Author Archives: bilal.raja

They say money doesn’t buy happiness. If that’s the case, then why don’t I feel happy? The person who came up with this quote is probably a Wall Street millionaire who is trying to make others feel good about not having the wealth that he does. Because the truth is, anything that anyone does in today’s world is somehow related to the gain of profit. From transportation to education, all the facilities that we take for granted are there to take our money. And why is going to college such a big expense anyways? Aren’t we the future engineers, doctors, businessmen, etc. that will help further this society and this world? Why must we pay hard earned money to give back to the society? And then they expect kids to focus on education. Why is it that theUnited Statesis considered mediocre in terms of education compared to other leading countries? I think I have forgotten about becoming someone important to society and rather becoming someone who has enough money to live a life without struggle. Capitalism has made me think about what major will get me the most money rather than the field I am interested in. If the wealth was spread out more evenly among more of the hardworking people then maybe more people would tell their kids to be whatever they want rather than be whatever gets them the most money. Honestly, if money doesn’t buy happiness, I don’t want to be happy, I just want the money.

Subject: Question regarding the grade I received

Dear professor,

I was perplexed by the B- grade that I received from you. I normally would not waste your time asking you to boost my grade unnecessarily, but in this case, I really feel like I deserved an A. If you could possibly review the work I’ve done this semester and the A grades I received on my exams, I think you would agree that I deserve something higher than what I got. I always participate in the lectures and am always on time, and have not shown anything to suggest that I deserve anything less than an A. Hopefully you can look at my work and exams and give me the grade I truly deserve. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Bilal Raja

Bilal Raja

Freshman Seminar

Response

            For me, I am an independent individual who likes to do his own thing, whether it be popular at the moment or not. In fact, some of the things that interest me seem absurd and strange to some people. For example, unlike the majority of my friends, I prefer buying and riding a motorcycle over a car. My friends, most of whom already have licenses, find it strange that I don’t have a passion for cars like most kids our age do. I feel that I am prone to trying to be different from other people around me subconsciously, because this is the trend I see across everything I do/like. In this way, I think of myself as being unique and the opposite of what one would call a hype beast.

One concern that I have with my freshman year atBaruchCollegeis that it still hasn’t hit me that I am in college now and that everything I do from now on is going to affect my future. This is a personal concern for me and it scares me that I must maintain a very high GPA in times where jobs are scarce. I think that a college freshman may have some trouble transitioning from high school and this is something I am dealing with at the moment. Another concern I’ve had with my freshman year so far is the breakup of students into blocks. I never liked the idea of having the same students in every class – even in high school – and would have preferred getting a chance to meet new and more people. Because of the blocks for freshmen, I feel as if I’m limited to meeting the same group of students everyday. A third concern I have with my freshman year atBaruchCollegeis the increase in work that we have. College work is a big jump from the work I had in high school, and at times, it seems overwhelming. This issue concerns me because at times, professors expect too much from us and don’t realize that as freshmen just entering college, it will take some time to get adjusted to the workload. These high expectations to an extent have hurt my grade and therefore it is concerning for me.

What will make my Baruch experience different from my high school experience is the change in attitude: in high school, education felt like an obligation, something that was a burden for me. But in college, I think my learning experience will be developed by a realization of the importance of a good education and this will help me become more mature in terms of education. Since there is more freedom in college, it provides me with learning tools that are not as accessible in high school. My first year at college will change me by making me more mature when it comes to my education it will develop me into a person who is more proactive and intelligent.

Pajama Program