As I look back, I think my experience at Baruch has almost lived up with my expectations. Before I stepped into college, I heard some friends said that college was not easy. Thus, I don’t have a very high expectation for myself, in terms of grade. For the first semester, I just expect myself to get used to the college environment. Throughout the semester, I think I have met my expectations. I make some new friends and have pretty good time with them at Baruch. I also feel familiar with our campuses. At least I know the main structure of the campuses. If I have some questions or problems, I also know some departments that I can go for help, such as the STARR Career Development Center can help me create my resume and help me to develop my future career. If I need help for registering classes, I can walk in the Center for Academic Advisement. Overall, I feel comfortable with the Baruch environment now. It’s not a strange place for me anymore. I get used to my college environment. That’s enough for my first semester.
At the beginning of this semester, I felt time went extremely slow. First of all, classes at Baruch are longer than classes at high school in general. That makes me feel that class is never end. Second, everything was new so that I couldn’t find any enjoyment, thus, I felt very hard at the beginning of the semester. It seemed a long journey for me. However, college life is in a high pace. I got lots of reading and assignments to deal with. As I stick with them, I felt this semester went very fast. Now, I almost walk to the end of the semester. I may need to catch up with the pace and enjoy the rest of the time of my first semester at Baruch.
If I can start my first semester again, I definitely will try to enjoy it more. I think I was over nervous at the first couple months of the semester. May be the environment is strange for me, or the classes are too hard. I felt too nervous about anything at Baruch. As a result, I gave up some time to enjoy the college. If I can start over again, I will go to join a club or use the gym at some times during the club hours instead of sitting in the library to torture myself. Alright, I will try to involve more next semester.
Have I changed since I started at Baruch? Definitely! As I start at Baruch, I need to stick with MTA every day. I need to log in to the MTA home page routinely to check the trains’ status. Before, I only took train if I wanted to go out during the weekends. Academically, I also have changed. Specifically, I have improved my reading and writing skills as well as my time management skill. They all change me positively.