Author: a.mian1

Throughout the semester, I was having trouble with calculus. Although I did well on my first exam, I did not end up doing so well in the second exam. It seemed like everyone in class did poorly on that test. I realize that the topics in class were only going to get harder. I was slightly discouraged but I remembered that Baruch offers tutoring services through SACC, Student Academic Consulting Center. I was determined to get some help so I made an appointment with a tutor for one hour. It was a group tutoring session, in which I was sitting with two other students and the tutor in one table. We each asked the tutor one question in a constant cycle. The tutor would handle each individual question by working it out on the whiteboard. I specifically asked questions about marginal analysis, antiderivatives, integrals, and derivatives of logarithmic functions. Most of my questions came from previous homeworks that I never really asked about in class. The tutor was able to solve all my questions and even clear up some confusion I had with some of these topics. I definitely would say it was a good experience and I will surely come back for any other questions I have, regarding future math topics. I have a clearer understanding of antiderivatives and integrals now because the tutoring session helpedme brush up on the fundamentals of these topics. The only bad part about the tutoring session was how short it felt. I do not think an hour is enough but I will be sure to schedule more sessions for future notice. Lastly, I believe that these tutoring sessions are a great resource at Baruch and there should not be any excuses for my third calculus test. I have so many tools to help me understand the actual material.

A few weeks ago, I attended an event called, Making Bank With Social Media, held by a club called, Chit Chat. This event was very interesting and I am glad that I went. There were different speakers at the event that had made presentations in different ways in which you could profit from social media. One of the speakers explained the importance of LinkedIn. In fact that same speaker owns a company in which they help other companies market through LinkedIn. I also learned that LinkedIn is a very useful resource in finding a possible employer. LinkedIn will help create a first impression of yourself to possible employers and will highlight your most valuable skills. Furthermore I learned that social media is the marketing tool for a lot of companies. Some of the speakers at the event were entrepreneurs themselves and spoke about how they use social media first hand to help their businesses grow. In one case, there was an entrepreneur who owned a fashion company, in which he specifically made bags. He explained how he used his pictures on social media, specifically Instagram, to advertise his product. It was great branding for him. With the power of social media, consumers were able to look at the company’s products and show interest in it, eventually spreading the picture to other people. The product can then expand among different people on Instagram. I think the event was very useful because I definitely admire entrepreneurship and I feel like social media is the driving force in a lot of new startup companies. Instagram, Facebook, snapchat, etc are all platforms in which companies can really build their brands and spread the word about their company. I heard a lot of entrepreneurs speak and it was very inspiring. It also made me think about how much I take social media for granted because it can indeed be used to help generate money.

Fear is a crippling idea that hinders growth and success. So many thoughts in our mind stop us from doing what we want because we are sometimes scared of what might happen. I believe it is better to regret something you did rather than something you did not. Sadhguru has an interesting take on fear. According to him fear is all the things you think may happen in your mind, that which are nonexistent, which means we are at socially accepted levels of insanity. We are basically believing in things that do not exist today in our reality. Your imagination is the basis of your fear, and that consists of what happened yesterday and what may happen tomorrow, either way it is not rooted with the present time. The way I see it, life is constantly moving, I don’t want to waste all my life thinking, “What if?” People may grow up in fear but I make the conscious decision not to fear anything, and as a result, I will hope to experience my life to the fullest extent possible.

On October 3rd, I attended club fair. I went to club fair to try to find some clubs for me to join and get excited about. Me and my friends went and it was actually pretty fun. There was a live DJ playing music and there were a lot of clubs with cool visual presentations that describe their club. I went to all the clubs I could, partially because most of the clubs were giving out candy but there was a lot of interesting clubs out there. I actually signed up for the Latin American Student Organization, even though I am not latino whatsoever. To be honest I signed up because the students said that they would have dance workshops and I secretly want to learn how to bachata and salsa. Another club I signed up for was UNICEF, I thought it would be a good idea to sign up for some community service club because those are very respectable organizations, as well as a great outlet to help people in need. I also signed up for Muslim Student Association because I am actually muslim and felt like that would be a good way to balance religion with everything else that I am doing in life. I also wanted to get involve in something cultural because personally I feel like I lack a serious connection for my culture, so the closest thing I could find was the South Asian Student Organization. I talk to the students that run the organization and it was nice because some of them were from Pakistan, like me, and we had a few things in common, like the language and food we eat. They were giving out fake tattoos and I decided to get one on my wrist. Overall, I had fun at club fair. I was able to explore different clubs that were based off of different interests.

I attended a general interest meeting for Beta Alpha Psi on Thursday on September 7. Since it was my second week at Baruch College, I wanted to get involve and see where I fit in this school. So a bunch of my friends were going to go to the general interest meeting for Beta Alpha Psi and I decided to tag along. So I attended the general interest meeting and learned that in a nutshell, Beta Alpha Psi is a fraternity that represents brotherhood and professionalism. I was very intrigued from the presentation. Members of the fraternity were explaining how their organization is filled with successful members that are in high positions at companies, such as Deloitte, J.P Morgan, Chase, etc. They explained how they offer a great networking opportunity, as well as extensive workshops that help build professionalism. One of there main goals in their organization is to provide students with the tools to get the corporate job they have always dreamed about as well as giving them the fun experience that college has to offer. The potential opportunities definitely seemed enticing to me. Imagine working for some of the major companies, it is certainly an exciting thought. With everything that Beta Alpha Psi brings to the table, they have some requirements that I must meet to even be considered a valid applicant for their organization. To be a serious candidate for Beta Alpha Is, I would have to submit my high school transcript, attend other Beta Alpha Si events, and also complete an application before a certain due date. I still have to attend other club meetings and figure out which organization best suits me, but Beta Alpha Psi definitely left an impression on me, and over the next fews day I will seriously consider be a possible new member.