<p>What do you love to do? Because admissions isn’t all numbers. I’m pretty sure they don’t just have a function and add it all up and then rank everyone. There is the whole essay part too. You say you need special EC’s, well, they’re different for everyone. Obviously, if you were a varsity athlete that would help. Maybe if you had John Wall’s basketball ability that could overcome your HS stats. But maybe sports isn’t your thing. The key is to find something you love doing, and then putting that in an essay will be easy.</p>
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<p>I will definitely devote the first semester or so to just getting used to the courses, but tbh 4.0 won’t take much effort from me just because I’m really determined at this point.</p>
<p>I know one shouldn’t go hunting for ECs just to put it on the application. But I don’t know where to start at a commuter campus with very little involvement. I’ve seen a lot of the applications of people on this board and a lot of them contain ECs that I could’ve participated in (e.g., national competitions, contests, awards, etc.) if I actually knew where to find them.</p>
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<p>My main issue is that if I let everything take its course, the fact that Baruch is a commuter school will take over. I’ll get into the habit of going home (or into the city) right after class and I’ll forget about ECs. And I can’t really find activities that interest me in such a school, either. I just want an award of some kind. Should I just find a random contest and win it (of course I’m not going to do it if it doesn’t interest me)?</p>
<p>I don’t understand how people interested in government can get some internship for a senator or something. Where do you GO to find these things? Is it luck? Do freshmen and sophomores typically get internships?</p>
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<p>I’d play sports if I was tall enough for basketball. I already understand your point though. I just don’t know where to find them (the ECs).</p>
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<p>Why would that be the case? Between the Baruch campus and your home is the entire rest of the world. </p>
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<p>It ALWAYS takes a lot of effort. Determination goes a long way but not nearly long enough to be a surrogate for some good ol’ effort. If you were truly determined, you’d make the most of this last semester of HS. What’s stopping you from getting a 97 this term? What’s really stopping you?</p>
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<p>As attractive as athletics may sound, the vast majority of college students are non-athletes, or at least non-athletes in the sense that they don’t compete on an organized collegiate level. Since that’s the case, how did the other 85% or w/e percentage of students get in?</p>
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<p>It’s usually connections. If you don’t have em, tough luck but then again, the number of people who have worked as senatorial interns is a bit bigger than the number of basketball players better than John Wall but not that much bigger. The same logic applies: how did the other 99.7% of college students, the ones who didn’t intern for Senators get in?</p>
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<p>I still don’t see your point beyond the one you made about “you’ll fall into a habit of going straight home.”
If you were to enroll at NYU this coming fall, how would things be different? I mean all other things being considered, NYU isn’t much of a residential campus itself, and it’s all of mile or so away from Baruch.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, besides the conspicuity in that you wouldn’t want to/need to transfer if it were the case, how would attending Columbia affect your EC’s?</p>
<p>You’d still have to look, right?</p>
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<p>That’s what sucky intramural teams are for.</p>
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<p>For that particular example, the Senator’s website. Figure out where your interest lies, then pick a prominent person or organization in that field and see what they have to offer for undergraduates. If your resume’s empty, start small. I basically called my Assemblyman and asked if I could volunteer. They’re not gonna say no to an offer to work for no money. You don’t have to be charmed or something to land an internship, just persistent.</p>
<p>Oh geez, this entire time I thought you were already at Baruch and was miserable here.</p>
<p>You want to make yourself stand out? You can do it. There are plenty of organizations here, and sure, they may not tickle your fancy, but you are more than welcome to join. This year, there is a whole “Fix Baruch” campaign started by the student government. They want to revolutionize the school. Join it. Make it better. Make your own organization, whatever. </p>
