Student Profile
Jessalin
- Class: Sophomore
- Major: Business
- Gender: F
- High School: Arlington High School
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
The best thing about Baruch is the opportunities it provides. We have an excellent career center that helps students find jobs and internships. This secures your future to know you have people helping you gain experience with something relating to your major. In addition, we also have a tutoring service, a writing center, mock interviews, resume reviews, etc. that are useful for students. Baruch is a satisfying size in my opinion because I would not be happy with a small school where everyone knows each other. I like the feeling that you can meet someone new almost everyday. When I tell people I go to Baruch, they immediately link it with business and my friend from Cornell even told me she heard that the prestige for Baruch is becoming better. There are not that many buildings for Baruch because there are the 23rd building which is also the same building the high school is in, the Vertical Campus (VC) building of fourteen floors that consists of a majority of classes and activities, and the library building across from the VC. Baruch is not exactly a town because it is located in Manhattan, the mid-town areas of 25th street and Lexington Avenue. People come and go and remain in a rush just like the rest of New York City residents because people seem to be living in a fast-paced world which is also witnessed at Baruch of people running to their next class or appointments. A big complaint at Baruch would be in the VC when you have to rush to class. Make sure you have at least 15 minutes to spare if your class is on the 11th floor or higher unless you plan to run up/down the stairs (which you might have to because the main elevators only stop on the 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 11th floor) because it is really crowded as we have to wait for elevators and people are jam-packed, squeezing their way just to fit in an elevator. Moreover, our escalators are frequently broken causing a traffic jam of people.
Academic Life
The classes at Baruch vary from large lecture classes that fit about 500 students, medium-sized ones with an estimated 100 students, or ones that may consist of 18. For the largest lecture classes of 300 to 500 students, such as business or accounting classes, recitation classes are required which are for the same class, but with less people in it. These recitation classes are aimed to assist students with more attention and time to understand the material. In my opinion, professors at Baruch will know your name if you want them to by participating or speaking to them often. In addition, Baruch has a system they call ÒLearning CommunityÓ that is open for freshmen in order to help students feel more welcome as it is their first semester in college. It is optional to be in a learning community because other students may enjoy having a mix of people in their classes rather than being limited to the same people everyday due to being assigned every class together, so it varies for each individual. As for me, I was part of a Learning Community (LC 17) with about eighteen students in the group because I wanted to see how I liked it. While others knew people from high school around the city whom also attend Baruch, I did not know anyone in my college since I came from Arlington High School located in LaGrangeville, NY. Overall, the benefits of a learning community is that we were assigned a peer mentor who is also a Baruch student to help us with any questions, we all went out for dinner (including the students, peer mentor, and professors) and also planned other events under Baruch expenses. My major is marketing and I plan to minor in Graphic Design. Currently, as a sophomore I have finished all of the Pre-Business requirements (Accountancy, Computer Information System, Economics, English, Law, Math, Communication, and Statistics) in order to apply for our Zicklin School of Business. Luckily, a friend advised me to take these classes before the classes required for graduation (Philosophy, History, Sciences, etc.) because it is best to get into Zicklin School of Business as soon as possible in order to start taking business classes immediately. Since it is a business school, I think it can be pretty competitive here. Students often ask each other and compare GPAs or only talk to you in class for homework help. This does not bother me because I am happy at Baruch College and believe our academic requirements are fair enough because the education from the classes of your major can help a lot.
Student Body
Many students in Baruch tend to have English as their second language. For me, coming from Poughkeepsie being one of the few minorities in my high school, it is wonderful to see the vast diversity of students in our college. As I mentioned earlier, many students tend to dress Òbusiness casualÓ with dress pants, a blouse, etc. or even suits if they are coming from work/interview. ThereÕs also a mixture of styles in Baruch from just the hoodies and jeans to cute skirts, heels, leggings, and more. It is New York City, so people have their own fashion style and I love it because I remember when I visited friends at SUNY Albany, most students just wear their PJs to class or hoodie and jeans while I was there wearing a skirt and leggings definitely appearing as a visitor. In my Literature class, my professor made everyone tells the class where they are from and it is amazing to hear all the different countries and their stories of how and when they moved to the U.S. Furthermore, classes may range from 7:50am to 10pm at night and night classes are usually when you see adults in their thirties or older coming back to school for class. It is interesting to see that and I think it is a great opportunity that is provided from New York City colleges such as Baruch. Lastly, students do talk about what they make because money is a significant factor for our future lives. Though, it is usually sophomores or upperclassmen who tend to talk more about what they make because they were the ones closer to their career
