissing my social life goodbye. . . and all the little baby steps in between. But the one common thread was that none of the was ME!

I never really “fit in” (whatever that means) and over the years I came to the conclusion that I’m okay with that. I rather be myself (semi-materialistic, obnoxiously loud, snarky, sarcastic, but all with good heart <3) than what society thinks I should be.

• I’ve been told that my laugh sounds like a person having an asthma attack, but I’ve embraced it overtime.
• I’ve been told I have poor etiquette because I don’t believe in saying excuse me after I burp, since once I start burping there’s usually ten more that follows the first one.
• I’m supposed to cross my legs when wearing a skirt or dress, but I don’t find that position very comfortable. [ and yes, that’s what she said].
• And I’m aware that when I wear my hair naturally curly I  resemble a lovechild between Diana Ross and Chaka Khan.
• And I’m aware that maybe I should invest in a size 6 pair of jeans rather than sticking to a size 4 and having a muffin top, but I’m not ready to make that kind of commitment. . . so don’t look if it’s that unsightly.

But, with that being said I’m aware of my flaws and quite frankly I don’t care. It’s what makes me, me and I spent so many years trying to please everyone with my mannerisms and behavior that I started to be so self-conscious and lost a sense of self.

And Baruch. . . well I see myself staying here for all four years, so I’ll take that as a sign that it’s going pretty well. It’s so much different from highschool it’s such a breath of fresh air. Highschool for me was full of drama, cliques, gossip, etc. and it didn’t help that I didn’t have such a great reputation. But here at Baruch no one cares who you are or what you look like because everyone’s generally here for the same purpose.

I’ve always felt a sense of independence since I’ve been in control of my own financial needs once I started working, but in highschool I felt like an infant. Teachers always said things like “well you’re a senior now and on your way to adulthood so I’m going to treat you guys like adults,” well if that was so true why’d you call my mom to tell her I cut your class and was missing a few homework assignments? LIES. But at Baruch I don’t feel forced, my professors generally treat me like there’s more than air between my ears and I like it. Especially since I know that whatever grade I receive reflects a less jaded image of the work I put into getting that grade, because in highschool there was always that kid that got a grade higher than he/she deserved for being a sycophant.

Since the start of college, I’ve noticed a slight shift in my values. At first I was like how am I supposed to work and support my lifestyle. This schedule is horrible. But, now it doesn’t really bother me and I’ve realized maybe focusing on my school work & grades a tad bit more is better in the long run. (Rather than thinking about how am I going to buy those over-the-knee boots I saw at Nordstrom since I barely work anymore). Being that it’s only been the first few weeks and I already had a major epiphany, I definitely foresee more shifting in my values. . . for the better perhaps.

As a frosh at Baruch, I’m mainly concerned with my first semester grades because the style of grading and learning definitely differs from highschool and there’s no basis of comparison. Ideally I’d like a GPA of 3.o if not better. I also wonder if I’ll make a good friend or two since I tend to make connections with people that come and go like seasons and I’m not sure if I’m willing to join a club or something. And lastly I wonder if once I get to choose my own classes will my Baruch experience be enhanced. Other than that everything’s pretty chill 🙂

By the way, while typing this entire thing I kept wondering how disgusted my english professor would be with my misuse of commas and semicolons.

   The question of who I am is something I have been asking myself a lot lately. I came into Baruch thinking I wanted to work in business, because of the high income that comes a long with it. But now that I have been in Baruch for a few weeks now, I have come to find that business might not be who I am. I like to see myself as a person who doesn’t lay down and die, and do something he hates just for money. I at least want to be someone who does something they love for a living, even if it is risky and perhaps overly ambitious. I am a person filled with a desire to be happy, and not what Cobb feared becoming in Inception. “An old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone.”  (I’m also a person who love movies and will reference them 24/7!”

        My top 3 concerns with my freshmen year at baruch are passing pre-calc, feeling comfortable with my enviroment, and doing well in all of my classes overall. So far pre-calc has been quite annoying and hard at times. I don’t exactly feel as if I love being at Baruch yet, and I hope that changes by the years end so I don’t feel any need to transfer. Finally, I want to do well in my classes because I want to do well in life.

          So far whats made my Baruch experience different from high school is that there has been much more freedom, since I came from a strict catholic high school. But also, there isn’t that same familiarity with the people around me. Most people you see are just strangers you will never to talk to.

         I think my first year at college will definitly make me more independent, and I think over the next few months I am going to find out more about who I am, and who I am meant to be, and what I want to do with my life.