<p>And if you don’t want to associate with Baruch too much (I know I don’t), do something big outside of school. Find a cause you support and volunteer. Do something that says “I’m not just some CUNY student.”</p>
<p>You don’t have to stay in Baruch for 2 years. If you dislike the school that much, you’re free to apply to transfer for your second semester freshman year. But if you want to stay in Baruch and shine, stay for at least a year. Speak to an advisor about taking honors courses. I know it’s possible for non-honors students. There is also CUNY BA which allows you to take CUNY courses outside of Baruch.</p>
<p>Do whatever it takes to make your time at Baruch tolerable and productive. Sure, I understand when you say you’re at a disadvantage because of your poor HS stats and because you’re coming from Baruch, which not the best college in the world. There is more to life than just school and if you are convinced that your numbers aren’t strong, show them that your actions are.</p>
<p>^ As nice and motivational as mgm91’s post is, there are some inaccuracies in the information presented that I’d like to clarify.</p>
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<li><p>“Fix Baruch” is not the name of a campaign undertaken by the current Undergraduate Student Government (USG) at Baruch; it’s the name of a political party running for control of USG against the incumbent New Baruch Alliance party. In any case, student government, along with a wide array of student organizations at Baruch are surprisingly active despite Baruch being a commuter school. It doesn’t suck nearly as much as you think it does. Maybe you should try to work with the USG, and with a club or two that strike your fancy in order to get involved on campus. Within the club(s), work to get an executive-board position, and also consider running for an elected position in USG in your second year if you choose to involve yourself with USG in your first year.</p></li>
<li><p>Mgm91 actually sort of pointed out a great way for you to distinguish yourself from fellow non-honors Baruchians. You should very much focus not just on getting a 4.0, but also on becoming a Provost Scholar. Provost Scholars are essentially regular Baruch students who become honors students while at Baruch (there are only about 10(?) or so Provost Scholars – mostly because most students are unaware of what it even is). From what I hear, it’s a pain in the ass to go through the process of becoming one, but definitely worth it since it’ll allow you to show your target transfer schools that you’ve truly matured, take your academics more seriously in college, and are trying to make the most of Baruch’s resources. Here’s some more info: [Admission</a> to the Honors Program for students who are currently enrolled at Baruch College — Baruch College Honors Program](<a href=“http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/honors/prospective-students/currently-enrolled-at-baruch/]Admission”>http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/honors/prospective-students/currently-enrolled-at-baruch/). You had best talk to your advisor and everyone else necessary as soon as possible to get started on the process. Just know that even the things that look simple to do in the process, such as taking at least one honors course before applying to become a Provost’s Scholar, are difficult to do because of all of the crap you have to go through to get permission to register for honors classes as a non-honors student. Again, in my opinion, for your case it’s definitely worth it.</p></li>
<li><p>What mgm91 refers to as a CUNY BA is actually an E-permit, which allows you to register for classes at other CUNYs. A CUNY BA is actually a separate degree course for CUNY students who wish to take classes all over after their 60th credit at a certain school – these students are independent of any campus after the 60th credit, and graduate with a CUNY BA degree. Going back to the E-permit, like everything at a large school, getting an E-permit involves a lot of red-tape, and isn’t really worth it unless you REALLY REALLY want/need to take a course your campus doesn’t offer.</p></li>
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<p>A general word of advice: I’ve seen your posts, and you gotta calm down and be a little optimistic. There’s a lot of negativity and frustration in your posts. Relax a bit, and everything will slowly work itself out if you stay focused, take initiative, and try to be positive about the next two years.</p>
<p>OK, this is a bit confusing. All the “arms” listed above seem to be out of reach. My impression on the points of student gov’t, honors, and the “e-permit” in CUNY is this:</p>
<p>(1) it is hard for underclassmen to be involved in leadership positions
(2) it is hard for underclassmen to register as they do not have first priority; athletes, honors students, and upperclassmen do, so how do I sign up for an honors class then? (Although I got notice of the full-tuition Dean’s scholarship; the letter says I have priority in selecting courses, though I feel that’s just to lure me in because I’m overqualified for Baruch…can anyone informed comment?)
