Freshman Seminar 2011: CFA

Who do I think I am? Well I for one am human, a female human to be exact. Or at least I hope I am because that’s that I’ve been telling myself all these years. If I were to go any further than that then I really wouldn’t have an answer. When I think I know who I am, I end up surprising myself with a brand new aspect of myself (and I wouldn’t say all of it is good). Yet I take it in stride and accept my flaws, although some can be harder to accept than others. I wouldn’t say I’m a good person but I wouldn’t say I’m a bad person either. I try to be a good person and as to whether I succeed or not, I can only say occasionally. So as of now and maybe later in the future, I can only say I am who I am and will refuse to specify.

At Baruch I’m afraid that I’m going to fail my classes no matter how hard I try because it just won’t process correctly in my head. If that is the case than I can only hope to endure those classes and pass, even if it’s cutting it close. I’m also concerned as to whether I’m making the right choices in my life. I wouldn’t want to chase after something and later find out it’s something I never really wanted in the first place.

Currently I find Baruch to be pretty similar to high school. We all attend class then go home or meet friends and just in general mind our own business. But it’s definitely different from high school in terms of management. I’m expected to manage everything by myself whether its tests and papers or making sure I’m taking the necessary classes to graduate. It’s not something I’m quite used to but I’m a pretty organized person so I figure it’s something I can get adhere to quickly. I also have to take my classes seriously and devote time to study. I didn’t have to study in high school and still get away with decent grades but I definitely have to change my habits now.

Hopefully by the end of my first year I’ll have a clue as to where I’m going with my life and if I’m going down the right path. This is probably a bit of a stretch for me but I hope I’ll stop procrastinating by the end of the year too. If I can get over that hurdle, I’m ready to go for anything.

My name is David Haddad and I am very excited to be a part of Baruch College. I am the oldest child in my family so my role is to set a good example for my younger siblings. I am eighteen years old and I am enjoying myself in Baruch College. I have three major concerns here at Baruch College that I want to share with everyone. My first concern is that I am not sure what I want to major in. Although many family members and friends have told me not to worry about it because it will come to me soon enough I still worry. Secondly, I am a little nervous for my first tests in every subject because I don’t really know what to expect. Last but not least, I can’t find a restaurant where I really enjoy the food.

On a different note, the commute is definitely one of the things that made my college experience different from my high school experience. In high school I took City Bus for five minutes every day to reach my destination but to get to Baruch I have to take the Subway and make a transfer. This takes me around one hour per way to get to Baruch College. I don’t mind the commute so much because I find stuff to do on the subway like read books, do homework, or listen to music on my IPod. I like all my classes so far but Psychology and Freshman Seminar top the list because they are both very interesting classes.

I think that I will calmer after I complete my first semester at Baruch because I will know my way around more and I will have more of an understanding of what college life is. As for now I am still trying to figure out certain things so hopefully by next the next Blog post I will have more answers.

Who am I? I am currently a freshman at Baruch College. I was a procrastinator and lazy person, but I am trying to change all of that now. I am pretty much the normal 17 year old guy. But what makes me different? First of all, I am not the mainstream music person, although I do listen to some top 100 songs. I’m a person that laughs a lot, even at the most random things. However I can be a very hard worker and I am trying to excel while I go through 4 years of college.

Um, one of my concerns in college is time management. I only take one train here, but I do have to walk from my house to the train station and from 6th Ave to Lexington. And since I am not a New Yorker, I noticed that I walk really slow. So I have to leave early, especially on Wednesdays and Fridays and buy my breakfast and make it before 9. Also, I have to keep track with homework. Without a planner, I end up forgetting everything and missing the most important stuff. My last concern is finding some good place to eat and something to do on Tuesdays because there is no such thing as a dollar menu in New York and sometimes I have nothing to do for 3 hours on my break.

