Author Archives: Kenneth Zheng

I don’t really have much to say about whether my experience at Baruch lived up to my expectations or not. I didn’t really have any major expectations before coming to Baruch, except for the usual “lots of reading and papers.” I just viewed it almost as a continuation of high school. So I don’t really have much to say in this area. Though I will say that I miss gym class. That’s about the only thing that disappointed me the most about college. I had tons of fun during gym class in high school; now, I can only reminisce about those times.

I think my first semester at Baruch went pretty well. I got decent grades, but just not as good as I would like them to be. But finals week is coming up: one last chance to redeem myself?

I think I will work a little bit harder to get perhaps slightly better grades if I could do this all over again. But whom am I kidding? I know that I’ll still slack off. And maybe I would join a club. It’s near the end of the semester and I still haven’t gotten to doing that yet.

I really honestly don’t think I’ve changed at all. Or maybe now I’m willing to spend more time doing schoolwork, but I think that’s about it. Nothing major happened during the first semester that would’ve changed me.

I just got off a stressful weekend. Let’s just say I might have channeled some of that stress when writing this…

I pretty much got no idea what to write. Maybe I can just rant a little bit about this. This might not end well for me, but.. like, what the hell is this? Why is this class necessary again? It’s like having to take music class in a business school—oh wait, I have that too… Absolutely useless. It’s not that I hate anyone in this class. It’s just feels so…. pointless. Meet new people? Get to know one another? That’s honestly not working for me, ‘cause that’s just not who I am. Even before the semester started, I didn’t like the idea of having this Freshman Seminar thing, but I still kept an open mind coming into it. But even now, halfway through the semester, I feel like I haven’t gotten anything out of this. Maybe in the second half of the semester I’ll find something worthwhile out of this. Again, it’s not the people in the class. I just haven’t found a point to it. It’s really just more of a burden than anything else on top of all the other work I have to do for other classes. Maybe it’s for a free credit? At least we didn’t have to pay for this, unlike music class. I’m sure I’m the only one who feels this way about this, and I’m sure this class has its benefits for other people, but I’m just not one of them… I hate too much.

My name is Kenneth Zheng; I prefer to be called Kenny—but that’s not important. I was born in Manhattan, raised in Puerto Rico, currently live in Brooklyn, went to F.D.R. High School (I know—SHAME!). I am shy, don’t talk much, and overly cautious about meeting new people. That last part is probably because I’m very cynical—I trust hardly anyone. I am also extremely apathetic. I don’t know if anyone else has this problem, but I hate having to listen to someone else complain and pretend I care. And I literally don’t celebrate anything (holidays, birthday, etc.) unless nagged into it, nor do I get excited for any of these events because I’m so apathetic about nearly everything.

My top three concerns about my freshman year at Baruch are:

• Not getting the GPA I hope for – In high school, I used to be able to do pretty good on every class without doing the least bit of studying/work. It’s not quite like that anymore in college (though I expected this). Now I’m seeing that I can only get a 6 out of 10 on a quiz after reading 30+ pages on the textbook. I guess I haven’t gotten a taste of real “hard work” academically.
• Deciding on a major – I have almost absolutely no direction in life. I am clueless about what I’m going to do with my life—no goals or ambitions. I suppose this could be traced back to my apathy. I guess I’ll just make it a goal for now to decide on a major.
• Finding a job – While my family doesn’t necessarily need more income, I feel terrible for using my parents’ money. I feel like I’ve done nothing to really deserve it. I feel like some bum staying home all day, everyday. I would like to just get a job, earn my own money, spend it whenever I want, and experience what it’s like to be in the workforce. The problem with this is that I don’t like dealing with people…

I actually don’t have too many concerns about college. I’m honestly not sure if that last one counts, but I threw it out there anyways.

I think what would make my college experience different from my high school experience would be more independence. Aside from traveling farther from home, I like that I pretty much don’t need my parents anymore for anything school-related (Aside from, of course, paying tuition >_< ). Don’t get me wrong—I love them and appreciate everything they’ve done, but they can sometimes be a huge pain in the behind.
Another way college differs from high school for me is the crippling amount of work that needs to be done. This is pretty much the first time in my life that I’ve been overwhelmed with this much work. The extra day to my weekend in my schedule doesn’t exactly help much either. But I think I should be the last one talking about “too much work,” since I don’t have a job. But that’s enough about me. I’m not really important.