Rubinary » school http://www.rubinary.com Our small place in the virtual universe. Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:08:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 My Graduation http://www.rubinary.com/2008/06/02/my-graduation/ http://www.rubinary.com/2008/06/02/my-graduation/#comments Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:53:57 +0000 Alena http://www.rubinary.com/?p=447 Us after Alenas graduation ceremony at Madison Square Garden.On Wednesday, May 28th, Baruch hosted its 43rd commencement ceremony for the 2008 graduates. Of course I didn’t want to miss the chance to wear a cap and a gown, and to feel proud of myself while doing it. Danya joined me in this quest for finalization of my long way to a college degree.

I wasn’t really sure if the ceremony would be fun, but it exceeded my expectations. There were actually two ceremonies — one in the morning (that’s the one we went to), and one in the afternoon. Both of them took place in Madison Square Garden.

Danya and I arrived to the designated place at approximately 10:10. I put my academic outfit on, and we took some pictures. Then our ways separated — Danya went to the theater hall where all the relatives and friends of the graduates sat, and I went to some corridor, where the excited graduates were bunched up in a long line.

Alena, Felicia and Inna just before the graduation. Photo is a courtesy of Inna R.I met some classmates (Inna and Felicia) in the line and we waited for about an hour before entering the theater hall where the ceremony took place. There were so many people, that I couldn’t even find Danya in the crowd! I called him on the cellphone, waived my hand — and that problem was solved. ) This year around 3,700 people have graduated from Baruch — 2,600 of them with Bachelors degrees, and 1,100 with Masters degrees.

Chuck Schumer speaking at Baruch 43rd Commencement Ceremony. Photo by Inna R.A whole bunch of speakers, including a member of the CUNY Board of Trustees Kathleen M. Pesile, a journalist Alma Guillermoprieto, the president of Baruch Kathleen Waldron, a valedictorian Jonathan Rich, have congratulated the graduates and their families. The best speech was given, not surprisingly, by a politician — a special guest Senator Chuck Schumer. His address was really inspiring — he talked a bit about his career and about his family, and he wished us to enjoy whatever job we’ll end up with.

Graduation at Madison Square Garden.The valedictorian address was memorable too because by graduating from Baruch John Rich continued an ongoing family tradition — 12 members of his family graduated from CUNY schools, starting wih his great-grandmother somewhere back in the 1890s.

I must say that I am glad that I’ve decided to go to the ceremony — I felt a certain happiness, and a sense of achievement. Now all that’s left is to find a good job and to prove that my education is indeed worth something. teeth ]]> http://www.rubinary.com/2008/06/02/my-graduation/feed/ 8 Public Speaking http://www.rubinary.com/2008/03/05/public-speaking/ http://www.rubinary.com/2008/03/05/public-speaking/#comments Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:01:42 +0000 Alena http://www.rubinary.com/2008/03/05/public-speaking/
When I went to college in Minsk, nobody really emphasized the importance of public speaking, and nobody ever gave us any useful advise on how to better prepare for this task. I think that American way is better, and I’m glad that Baruch professors helped me, if even a little, to become a better speaker. teeth ]]> http://www.rubinary.com/2008/03/05/public-speaking/feed/ 3 Futures Class http://www.rubinary.com/2008/02/28/school/ http://www.rubinary.com/2008/02/28/school/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:30:34 +0000 Alena http://www.rubinary.com/2008/02/28/school/ Futures Open PositionsI’m in school right now — have a long break between classes due to club hours in Baruch1. Wanted to say a couple of words about my semester so far. My favorite, and probably, the most challenging class is Futures. Professor Martell is really knowledgeable, devoted … and funny. ) He makes it a point to remember our names — I like that too. His jokes help me to digest the material, and to stay awake in class. )

As for the simulation on StockTrak2 — I still feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. I try to read news about commodities, and to diversify my portfolio to minimize the risk, but that’s about it. I have no idea how to perform technical analysis — need to look into it more.
  1. Club hours are between 12.30 and 2.30 every Thursday.
  2. The image above represents my current open positions in the futures contracts.
]]> http://www.rubinary.com/2008/02/28/school/feed/ 5 Spring 2008 Semester http://www.rubinary.com/2008/02/01/spring-2008-semester/ http://www.rubinary.com/2008/02/01/spring-2008-semester/#comments Sat, 02 Feb 2008 00:46:10 +0000 Alena http://www.rubinary.com/2008/02/01/spring-2008-semester/ Alena being a student.My spring and, hopefully, last semester at Baruch has started last Friday.

Honestly, I feel overwhelmed already. O.o

There is a Business Policy (BPL) class, where we’ll be participating in some kind of business game. Teams (6 total) of 4 people will be acting as managers of a company, which produces dinnerware (any suggestions how to name the company?). We’ll have to make lots and lots of decisions, starting with production and marketing ones, and ending with accounting and financial issues. The ultimate goal is not to make money (although it would be nice), but to understand the daily pain-in-the-neck activities of any business planner/manager. We’ll also have to prepare a detailed report of a company — my group is responsible for 3M. Sounds like a fun class, I just wish my group didn’t have completely different working/studying schedules.

Another somewhat interactive class is Futures. Each of us will be playing a trader with initial capital of $1,000,000 on our accounts. We’ll be only allowed to trade commodities futures and options. The game is hosted on http://www.stocktrak.com/, and will go on for 10 weeks, starting from February 18. I feel like a little dogie, who’s been thrown into the middle of an ocean… and can’t swim at all yet! I was reading some articles about commodities markets, but there is SO MUCH information available on the topic… Good thing about the game is that it reflects current market situation, so the experience will provide me not just with stronger conceptual understanding of commodities markets, but with some practical knowledge as well.

