FRO 14 BRB

My first three months at Baruch were interesting. I started off relatively isolated knowing only a few people from my previous school. as the days have gone by, I have developed friendships with the other kids in my classes and have realized that there are other kids I know who go to Baruch as well. Now every day I look forward to seeing these kids and see a familiar face every time I turn a corner.

My impressions of Baruch college after my first semester have been mostly positive. All of my classes have been challenging and my professors have both knowledge and experience in their respective fields. My Intro to Psychology class is a large lecture (like 300 people) and two of the lessons now have been taught (poorly) by different student teachers. This is unfortunate but I think to be expected in any large university, and I expect to encounter less of this as I move on towards fulfilling my major requirements.

The faculty at the school is very available for the students for such a large university. I haven’t had trouble finding time to talk with my professors during their office hours. The advisement office is always packed and if you want meaningful advice about what courses to take or really anything, you need to speak to people in your department. Still, I was  able to go in during registration and have a meeting with an advisor, and the whole process took under an hour. That’s not bad considering the size of the school.

The culture of the school is kind of bizarre, if you ask me. Walking around in the Newman building feels like rush hour on the subway. There are very few places to sit and study or have conversations with people. The library is dirty and always packed. Good luck trying to find a seat during busy school hours. Also, people go to the library to take naps, which I just find depressing when I am trying to study. The fact of it being a commuter school makes people even more antisocial. I have never been on a college campus, even a community college, where such a high percentage of the people you see are walking by themselves, with a frown on their face, getting from point A to point B as fast as they can, and then going home. I had an experience just the other day where a student offered me a flyer for her club and I didn’t even bother to make eye contact with her- I just kept walking like she was asking for donations on the street or something. I couldn’t believe myself! That is my fellow student, my peer, and I just blew her off like she was nobody! But walking around in the lobby of the school, I fall into the same mindset as walking around midtown Manhattan- cold, closed off, rushing, only thinking about myself.

That being said, you can make friends by going to clubs and joining sports teams etc.

My first semester here at Baruch was so much more fun than I expected. I thought because it was a commuter school that there would be no social activities going on, but I was totally wrong. I joined the swim team, and all the people on the team are really cool. They have parties all of the time and i love hanging out with them. There are so many places and so many people around to get inch with, the possibilities are endless.

As a business student, many of my fellow students and I think about the stock market. I think the stock market parallels life in many ways. The stock market, like life, has its ups and its downs. Sometimes you’re in a bull market, and other times you’re in a bear market. But, I never worry because just like life the stock market is upwardly trending and never stagnates for very long. We all have investors in our lives. The friends that we see often but don’t really know are the short term investors. They’re just there to have fun with you for a little while. The Warren Buffetts of our lives are the long term investors in us, the people who really believe in us and care for us.

College was not at all what I expected. I guess I wasn’t prepared enough for it. I mean, of course I knew it would be a lot harder than high school, but I don’t think I ever really mentally prepared myself. The first thing that I had to deal with was the actual length of the classes. Being used to having 45 minute classes and then transitioning to sitting in the same seat for an hour and a half is a big change; half way through the class i get a bit antsy and keep checking the time. When I look up at the clock and see that I still have about an hour left to go, I basically look like Ross in the meme above. Another thing that has been hard to transition to (and i’m not sure I’ve become completely adjusted yet), is the course load and length of papers. It’s way more than what i’m used to, and even though I know I can do it, it’s very overwhelming. When I was assigned my first 10 page paper I once again looked like Ross. When I was in high school I took pre-calc and even going from that pre-calc to pre-calc here at Baruch has been hard. I’m barely keeping up in class and for pretty much the entire duration of the class, I look like Ross does in this meme. While it’s happening it sucks, but when thinking about it, it’s pretty funny. Basically my entire college experience up to this point has been one big “oh wow” moment. It’s been interesting, but I can’t wait to see what comes next.

My first 3 months at Baruch have made me feel accomplished because I have been taking responsibility for myself and my assignments. However, it seems as if no matter how much I study and not procrastinate, I always ended up staying up until late at night trying to study even more. Lack of confidence, I can call it. I know that lack of sleep has affected my performance in exams, yet I continue to follow this pattern. I am trying to just rest for the upcoming exams.

Baruch has opened many doors for me. It has allowed me to understand well what works for me in studying and in life. It has provided me with time to organize myself and with enough freedom to explore. Baruch has given met the opportunity to meet new people and broaden my previous perspective on diversity. Truly awesome!

http://makeameme.org/media/created/No-Sleep-No.jpg

I think this meme perfectly describes my first semester in college because I literally have not had enough sleep at all. I come home from school around 9-10 PM everyday and I usually sleep at 3:00 AM on a good night.  Back in high school, I thought I had no sleep sleeping at 2:00 AM. College just took no sleep to a whole other level. I don’t drink coffee either so everyday I’m living off the energy from the people around me. I have so much work to do including presentations, papers, studying, and group work. The list just goes on and on. My parents are definitely concerned but at the same time, what can I do? I can’t sleep knowing that I still have so much work to do. So I lose sleep. I make up for it by sleeping in class which isn’t any better, but sleep is precious. Any opportunity to sleep, I’ll take it. The weekends are the absolute best, I love it. So yeah, that pretty sums up my first semester in college. Sleep-deprived.

By the time I finished high school, I didn’t do all that much to prepare myself for my first semester at Baruch. There wouldn’t be any other freshman that I personally knew and that was fine with me. I didn’t come here actively seeking out friends or people to talk to. I set myself standards that I knew would be my only focus throughout the semester. The only people I would need to talk to would be professors if I had any problem I thought I needed to bring up, or my cousin who is attending his 4th year at Baruch. It was a very simple formula and easy to follow, all I had to do was make sure I did the work and got the grades I was satisfied with. While I would much rather prefer better grades than what I’m getting in Calculus, I seem to be managing fine in my first semester here. Tests and homework is what the sum of my first semester can be added up to. And to manage that requires studying. I do not like to study, so I usually don’t. But when there’s only two other in class tests besides the final and the homework is averaged to its own test grade, I study until the leading moments before the test. I can say, as I’ve read a few others mention, that this semester feels a lot like high school. I thought high school was ok, and so far that’s my thoughts on Baruch as well. I can honestly say that I do like walking around the city just for the sake of walking. Well, I expect the rest of the semester to be the time I scramble to get a paper done and last minute studying. At least Thanksgiving is coming up. I’ll be thankful for another break.

This picture is from “15 Pics That Accurately Describe Studying” from collegecandy.com