Surviving College 101 Section: FTA

My name is Min Kyung Seong. I was born in Korea on December 9th 1992. I have no definite answer for the question, “Who do you think you are?”. My answers will vary as time goes by. My current answer to this question is different from my past answer. It will be also different in the future because of the concerns I have now.
In the past I was asked to answer the same question. Back then, this question was not difficult. I answered it very simply. I was an elementary kid with a bright personality. I was a good friend and a good daughter. When I was in elementary, I had no major experiences in my life. I was just a normal kid who likes to have fun. Now, I am a college student who had many experiences in life. I had happy moments and sad moments. I believe those experiences makes me who I am now. For example, if I had not attended Baruch College, I might have gone to Albany University. Then, I might have different experiences that could change me from who I am now.
I was excited about going to Baruch College, but at the same time, I was also worried. I was separated from my friends because we are all attending different colleges. I had to start all over again starting with making new friends. I always had difficulties with making new friends. But I think I’m doing fine now but, not satisfied. My second concern is the grades. The college work is harder than I thought. I have a feeling that I cannot be the same person as I was in high school if I want to do well in college. I was not a dedicated student in high school which laid me in the middle. I wasn’t a smart student but I also wasn’t a stupid one. I have to work hard in order to raise my grades. The third concern is the lateness. I am a very lazy person. When I first got my schedule, I was so worried about the morning classes. I tried my best to be on time but it is not working out. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying.
So far, I think I am enjoying my first year of college. Everything is new and I am excited about the changes it will bring me. I just wish this excitement lasts for long.

 Before I logged in my account, I was wondering whether I would be the last person of the entire seminar class to post this blog. Unfortunately, the thing I hate has really happened on me. I am not ashamed about being the last one, I am just fail to reach one of my goals, the goals that I set up for myself before I attended college. I was so confident to get all the goals done, now it seems like I was dreaming at the time I made those goals, finally I found out I am not awake yet at this moment. I am writing this blog right now, for nothing but completing the assignment, the original intention has gone already, and the following things I’m going to write have been meaningless for me.

The first concern during my college period should be time management. I was so naïve to think that there will be a change on me, I would be no longer a lazy student, the darkness in high school has gone, the assignment would not be done at the last minute by due day anymore. Eventually I’ve found out I couldn’t get rid of these weakness so far. I’ve been attending college for one month, I felt absolutely disappointed about myself, but there is still a hope, which I am hoping to reach this goal before I graduate fromBaruchCollege. It might take couple months or couple years, I don’t know, I will try my best effort to get this done!

My second concern is to have a good relationship with other students in Baruch. It’s usually more difficult for us, the Chinese immigrants, to build up a wide social network at college because of the language problem. So far I am still in trouble with this insistence, I believed I could make friends who do not speak Chinese, and finally it has became one of my beliefs……I am just able to communicate with those Chinese guys in my class, I am even uncomfortable to speak English, I have failed again. But the same conclusion as my first concern, I am doing my best to reach the goal. Even though this insistence is tough, it may take me ten years to overcome it, or maybe I couldn’t speak fluent English forever, I will never stop my steps forward.

The third concern is having a full attendance for every course, so far I’ve done a good job at this so I don’t want to spend time to talk about it. Not because I am lazy, the time now is 22:45 P.M, it’s about one hour to the deadline. After this I must study for my philosophy exam, I am rushing on everything and all the works can not be done unless I study overnight.

Who do I think I am? …… Who do you think I am?  ：）

To me, college is like taking a journey to find one’s self, not knowing where you will end up and what experiences you can gain. College is different from high school in many ways in which you are given more freedom to decide what path you want to take and it is your own responsibility to reach out and participate in the many opportunities given to you.

One of my main concerns about my freshman year at Baruch College is getting comfortable with the school and getting to know the resources available because unlike in high school, where you had some sort of guidance, it is up to yourself to get involved and get to know the resources and opportunities given to you and take advantage of them. Another concern from being a freshman in college is maintaining a good GPA.I feel that maintaining a good GPA is important because it opens up more opportunities and choices. In high school for example, those who achieved higher GPAs were rewarded with scholarships and opportunities at better Colleges while those with lower GPAs were given limited choices. In order to maintain a good GPA, one must show that they understand the subject and complete the assigned work within the given time. This leads me to my third concern in College, time management. I feel that time management will be my biggest concern in College because having been given all this extra time, I may slack off on my work and hold it off until the very end before completing it which may cause me to not do so well.

I am hoping that in my first year of College, I will be able to find out what I am interested in and decide on a major. Some changes that I expect from my first year of college is having to speak more in front of a large audience and making new friends in order to pass my time and have fun during my time in college.

In my opinion the question “Who Do You Think You Are?” is really meaningless, because the person who is sitting here and writing this blog is just me. Whatever I think shows how I interpret different things, whatever I do shows how I solve problems, and whatever I perform decides how people look at me.

I think I am just the person I am.

Now, as a college student, there are three top concerns about my freshman year at Baruch College.