High School is very different from College. In high school, i had different classes with different people, but now in college I have blocks with the same people. I don’t mind, because I think that its Baruch’s way of telling you to join a club or sport as a way of making new friends, and keeping your block friends so you have someone to help you as they have many classes with you. Lastly, in high school, people weren’t half as smart as the people in Baruch, and now in Baruch I have people that know how to argue and think before they speak.(For most people in Baruch LOL)

College will change me because in high school I barely was active in school and did almost nothing. Now in college, i joined a club and studied more, and I know my way through New York. As the 4 years pass, I will try to become a better, smarter, hard-working person.

I don’t know why but when I first read the task I kept thinking of the song Jar of Hearts.  Did anyone else think of that?

Anyway lets just get right to the point.  Who do I think I am?  In all honesty I’m not entirely sure of who I am.  I try to be a good person and to do good things but the question of who I am what I want to be… it’s kind of hard to answer.  I know that I’m working towards reaching a point in my life but I’m not even sure if I want to reach there.  And I don’t really know if I’ll ever know who I am exactly because I’m changing every day.

Right now at Baruch Im most afraid of trying as hard as I can and still failing.  Because where can I go from there?  Next I guess I would be afraid of learning and majoring in a career only to find that I either hate it or I’m not able to get a job.  And lastly, I’m afraid of not being true to myself.  To lose a part of myself in order to reach my dreams or to compromise my morals to get what I want or at least what I think I want.

In all honesty I feel like Baruch is a lot like high school.  Everyone goes home right after school unless they’re  in a club and it doesn’t feel like that much of a transition from high school.  Blocks make its kind of hard to meet anyone outside of your block and it almost feels like how in middle school we were placed into “teams” of people.  I mean we do have large lecture hall classes but other than that classes feel almost the same.  I really hope that this will change but sometimes when someone asks me whether or not I like Baruch I really have no idea what I should say.  Oddly enough the tests I have taken so far were a lot easier than some of the tests I took in high school but that might be because I actually studied for them this time.  >_<

I definitely want to change my study habits in college and from what I heard people grow a lot in college so I hope I can be more mature and maybe a little bit more independent.  I’m excited for what college and living in New York city can do to me but I’m just a little bit scared that I won’t grow.  I want to be thrown outside of my comfort zone and challenged.  I don’t want college to feel like high school or I would have gone to community college.

Describing who I am is probably one of the most challenging things to do because in all honesty, I’m not quite sure I know who I am. There are many things in my life that I want to accomplish and hobbies that I enjoy, but I’m not sure that that actually defines who I am as a person. If my characteristics define who I am, then it’s safe to say that I’m outgoing, loud, caring, sensitive, and diligent. I guess you could say that who I am is a chapter in my life that remains opened because it’s still being written. I assume in a few years, maybe I will be a wife, mother, accountant, etc; but for right now, I’m just taking my life day by day in hopes of figuring out who I truly am.
The college experience at first is very overwhelming and terrifying because all the things that you are used to, transform into something that is brand new. You are introduced to new people, a different atmosphere, and a more laid-back setting. One of my main concerns starting out as a Freshman here at Baruch College would have to be the academics. My skepticism definitely comes from the pressure of my dreams. In my future at Baruch College, I hope to study abroad in London,England. In order to do that, I must achieve and maintain a high GPA to attend the International University that I am interested in. I also need to keep a high GPA to be accepted into the Zicklin School of Business. Another thing that is of concern is adjusting to this new chapter in my life. College, unlike high school, allows the student to have complete independence which can be frightening. You are automatically expected to keep up with the reading and classwork on your own, which is completely different from the high school experience. It is challenging and time-consuming to keep up with the work being given, but its all about adjusting to a new environment.
I believe that my college experience here at Baruch College will fully prepare me to take a step into the real world. Being a college student is completely different than the high school experience. Baruch is more of a laid- back independent feel, which will definitely help me in the future. The real world is all about independence and diligence, which I believe college is supposed to mold into a person’s character.