Managerial Accounting class seems very easy so far. Although I hate the huge 400+ class, which strikes me as impersonal and, well, cheap.

I’m taking a capstone in macroeconomics. So far I’m not sure if I’m on the same track with my classmates. Hope that reading the book will help to clarify some things that professor Gutmann talks about during our lectures.

I’m taking another 2 advance financial courses — International Corporate finance, which is taught by a nice, energetic woman; and Advanced Investments, which is so far nothing like I expected (there are 3 papers and 2 presentations in this class, but no exams).]]> http://www.rubinary.com/2008/02/01/spring-2008-semester/feed/ 11 Grades http://www.rubinary.com/2008/01/04/grades/ http://www.rubinary.com/2008/01/04/grades/#comments Fri, 04 Jan 2008 18:02:21 +0000 Alena http://www.rubinary.com/2008/01/04/grades/ Golden KeyYay! I finally got all my final grades for this semester. I’m proud to say that all of them are A. )

I feel like a total narcissist, but want to post some quotes from my teachers’ emails here (for the times when I feel a little down).

Gabriel Alkon, World Literature:
I just wanted to let you know that you did beautiful work on your final essay and on your final exam.
Your essay on the exam was profound and provocative.
You are an exceptionally good reader and writer. It was a great pleasure to work with you this semester.

Bin Wei, Finance:
You are one of the best students in my class. I’m very impressed by your talent. I wish you all the best and happy holidays.

Zhenya Duzhak, Econometrics:
Hochu tebya pozdravit s tem, chto ti nabrala naibolshoe kollichestvo ballov v svoem klasse. MOLODEC! I uverena, chto i v drugih klassah u tebya takie je grandioznoe uspehi )
I also want to say that I got lucky with some teachers this semester. I didn’t expect that the literature classes would be so interesting and engaging, that econometrics would be so clear and easy (especially considering the fact that I skipped statistics and took math such a long time ago), that I would be reading Wall Street Journal for my management class, and that securities market theories are really not as confusing as I thought back in the days.

I hope that the Spring 2008 semester will be interesting and not too hard. Now I’m reading “Macroeconomics in Brief” by professor Peter Gutmann, whose Advanced Macroeconomics course I’ll be taking. I was exempted from the Intermediate Macroeconomics which is required to be taken before this course, so I’m trying to catch up on some theory while I have time.

All in all — I like to study and I like to be good at it. mrgreen ]]> http://www.rubinary.com/2008/01/04/grades/feed/ 14 Last Day of School http://www.rubinary.com/2007/12/11/last-day-of-school/ http://www.rubinary.com/2007/12/11/last-day-of-school/#comments Wed, 12 Dec 2007 03:19:53 +0000 Alena http://www.rubinary.com/2007/12/11/last-day-of-school/
The American system has benefits of making your own schedule and meeting a lot of new people, but really doesn’t work for me friends-wise. Or, maybe, I’m just older and have different interests/priorities than the majority of the students. O.o

Anyway, one day of school, two days of finals – and I’ll be free as wind until the end of January.]]> http://www.rubinary.com/2007/12/11/last-day-of-school/feed/ 0 Spring 2008 Registration http://www.rubinary.com/2007/11/13/spring-2008-registration/ http://www.rubinary.com/2007/11/13/spring-2008-registration/#comments Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:01:21 +0000 Alena http://www.rubinary.com/2007/11/13/spring-2008-registration/
The thing that upsets me the most is that I’ll have to go to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays — days when Danya works from home. And I also scheduled one class for Friday, because otherwise my schedule would’ve been from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and that’s a bit too much, even for me. ]]> http://www.rubinary.com/2007/11/13/spring-2008-registration/feed/ 0 Грызуся http://www.rubinary.com/2007/11/01/gryzusya/ http://www.rubinary.com/2007/11/01/gryzusya/#comments Thu, 01 Nov 2007 20:18:59 +0000 Alena http://www.rubinary.com/2007/11/01/%d0%93%d1%80%d1%8b%d0%b7%d1%83%d1%81%d1%8f/ GradesРугаю себя, ругаю, а от привычки “принимать всё близко к сердцу” избавиться никак не могу. Вот вчера тест был очередной по финансам. И готовилась же много – над домашкой часов 10, не меньше, просидела в сумме, и понимаю вроде всё (даже другим обьясняла), а в теоретических вопросах опять ошибки сделала. И вопрос в одной задаче второпях неправильно прочитала – нашла цену в неправильный период.

Ненавижу эти multiple-choice вопросы. ( Так хоть частично дают кредит, если видят, что понимаешь. Эх… Вот уже второй день расстраиваюсь. Как сказала бы моя бабушка – “грызуся”, то бишь самоедством занимаюсь. А толку-то?]]> http://www.rubinary.com/2007/11/01/gryzusya/feed/ 3 Financial Calculator http://www.rubinary.com/2007/09/27/financial-calculator/ http://www.rubinary.com/2007/09/27/financial-calculator/#comments Fri, 28 Sep 2007 02:25:39 +0000 Alena http://blog.dr2ooo.com/2007/09/27/financial-calculator/ Texas Instruments BA II Plus Professional CalculatorWe bought me my very first financial calculator last night. The item of choice is BA II Plus Professional Calculator. I like it. ) I only need it for bond calculations so far, but it has a lot of other useful functions (I haven’t quite figured out yet how to use them though). A financial calculator is required in my Investment Analysis class. I think, it might be needed for other more advanced finance courses later on.

The interesting thing is that during a summer semester I had a rare finance professor, who didn’t let students use financial calculators. He wanted us to understand formulas, I guess. I honestly think that his method of teaching was to my advantage. I even enjoyed using all those formulas. -) ]]> http://www.rubinary.com/2007/09/27/financial-calculator/feed/ 2