My first term of college is actually pretty comparable to my first term in high school. Just a huge amount of freedom is thrown upon me and I’m responsible for everything that I have to do. I’ve told a lot of people the same answer that I’m gonna tell you right now about my experience at Baruch: that it’s really similar to my high school experience. The only difference that I’ve really noticed is that scheduling gives the student freedom of how they can allocate their time. You can line up your classes like they were in high school, right up against each other, or you can leave yourself little pockets of time for you to do whatever you want. You can go out and visit any sights of interest, or maybe visit some friends who are around the city. You can give yourself an extended lunch break or study for your next class in the library.
Just like in high school, there are some teachers who will take attendance extremely seriously and will fail you regardless of performance if you don’t show up. But some other teachers give you the option to not show up to class. The catch is that you are fully responsible for the work you produce if you don’t show up to class. If you miss the notes or miss a quiz, you are fully responsible for this. I believe that these classes really let the student decide what they want to do and how they will progress in their college life. It’s really a taste of real life and giving you options. People all excel in their own ways that they’ve developed. Some ways work better for most but some people just like to use other methods of approaching subjects. Some people like to self-study and show up to class when they know a quiz or test will be given. Some people can’t do this, and have to show up to class and take notes and study them. Obviously, it’s safer to go to class but some people just can’t work that way. This example of freedom really represents the kind of experience I’m having right now in college. I can kinda feel around and see how well I’ll do using one method or another for each class. There are no phone calls home, no reports sent in the mail. Everything is up to the student. I really think that the college years are the years that you finally leave the nest.