(3) You said a CUNY BA is available upon completion of the 60th credit, which clearly doesn’t apply to underclassmen.</p>
<p>Not to say that I’m particularly interested in some of these things, but if they aren’t available to me I have no reason to feel optimistic…</p>
<p>However I am interested in an honors course. How can underclassmen sign up if they aren’t given first priority? Is it even possible to get one as a regular freshman? If not, what is an example of a rigorous courseload (name specific classes if you can)?</p>
<p>Just because you’re not priority doesn’t mean there won’t be any slots open when you go to register.</p>
<p>Can honors courses be taken outside of say, an honor program? I know here they’re only open to those in the Honors College.</p>
<p>Just curious.</p>
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<p>Are you asking to me or are you interested yourself? The link above says I need to take an honors course to be enrolled in the honor program. That is why I am confused.</p>
<p>I don’t understand these resources–honors, scholarships, etc. Are they supposed to be offered to me during orientation or something, or do I have to request it? When I do a simple Google search, nothing is to be found. I read about someone that was offered the Provost scholarship at some SUNY. I wish everything was just offered to me in a list and I could just check it off…</p>
<p>I was asking if you knew. Ok, I can’t advise you on a school I don’t go to, but I can tell you what I do know. </p>
<p>How it works here? You get INVITED to join the Honors College, and you can also apply to it, too, as long as you agree to maintain a 3.5 GPA. You also have to get invited to the other various Honors programs related to different majors (Business Honors Program, Biology Honors, etc), but again, those are open to non-invites as long as you commit.</p>
<p>Once you’re enrolled, then you will be able to register for Honors courses. It doesn’t work the other way around. Generally if you’re going to do Honors, the application and decision is finalized before your orientation in the summer where you register.</p>
<p>If you want to join Honors at your college, or whatever, research it now on their website and ask questions now. (<a href=“http://www.macaulay.cuny.edu/[/url]”>http://www.macaulay.cuny.edu/</a> ?)</p>
<p>Financial Aid from the school is offered by the school, and some scholarships have to be applied to (read: difference between need-based/merit-based aid and voluntary/applied scholarships). My school reaches out to needy or high-achieving students, but also has a number of scholarships for people to apply to as well.</p>
<p>I just looked at Baruch on collegeboard, and their admissions rate is 23%? You might’ve thought it was below a community college the way the thread starter has been talking about it. I checked out their website, too. It doesn’t look as bad as the thread starter is making it out to be.</p>
<p>xmastemah: you cannot transfer into macaulay, you can only apply for the program entering as a freshman. the same goes for the the Baruch Honors program. students that apply for macaulay and dont get accepted can be considered for the regular baruch honors program. also, you mentioned about the registration slots and that is a problem here at baruch. it is very difficult to get into the science classes and some of the popular classes like econ.</p>
<p>speaking about this is pointless right now because crazybandit cannot join either honors program since he/she is already accepted to baruch as a regular student. at this point he/she should work on and worry about making the best of his/her time at baruch. i do not know about being a provost scholar, but that is definitely something you can find out about once you’re at baruch.</p>
<p>sorry about my inaccuracies, i am not too involved with baruch EC’s but i just wanted to let crazybandit know that there are things to do aside from just getting a 4.0. good luck with your future transfer applications. the office workers here are not too friendly or helpful, but when you get up to that point, just think of it as motivation to get out. again, good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks for clarifying! I’m not sure how the CUNY system works. It seems like there are a lot of universities within CUNY? Or maybe those are the separate colleges? Either way. The process isn’t much different from here, then, I guess. Except maybe you can’t apply to enter after a freshman. </p>
<p>Well, good luck with all that, I’ve helped pretty much all I think I can. But I can try to answer any more questions.</p>
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<p>well just in case you are randomly asked a trivia question about CUNY (haha), CUNY is comprised of a bunch of public colleges around NYC (baruch, brooklyn, city, etc). The community colleges are also part of the CUNY system (kingsborough, bmcc, etc) I guess you can think of it as a university, but it’s not really. there is also the CUNY graduate center but I have no idea how that works and have no plans on getting my master from there.</p>
<p>also, yeah, for macaulay and for specifically the baruch college honors program, you can’t enter after a freshman. i think its completely unfair because so many honors students transfer out so there are definitely open seats. plus the way students are chosen for macaulay (and baruch honors) is totally skewed. im swerving off topic, but thats just some food for thought!</p>
<p>i 100% know you cant apply to the honors/macaulay honors program after being admitted as a freshman…i was referring to the link above about provost scholars which specifically says “Honors Program for students who are currently enrolled at Baruch College.”</p>
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<p>Yes, the admissions rate is 23%, but that is because a lot of very under-qualified students apply to CUNY within the city. All the unintelligent kids apply to CUNY because they can’t make it anywhere else. So yes, it is selective within the CUNY system, but it is by no means good as a national school. A lot of international (Asian) students apply as well; a lot of them can’t even speak English…no school within CUNY, by virtually any means, is good. The highest average SAT of Baruch is barely 1100 out of 1600, and barely 1600 out of 2400…and you can get in with under a 3.0 GPA…</p>