Firstly, I have to develop self-study skill. When I was in high school, teachers usually taught us everything we supposed to know and summarized it for us, which made me spend just a little time to study at home. However at college, it’s on the opposite side. For every class, teacher assigns homework for us to read the next chapter on the text book. And then, on the next day, he just goes over the main idea with us and leaves everything else for us to figure out by ourselves instead of covering all of them. It forces me to spend a lot of time at home learning it by myself, which I would never have to do in high school. Therefore a self-study skill is very necessary at college, and I have to develop it as soon as possible.

Secondly, I have to develop my own social network. As a business student, although I need to study hard on my courses, it doesn’t mean I have to be a nerd. I should participate in many clubs and act energetically to make a lot of friends using my free time. Because when I graduate from college, get into the society and start my business, I need friends to help me in many different ways. For work, we can either share some information or corporate to do a project; for private, we can either hang out to relax ourselves or solve some personal problems if we need. Therefore I need to figure out the way of making friends and develop my own network.

Thirdly, I have to develop my time management skills. I am the kind of person who really knows how to waste time. I can spend whole day watching movies, chatting with my friends, or just lying on my bed without thinking anything. Then at the end of that day when I am ready to sleep, I feel so sorry about losing another day and hope I can get tomorrow fully used. But guess what? The same thing happens again on the next day. Therefore I always feel so stress out when there comes the deadline of some homework or project that is really important for the class. I have to change this situation right now, because if I keep doing this, I will definitely fail all my classes and harm my future plans.

I, a freshman at Baruch college, with three top concerns in mind, hope to change myself into a better way for my future.

My teacher from high school had once said “A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad”. I can assume that criminals would tell each other “don’t steal small, but steal big”. My intention of this quote is not to talk about the key to stealing but to express my main concerns regarding to my first year of college. College is where the painting of my future begins to be painted. Unlike high school, every year counts. The minute I stepped into Baruch, I gave myself 2 options: One is to do well by receiving at least a GPA of 3.3, and the other is to drop out. Of course, the option I have chosen is quite obvious. I am sure that I was ignorant like every other freshman. We believed that achieving the 3.3 average is simple. The first day of college caused me to rethink. The professors have already given me a glimpse of my college life.
My first concern is time management. Because professors are unaware about the work load we are responsible for, they continue to give out a great capacity of homework. Other than homework, we are also responsible for passing our exams. Homework is a “time consuming” activity that makes studying challenging. My second concern is adapting to the college environment. After spending 4 years in high school, transitioning from high school to college is difficult. The way the room numbers are label differ from how the rooms are organized in high school. My third concern is meeting new people. Baruch is a large building that holds over 1,000 people. This building consists of people of all ages. Due to the age gaps, I feel it is difficult to interact.
I expect to be more independent and mature. College provides obligations that are essential to fulfill. By doing so, I know that I continue to mature. Each and every day, I a given a challenge, fulfilling them allows me to feel a sense of achievement. Other than maturing, I expect to be more responsible. Ever since high school, I procrastinated and studied the day before the exam day. Cramming in college is unlike high school. The chance of passing in high school through cramming is 70%. Cramming in college can only guarantee a 40% chance of passing. As you can tell, the method that is used in high school can not be reused in college. This provides a greater challenge.

     Who do I think I am? In general, I am just one of the freshmen in Baruch College. I live in Brooklyn. Like many students in Baruch, I am also a Chinese immigrant, who is not fluent in English. Compare with my people in Baruch, I think the major I plan to take can make me special. After several weeks of college, I find out that many people want to major in accounting. I used to have a plan for accounting as well. However, people can be influenced by others. As I took economic in my high school senior year, I am deeply interested in this subject. Therefore, I will extend to study it in Baruch. May be my major can make my identity.

     Before you adapt yourself into a new environment, you definitely would have some kinds of concerns. Mostly, concerns are caused by strangeness. Baruch’s community is still strange for me. I don’t know how many departments it has, how can I get help from school, and I can I have fun at school. Because everything is unknown for me, I feel kind of lost. Hopefully, after the first semester, I can remove this concern from my mind. The second concern is how to make a balance for college. In high school, we just need to go to school and listen to the teachers. However, we need to figure out almost everything by ourselves now. When should we study? How much time do we need to spend? How to make a balance between schoolwork and other personal work, such as part-time job, friendship, etc.  I am afraid that I can’t make a right balance and will face a bad consequence as a result. As a student, who does not care about his grade? My third concern is about my grade. I heard many people said that it’s hard to get an A in college, since C means average. Therefore, I concerns that I may end up with C grade in most class. Moreover, I don’t really know how I can get good grade in college. Everything is just unknown. In high school, you just need to follow the teachers. Then you will be fine. However, college is different. You need to work in your own way even you don’t know what is the right track.

     My first year in college may help me to make a transition into adulthood, which means I need to grow up my self-responsibility and independence. Hopefully, it can change my positively and make me better off in the next three years.

