Author: rebecca.mandell

My name is Rebecca. I prefer being called Becca, not Becky, I’m not really a Becky. I was born and raised in Manhattan. I’m not very ethnic but my mother’s family is from Italy and Ireland and my dad’s family is from Lithuania. My parents were both born in the united stated and they were both educated and have successful careers. My mother is a retired United Nations employee and my father is an accountant and a CPA. He went to baruch for undergraduate also. I have an older sister whose 20 years old. She goes to McGill university in Montreal. Its the Canada equivalent of an ivy league but her tuition is 12 thousand. And the drinking age is 18, so she’s really enjoying herself.
I did really bad in my first two years of high school. My school was relatively challenging and so I started thinking school was a waste of time. Around junior year I decided I wanted to be successful and I should take school seriously. I started getting 90’s and that balanced out my shitty grades from the first two years.

I started looking for college’s senior year and didn’t really feel great about any of the schools. They all seemed the same to me. I’ve never been that social so the party aspect of college didn’t really appeal to me. But I applied to like 15 schools and got into suny albany, suny new paltz, university of delaware, umass amherst and baruch. I was going to go to umass but then I decided I wanted to stay in the city because I love the city and can’t imagine living anywhere else (for the time being). Because my parents had set aside my college tuition assuming it would be over 20 thousand, and baruch is 5 thousand they agreed to rent me an apartment, which is awesome.

I moved in august 1st, I live on the upper east side. I know I’m very lucky. My apartment is small, I live alone but I can do whatever I want which I enjoy. People always ask me if I get lonely. I don’t. There hasn’t really been a shortage of people to hang out with.

In the future I hope to become an accountant. Not because anyone wants me to be an accountant, but because I want to be an accountant. I was always good at math and like the logic of it. There is always a right answer and I’m generally a very pragmatic person. If I study accounting I can work for my father when I get out of school. Even if I end up not liking accounting I think it would be silly to give up a successful job that I have offered to me.

I don’t hate baruch because I’m only here to educate myself and so far that’s been happening. I try not to complain. If millions of people did it before me and survived I’m sure I can too. My motto for life is basically to try and balance what you have to do and what you want to do as well as you can. You can’t be too selfish and you can’t be too selfless or you’ll never get anywhere. I work hard and party hard and generally feel good about that.

 

Something I do for fun is play pool with my friends. One time my friend and I were watching hey Arnold and the characters were at an arcade. My friend and I discussed how fantastic it would be to go to an arcade. At the time I recalled a location close to my apartment that I believed to be an arcade. Upon arriving we saw that it had been turned into a pool hall. Because we were already there we decided to stay and try out a game of pool. We returned frequently after that day. I however, am still very poor at pool. I’ve tried to improve my skills but only seem to make myself worse. I don’t really mind though, because it’s still fun and you get to be around questionable individuals who all look like their wardrobes are at least 20% leather. I don’t have very many hobbies or interests other than that.

My strongest attribute is probably that I’m incapable of procrastination. I’m always early and generally do assignments before they’re do (excluding the one I’m doing right now).  My biggest weakness is probably that I can be too honest. I don’t have much of a filter and I can make people very uncomfortable with the things I say.  Another weakness of mine is that I don’t value my body like I should. I have a lot of very unhealthy habits that could very well affect me in the future. My worst habit is that I smoke cigarettes. I initially started when I was younger because I thought it was ‘cool’. Eventually, it became an extremely expensive addiction. I would like to quit…not anytime soon

 

Who do you think you are?

The question, “who do you think you are” is very vague. If I’m talking about who I am physically, it would be a female human. However, I would assume the question is directed more towards what kind of person I think I am. I would classify myself as an organized and (for the most part) intelligent individual. I am very caring when it comes to friends, family and education and health. Other than that, I would say everything else is either irrelevant or unimportant.

 

Share your top three concerns about your freshman year at Baruch College and explain why.

This question, is similar to the first, very vague. I have many concerns about my first year of college. I think everything that occurs for the next few semesters should be concerning and challenging. My first main concern I suppose, would be exams. Exams have never been my strong suit and I’m very aware now that college is essentially the time in-between exams. My second concern would be about studying. In high school, I never really felt compelled to study because it was usually unnecessary. In college, studying is directly related to success; something I would like to achieve while I’m here. Finally I am concerned about meeting new people. I have already found some great friends; nevertheless I know how difficult it can be to meet people in Manhattan.

 

 

So far, what do you think will make your Baruch college experience different from your high school experience?

So far, it would appear that there is little to no difference between high school and college, except that teachers generally care less about your success and you have less time to do nothing (which is alright). In high school I was asked questions exactly like these ones, and felt just as irritated by them then. Outside of college, however, my life is vastly different from high school. I have moved into my own apartment, and started a legitimate, well-paying job. I’m hoping in the next few months my high school and college experience will begin to differentiate, but I’m not going to get my hopes up. I came to school for an education, and whatever else happens, happens.

 

How do you think your first year of college will change you?

This question is ALSO very difficult to answer. I’ve never been to college before…SO I’m not exactly sure how it will change me. In general, I think I will become far more mature, and hopefully a lot more knowledgeable. I would like college to make me a better-rounded individual with diverse interests and hobbies. I think my first year of college will allow me to grow a tougher skin as well. Living in Manhattan can be grim and instead of crumbling under the pressure, I would like college to help me learn to deal with real world problems, not just college problems.