FRO 14 DTF

My experience at Baruch College during the first week, wasn’t academically challenging, but definetly was financially stressful. Collectively all the textbooks I need to obtain for the first semester, added up to about $500.00. That was $500.00 that I didn’t have, so what I did was some intensive research to find the eBook version for all my textbooks. Fortunately, for my first semester I was successful in finding ALL the textbooks I needed and in total spent about $10.00 on books (the book that I actually bought was rather old and I couldn’t find it on the internet). I think I did pretty good cutting my textbook expenses 98%. Ultimately, this meme is the completely representative of not only my first semester, but college for every undergraduate and especially graduate students. Hopefully, next semester and the rest to follow, it’ll be this easy for me to find online versions of my textbooks; online textbooks, relieves my pockets as well as my back pains.

This second meme is pretty random from the first, but I found this one very true as well. The reality in this meme is hilarious because it can’t be any closer to the truth.

Both of these meme came for tumblr:

https://www.tumblr.com/search/college+meme+

http://http://attndotcom.tumblr.com/post/86834631568/and-then-you-get-to-sell-it-back-for-10-at-the

Although the meme is an exaggeration, the truth is that textbooks are expensive. And as an incoming freshmen I was all to eager to buy all of the recommend readings and texts with the hope that it will help me do better in my classes. But, I soon realized that a textbook is often not needed and if it is don’t be to quick to buy it, especially from the school book store.Within the first few weeks of school I saw that many of the classes that I am taking don’t actually require a textbook, regardless of what was written on the syllabus. Then I know that when I will try to re sell the textbooks to at least make back some of the money I spent, I will only receive a small portion of the price I originally paid.

My first three months at Baruch have been fun and i have been able to make a lot of friends.  The picture above is not just a joke i have done it before and believe me you will not wake up after 12 minutes of napping.  Baruch is very stressful but i know that in the longrun it will payoff.  I look to the senior and ask them how they did 4 years of this and they all told me drink a lot of alcohol and do a lot of drugs.  I feel like the clubs and orgs help a lot when you first enter Baruch and it helped me a lot. I feel like this Fro class help a lot in my transition from high school to college and i learned a lot in this class pertaining to various things that the school offers.

I feel that so far my first semester at Baruch has been pretty great. I have made some new friends and I have learned a lot from some amazing professors. I definitely am having a fun time here. I feel that the most pressure comes from the same exact thing that has caused pressure in previous schools and that is to get good grades. Grades are really important and it’s important to keep getting good scores on all of my tests and quizzes. College is definitely a huge challenge and it’s probably one of the biggest challenges I have faced in my lifetime so far. The classes are difficult, especially math! I know that if I continue to work hard that it will become easier with time. I’m looking forward to the rest of my time here at Baruch.

So you can tell I don’t like math.  It’s True, but don’t get  me wrong, I had an amazing first semester.  Through out my high school career I just breezed by.  Teachers always said “college is nothing like high school.”  I tried to have the best summer I could and prepared to have no life over the fall semester.  I begin my first week realizing that my teachers  were right, it’s actually so much better!  Although there is no hand holding and the lies you told high school teachers to get better grades don’t work, it matures you. I like all my classes for the most part and I actually get better grades then I did in high school.   I also love the freedom and the free time we get.  I love just walking out to go to the bathroom.  I love being in this great city, that everyday is like a new adventure. I am also able to balance my job, school, and my social life.  As always with all the good comes the bad.  While I am thriving in all my classes, that excludes math.  I study as much as I can.  I answer questions and get help.  The day before the exam I went to two different tutors and still got a 54 on the exam.  Math is just something I can’t do.  It’s as if my brain isn’t capable.  (Of course I would  pick the school that would make me go up to calculus.)  The  way the numbers work there is no way I’m not going to pass this class,but it still doesn’t ruin my semester.  I’ve had so much success in so many other areas that I can’t let one subject ruin my experience.  Last and most important are the people I met.  I have an incredible group of friends that are always there for me.  If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be as positive as I am now.  If it wasn’t for their support I would have probably quit because of math. I’ve also met a great group of people in my block.  I first though having a block was stupid, but I grew to like it.  Block 20 is filled with amazing, funny people that are a joy to be around.  So, while what we learn in class may be just 2+2=4; at least after test I’ll  have Chris, Stephanie, and Kyle to laugh with me about calculating the mass of the sun.

These first few months have been alright. They turned out to be better than expected and I am hoping it stays that way. Baruch has not been 100% easy but pretty manageable for the most part. I’ll admit I was a bit worried at first that I wouldn’t enjoy my time here seeing as how it wasn’t my first choice or even in my top three, but I think I’ve changed my mind. There are some great people here and I’ve had some great classes which makes the other stuff tolerable. The next few years will be interesting and I am curious to see what happens but I think we’re off to a good start.

One of the most challenging things for me to accomplish this semester was to have a good sleeping schedule. its been nights where i could not go to sleep not only because i had homework due and i chose to do it last minute; but because earlier in the day i took a nap during school. My schedule this semester did not fit me at all, I had to come to school early and leave late. Anytime i was able to slip in a little nap i would take it. Now I am working on a better sleeping schedule to fit me during the remaining weeks of the semester. Hopefully next semester, my school schedule would allow me to get a good night rest.

I can say with one hundred percent certainty that math is the hardest and most grueling work I have at Baruch. It causes a great deal of stress due to the sheer amount of time, and effort it can take to solve even one problem. However the real struggle comes from the fact that if you get even one thing wrong you will know the kind of frustration and impotence usually reserved for mental patients, and the poor, innocent, and naive young people who arrive at the DMV for the first time. The way I would explain math class these days to someone who for some reason has never been to one is this: you go through the door, you get your mind blasted with more information than you can process at once, you leave to spend the rest of the day trying to figure out what happened, and then repeat the previous three steps. I realize that some people like math in addition to being good at it, and to that all I can say is that I’m glad somebody can deal with it because quite frankly I don’t want to. If I could say one thing about my thoughts about my next semester its this: I’ve lived through nearly thirteen years of math classes…. bring it.

This sums up my first college semester.  Don’t get me wrong sometimes there are nights when I don’t get any work at all, but when I do I sometimes tend to procrastinate or leave it to the last minute.  I mean everyone procrastinates when it comes to writing a paper or doing homework because come on who wants to do it.  So far I’ve managed to survive the semester by procrastinating and leaving some things till the last minute, but I know I’m going to have to change that for semesters in the future.  I did expect college to be a lot harder but I know I got a lot in store.  My first semester was great and very fun.  I am looking forward to the next semester and I’m hoping that it is just like the first semester.

http://www.liberty.edu/undergrad/index.cfm?PID=24044&ID=628476

This pretty much describes this semester for me. Procrastination and studying have been my biggest issue. Not studying until the day before a test is what I’ve been doing. Even now with finals coming up, I seem to be waiting until the last few days to study. I’ve managed to survive the semester by pulling all nighters to finish papers or just staying up to read the book I have a quiz on the next day. Other than the papers I seem to have every week, I thought college would be worse. I’m not saying it’s easy, but I expected college to be a lot harder. Other than procrastinating, I think I’ve had a pretty decent first semester. I look forward to next semester and hopefully it goes as smoothly as the first one.