Author Archives: vickie.chan1

Between homework, friends, studying, procrastinating, and commuting, where can college students find the time to do everything?  Good grades, social life, or sleep, pick two.  It seems that college students are like rubber bands being pulled and stretched, just waiting to snap.  Some just let the stress build up, and before they know it, they have lost the chance to have the full college experience—one including a social life, good grades, and relaxation.

One of the first things students lost was their personal time.  Activities like reading, drawing, watching TV, and exercising—all down the drain.  Will students ever be able to manage their time well?  I don’t think I will be able to.

College is all about adjusting; but adjusting is difficult.  The first step to change is time managements.  Its common sense that we should prioritize our assignments, but doing so while maintaining a social life seems nearly impossible.  For me, socializing must be partially given up in order to contribute more time into studies.  Once time management is discovered, it will be the beginning of a whole new college experience—it is the key to success in college.  If time is managed well, students will be able to find time to maintain a social life with friends and family while doing well in school at the same time.  There will even be time for sleeping and cooking proper meals!  Hah, easier said than done.  Sleep, that’s hilarious, what kind of college student has time for sleep?  What?  You’re asking me about my time management skills?  I think I left it back in bed.  How did everyone else manage to get through their freshman year?  Good grades, social life, or sleep—which two choices did they pick?

It seems that the workload—from reading to writing essays and studying for tests—is just taking over everyone’s lives.  Is this all we will be doing for the rest of our years in college?  Is this what we really want?  I sure don’t want that.  The great college experience that everyone’s been talking about… doesn’t seem possible to attain.

Who do you think you are?

I find it difficult to describewho I am; I’m not good with words, so I’ll just tell you a little about myself.  I am a freshman attending Baruch College who grew up in a typical Chinese family.  I was born in Manhattan and I’ve lived in Brooklyn for most of my life.  In my younger years, before I started attending school, I lived in Hong Kong with my dad’s side of the family.  Although I speak Chinese, I can’t read or write it.  Like many others, I am the first in my family to attend college… I think.  Education in China and Hong Kong is different compared to America; it doesn’t convert equally.  I never knew what to answer when the College Board asked me that question.  I’m not a morning person, so I’m usually extra quiet in the morning.  I hate the cold, so if it’s a cold morning,
expect me to be cranky.

Top three concerns about my freshman year at Baruch College

My concerns about my freshman year aren’t in any particular order.

My fear upon entering my freshman year was completing my readings on time; I expected to have a lot of reading assignments upon entering college, but knowing what to expect and experiencing the matter is different.  It doesn’t help that I have morning classes, so I never remember what I read.  It gives teachers a poor impression of me, it seems like I don’t do my homework, which is my responsibility.  Now, my biggest fear is choosing my major.  I know that to many people, it may seem too early to decide, “you still have time to decide,” they say.  But I have a lot of friends who know what they want to be without hesitation, I feel like I’m being left behind in some way.  I know that many people have jobs that do not pertain to their major whatsoever, but I’m still worried.  Another concern I have is maintaining a good GPA.  Some teachers only focus on test grades, and I’m not a good test taker.  Other teachers just average up the grade we got on their assignments, making it hard to pick up our grade if we didn’t have a good start.

What I think will make my Baruch College Experience different from my
high school experience

I think that having a syllabus will make my college experience different than that of my high school experience.  Hopefully I will procrastinate less and do my work ahead of time… or at least on time.  Teachers didn’t provide a syllabus in high school, sometimes three teachers will hand out major projects at the same time and there was almost impossible to do them all on time.  In college, if I see that major assignments conflict with one another, I can plan ahead of time.

How I think my first year of college will change me

My first year in college is the first step I’m taking to prepare for the real world.  Hopefully, I will find something that I truly enjoy doing (I hope that I’ll be good at it) and meeting friends that will last for a lifetime.