To think who am I. I think I am a pessimistic optimist. Why do I say that? First I am a pessimist; sometimes bigger the expectation, the bigger the disappointment so I always think about and prepare for the worst. On the other hand, I am the optimist. Even though I feel pessimistic in many things, I would be optimistic to deal with them, because I have prepared for the worst. When the bad consequences come to me, I would accept that results with peace of mind. Meanwhile I still believe that things could not be the worst if I try my best. Finally, I think a pessimist could lead optimistic life.

The three top concerns about my freshman year at Baruch College are friendship, transition, and grades. The development of friendship is the highest concern for me in the first year at the college. As a freshman, I need help in many ways, so I must make friends with others. The college courses are more difficult than high school. I as well can make a study group with my friends to help each other in homework, research papers. The second one is to make a transition between high school and college. In college, everything is new for me, I need fit in the college ASAP. For fitting in the college life, I also must make friends with others. The last, The last, I want to have a good GPA in my first college year, because well began is half done, and that can also build confidence in myself. confidence is important for me in the rest of college year.

In my opinion, the most significant thing can make my Baruch College exprience different from my high school experience is that we are more depending on our own self-study skill. In the high school, teachers could spend more time helping us. I think it is good to cultivate ours independence in the college. We need to learn to use the resoure to help ourselves.

I think my first year at college would make me more independent. I think I will manage my time more effectively.

“Be myself, everyone else is already taken.”

I think who I am depends on different time and different people. Sometimes, I hope I can Google how different people feel about me. I think I am a unique Chinese live in New York City. I know I always make mistakes, but I am proud to be me, and I am willing to experience more tastes in my life. I am a freshman in Baruch College. I graduated from Lower East Side Prep High School and I went to Lewiston High School in Maine when I first came to the United States. This part of background makes me differ from everyone. I am generally a quiet person to strangers, but I am kind of chatty after knowing the person. I play basketball at my spare time and I like spending time on movies and chatting with my friends on internet. I have a quite positive attitude when I deal with all kinds of trouble.  I am engaged to learn new things, but then I lack of patient to explore the new knowledge when things go too complicated or go beyond the topic. I speak English as my second language as many fellow students. I see life is full of stories. While I am experiencing unique story, I am getting wiser and mature to keep on good work.

I feel restless but excited in the first month of my freshman year at Baruch College. The top three concerns about my freshman year here are, adjusting myself into college life, making friends, and looking for my interest in career path. I always hesitate when I am going to make decision. I see things have so many possibilities and I would do my best to make it good.  As I look forward to knowing more people, I could not step outside my comfort zone. The first thing i have to adjust, is I receive tons of reading for homework which alerts me I have to improve my reading speed and understand the content. Study is on my own and professors would no longer ask me to study but the grade would automatically reflects my work. Secondly, I want to make more friends in the freshman year at Baruch College because I need friends. Lastly, I think it’s time to plan for future and get to know more about myself. I believe I will discover my interests of my life throughout the freshman year at college.

I think college life is totally different than high school. College students are more eager to study and college constantly contributes a better learning atmosphere for its students. The first thing came up my mind when I think of the differences between college and high school is time management. I recognize I have a poor time management skill in the first month at college. I try to arrange my time so that I can put the most effort into study.

At last, I think my first year at Baruch College will change me to be an independent and responsible person. In particular, I think I would improve my reading and writing skill within the freshman year. And I am going to enjoy the college life.

  I am an ordinary student study inBaruchCollege, and also my name is common among people, I often meet people who have the same name with me, but I am unique in the world. I firmly believe that everyone is different from the other people; there will not be two people exactly the same, even if they are twins. Everyone is unique in the world. I am optimistic, I am sanguine, I never fear hardships, I try my best to do everything, and I never give up. I play a lot role in my life. Though I am not perfect, still I am the only one in the world.

   About my first freshman year inBaruchCollege, for me the most concern is how to pass all the classes and maintain a high GPA. It is the challenge to my English. My English is poor, but the classes demand a richer and more subtle mastery of the English, I do not have enough confidence about that. I need to build up my confidence in college. My second concern is about time management. Because I always think the time is not enough for me to do all the study. I should learn to how to use my time effectively. My third concern is about the major that I should choose. I only know that I want the major in business, but I am not sure which one of it. I am equivocal in this case, but I think it is very important for my future, so I need to make a decision after long deliberation. I hope I will figure it out soon.

   I think my high school experience seems to much easier than the college experience. The college is much different from the high school; it needs to do a lot work on our own initiative. For example, there are many reading materials we need to read everyday, it makes me become dizzy and lose my bearings. I spend a lot time in doing homework, and writing the essay. It seems to I can not finish all of them forever, but I will never give up, and I will keep trying and trying.  In the high school, the teachers teach us how to learn, but in the college, the professors teach us how to think. We need to figure out many things by ourselves. I will make efforts to do all my work well.

  I think the college  life will make me become more industrious and independent. My life may be more colorful in the college. Sooner or later, my dream will come true one day.