<p>So, mgm91, what is your response to what I said about underclassmen’s not being able to really get involved in CUNY? It seems like the last 10 responses didn’t even do anything for me. It was just speculation. I still don’t know what to do (outside of the recommendations I’ve received through PM). It seems I can only find ECs outside of campus. Is it a good idea to not really get involved in campus as long as your ECs outside are impressive?</p>
<p>Why do you think underclassmen are disadvantaged to holding leadership positions in organizations? I have a friend who is vice president of GLASS, another friend who is a VP of a business club and another classmate who is running for a position in USG. They are all freshman. It’s not like you have to be the president of the club, but if you care enough and if you work hard enough, you don’t have to be just “some member” either. </p>
<p>Getting involved in ECs in and/or out of Baruch is your choice. I don’t care for student government or the business clubs or any of the organizations at Baruch much. I’ve been volunteering (now interning) at a non-profit organization for almost 2 years now. I’d much rather do that than do anything at Baruch, but that is my choice. If you don’t care of the organizations on Baruch either, find something else to do. You never know, maybe you’ll find a club you’ll actually like. If you show them you have innovative ideas and a lot to contribute, you’ll be easily given a position.</p>
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<li><p>Provost scholar is the only way for non-honors students to become honors students. I told you OP, you have to contact your advisor, the head of the honors program, etc. and figure out how to register for honors classes so that eventually you can become a provost scholar. It’s all about initiative.</p></li>
<li><p>Initiative applies to extra-curricular activities as well – as an underclassman you can DEFINITELY get leadership positions, internships, etc. How do I know? Because I got off my lazy ass, took some initiative, and did so myself.</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t know if you get special registration privileges because you got whatever scholarship your acceptance letter says you got, but everything else you said about registration is true – honors students and athletes first I believe, then upperclassmen, and then finally underclassmen. As a non-honors you can’t simply register for honors classes during course registration – you have to go through some leg work and contact the right people to get permission to do so.</p></li>
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Bullcrap. You obviously ignored the part of my previous post where I told you that there are a LOT of student organizations on campus at Baruch for you to get involved with. Why ask questions, and then ignore the responses? Also, you really shouldn’t/can’t comment on the school until you’re actually there.</p>
<p>Who is my advisor?</p>
<p>Are you saying that even though underclassmen have last priority to register for regular classes, I still have the chance to register for honors classes and get enough credits to enroll in the honors program all before sophomore year, during which I’ll be applying to colleges?</p>
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<p>OK. Every school has a student government. It’s just not enough.</p>
<p>The honors thing seems to defy logic. Who is my adviser? Let’s say I secure an honors class during my second semester of freshman year. How can I get enough credits and enroll in the honors program before I apply to colleges sophomore year? You seem not to be talking through experience or through sufficient knowledge. It seems more like speculation than anything else, especially given the fact that you mentioned the “CUNY BA” as well, which obviously doesn’t apply to me since you said it requires 60 credits…</p>
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Some wo/man you’ll meet once you start college. I’m sure s/he’ll email you before August.</p>
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With some LEG WORK and INITIATIVE. You clearly aren’t too great at critical reading since I’ve had to repeat several times that you need to contact certain people to make this happen.</p>
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Yet again you ignored the part of my post about the rest of the student organizations on campus. And you seem to be quite the know-it-all while you’re still only a senior in high school.</p>
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Why don’t you check out that site I linked you to? You basically enroll in an honors class, get the professor to like you, get a recommendation from said professor, keep up a high GPA, and then interview with the honors people if you want to be a Provost Scholar. If you’re successful, you can become a Provost Scholar as early as first semester sophomore year, at which time you’ll take more honors classes while simultaneously applying to transfer for the following year.</p>
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I mentioned the CUNY BA because it was misinformation from mgm91’s post. And no, as a Macaulay student, I DON’T have “experience” about how to become an honors student as a regular Baruch student. I clearly also don’t have “sufficient knowledge” about the process . . . even though I told you exactly what you need to know, and provided you a link to the page with more information. You really aren’t too grateful for help provided. I suggest you readjust your attitude before going into college, especially if you want to make the most of the two years you’re there so that you can actually successfully transfer somewhere you like. And learn to quit being such a negative know-it-all, and start gratefully accepting advice.</p>