Author: Oscar Garcia

Last Wednesday I went to the Student Academic Counseling Center to speak with an advisor there on programs to catch me up and ensure my success in math. I didn’t do well on the math entrance exam for Baruch so am required to take the math immersion course. I asked about this course and how and when I could take it since I was unable to take it last summer. Luckily the course is offered during winter break so I will be able to take it then so I will finally be able to take a math course in the spring. Since I struggle heavily in math once I finish the immersion program I talked with the advisor for what my next steps will be. To be able to catch up in math I need to take courses over the summer which isn’t ideal for me but I don’t want to be required to graduate late so it will be necessary for me to complete them during summer school. The courses will be college algebra and another math fundamentals course. If I take these then I should be on track to finish pre-calc and calculus before the end of my sophomore year so I can make it into the Zicklin School of Business. Going to the Student Academic Counseling Center was an important step for me in my academic career. I went into this school thinking I was screwed because of how far behind I am in math but even though I’m behind the SACC visit has showed me that there are a lot of options for me to finish my math requirements and improve my skills in the process by making use of numerous tutoring programs. I feel a lot more confident in getting through the math program in Baruch and now just need to figure out how I’m going to pay for all of this…

I joined the Ticker Club on Tuesday because I was interested in writing for our school newspaper. I’ve always enjoyed writing as a hobby so it will be good to put it to good use in a club and have other people read my writing. This piece that I’m writing now isn’t a good example of what I’ll be writing because this isn’t fun but I’ll be writing about science and business which I personally think is a bit more interesting than writing why I joined a school club.  I most likely won’t be able to write a whole lot of articles since I go to school and work full-time but perhaps after midterms are over I’ll have more opportunity to do so. I also hope I don’t have as many technical issues with the paper as I do with this blog because I thought this was posted on Wednesday but when I went to check it was missing so not one-hundred percent sure what happened there.

Anyways I think being a part of the school newspaper will be a helpful aspect of my school career because it’ll be nice to be a part of something bigger than myself in college. Our paper is really cool because of how professional it is at least compared to the school paper from my high school which was only one large sheet of paper, not a real paper paper like The Ticker. All the people I met at the paper were really nice and encouraging and I look forward to working on my writing with them and giving them interesting articles to post. I’m happy to have this new experience with Baruch and look forward to having my writing published.

I went to the Metropolitan museum of art a few days ago for my Freshman Seminar academic blog assignment. The museum is only a few blocks from my residence hall so it wasn’t too difficult to find. I paid $5 for my ticket because I would feel bad only paying $1, it felt beneath me even though I’m a poor college student.

The first exhibit I went to was the World War One exhibit. I went there because I can get extra credit in history for writing a short paper on the exhibit so that was a plus of the experience. The exhibit provided an interesting look into the changing art forms and takes on war during the course of the ordeal.

Next, I needed pictures for my art class so I went to the contemporary and European sections for pictures. First I took pictures of some of the abstract Jackson Pollock pieces they had; it was interesting seeing them in person for the first time. I then took a photo of an Edward Hopper painting and, my personal favorite, Van Gogh. I took a lot of photos of his art and was most excited to see his paintings because he’s always been my favorite painter. Plus I needed to do an enrichment workshop for this class so all around it was a pretty productive experience.

All in all, this was a helpful experience for my freshman integration into college. Besides getting a lot of work done for classes I also got some valuable experience outside of my dorm and classroom. This was especially good for me as I didn’t grow up in New York and it was nice to have some time to explore the city a bit more. I’ll most likely end up going to the museum at least one more time my freshman year as I enjoy art and history and would like to spend some more time exploring.

Sidenote: The only reason this is getting submitted right before class is that it was done yesterday but this website deleted it the last time I submitted it so I had to rewrite it.