It most definitely does not feel as though almost 5 months have gone by. I have to say in this time I’ve learned to take Baruch more seriously. I never really openly doubted the level of intensity of Baruch or CUNYs in general but I have to say I’ve learned my lesson: I can’t just get by on mediocrity here. Even if you’re higly intelligent it still takes effort and dedication to do well here which I’ve learned the hard way. As far as hat I expected college to be I don’t think Baruch met all of my expectations, I wanted the traditional collegiate campus feel but baruch is totally different. It’s definitely more modern than some other schools and it does take more effort to meet new people since most of the students are going from class, to work, or to hang out with friends. It took some getting used to but I’m starting to like the campus a bit more. I’ve lived in the city all my life but so I wasn’t expecting to want to be surrounded by trees and old buildings. As far as academics are concerned Baruch pretty much met my expectations. I think I was the one who didn’t meet what was expected of them.
I can’t lie; I don’t think my first semester went very well. I guess it was a learning process. No one is going to tell me what I have to do here. I have a certain level of control and I haven’t done so well with it. I guess making mistakes is pert of maturing. I’m learning from the mistakes I’ve made and I’m trying to finish out strong, which I know I can do.
I would definitely not have missed class as much as I did. It really creates a large ‘catching-up’ distance because we don’t have class too often. I would have said no to some events I was invited to in order to focus on school. I definitely would have spoken to more people here at school and gotten to know the area better. There’s always a point of getting comfortable as well. I was scared at first because I thought all of my classes would be extremely difficult but some of my classes were easier than expected which caused me to slack off. Definitely would’ve stayed on my toes more.
I think I’ve changed in the sense that I’ve become more decisive. Before I entered college I had help making all of my decisions. Here I have to make many decisions on my my own and that has carried over into my personal life. If you had asked me just a few months ago what classes I’d like to take I’d probably give you a blank stare and then go ask someone for help but now that I’ve had to make these decisions at school it’s easier to do so in other situations.
