The Gaucho Ledger

During the 4/20 weekend, a few of our Brothers got together and toured the Synergy building in downtown Santa Barbara. Owner Michael Holliday was kind enough to share the history of the building and his vision behind it. Synergy, a technology and business center, gives small businesses and innovators a place to rent out space to produce and grow their ideas in an organic working space. There are no such things as cubicles in Synergy, but rather a fluid working environment where employees can easily channel ideas to their peers. It was amazing meeting Michael Holliday and learning about his passion for making Santa Barbara a start-up business hub of the nation.

We had an amazing Winter 2013 Recruitment this year! Delta Sigma Pi at UCSB would like to thank everyone who came out this quarter. It was a great time meeting new and familiar faces at our events. Now that the interview process has just ended, please during this week check your e-mails you provided us to begin the pledging process. For more information about pledging, please visit our FAQ page. Again, we would like to thank everyone who had the motivation to try out for Delta Sigma Pi.

There are people who have been through hard times and there are people who have been through hard times and survived. David Gong transcends both. An eleven-time cancer survivor, record swim event holder, and coach to underprivileged children, David Gong knows what perseverance is. Losing a leg at the young age of nineteen and living in his car through school did not prevent him from jumping in the pool again while keeping a huge smile on his face. Our open event at Corwin Pavilion taught us what courage and determination really was. David Gong is truly an inspiring individual and extremely giving. Delta Sigma Pi definitely learned how important it is to not give up when times are rough and the joy of giving back to the community. It was such a pleasure listening to him talk. Thank you David Gong! We support your journey!

We also want to give a shout out to CSU Northridge Iota Upsilon chapter for coming out to support our event! Thank you so much!

                             CSU Northridge Brothers

MONDAY 1/14: Meet the Chapter @ Student Resource Building (SRB) : Multi-Purpose Room 7:30PM - Professional attire

TUESDAY 1/15: Delta Sigma Pi Presents: David Gong @ Corwin Pavillion 8PM - Casual attire

Please feel free to invite your friends to listen to David Gong, motivational speaker, tell his story of surviving cancer eleven times and inspiring others to keep living through determination. For more information, visit the David Gong Facebook event page.

WEDNESDAY 1/16: Becker Presentation @ UCEN Lobero Room 8PM - Professional attire

Becker Professional Education is a global leader in professional education serving the accounting, finance and project management professions. Students who prepare for the CPA exam with Becker pass at double the rate of non-Becker candidates and Becker is the only CPA review provider that engages an independent third-party research firm to validate its pass rate claim.

FRIDAY 1/18: Brotherhood Social @ Zodos Bowling Alley 1:30PM - Casual attire

Rides will be provided. Please meet at Starbucks on Pardall if you need a ride! Otherwise, meet at Zodos at 2PM

SUNDAY 1/20: Interviews @ 1PM - Professional attire

You will be able to sign up for interview times early next week. Please be prompt to your interview time.

                         Anybody who wants to be an Economics major at UCSB must take the dreaded Economics 10A (Intermediate Microeconomics) course, which is known to be one of the hardest lower-division courses in the department. 10A is not a beast to take lightly. Less than 12% of students in the course will get an A- or higher, and most students (most of whom are transfers, especially during fall quarter) need a B in the course (given to less than 30% of students) in order to satisfy pre-major GPA requirements and get into the major. So, lo and behold, dear Gauchos, your competition is fierce. What then should you do? We have compiled a short list of tips to help you survive 10A. 

1) PUT IN THE TIME, and take this class SERIOUSLY. MAKE THIS CLASS A NUMBER ONE PRIORITY. Remember, you will literally be competing with the rest of the people in this course to get one of those coveted A's and B's that the department gives so sparingly.  Don't procrastinate and pretend like this is one of those classes that you can wait until the night before the final to crack open a textbook. Everybody else WANTS a good grade and will be gunning against you to do so. This is dog-eats-dog at its lower-division finest.

DO NOT wait until the last minute to study. Attempt the problem sets right when they're posted.

2) Practice the solution sets. Practice, practice, practice! Don't look at the answers before you do them. If you struggle and try out a problem set without looking at the answers, you'll have a much better grasp of the mental process needed to get the correct answer on the midterm/final. Econ 10A problem sets are not straight-forward, and they are not meant to be easy. It's easy to lie to yourself and think they are easy if you look at the answers first. The answers will not be there in front of you during an exam, so DO NOT allow yourself to get used to having the answers available to support you every time you attempt a problem set. Practicing without the answers first is a good habit to establish. You'll be thankful for this come exam time.

3) Get your math together. This might sound simple, but you'd be surprised at how many people do not take this seriously and instead skimp on basic derivative/algebra knowledge. Understand what the math is doing, and realize that sometimes the professor will sometimes throw in information in a problem set that is designed to trick you.

Know how to do partial derivatives and understand chain rule. Be able to read the problems out loud. If you see it just as words and not just symbols, you'll be way better off. Understand what the math is doing. If you don't know what a derivative is (the change with respect to the change of another variable) and what it looks like in different conditions on a graph, then obviously you're screwed. It's not just d's and x's. Know what the graphs actually MEAN, and don't skimp over them.

4) Practice the longer problems so you won't lose points for simple algebra. Math errors are a stupid way to lose points.

5) Understand the DEFINITIONS. Again, you'd be surprised at how many people do not take this seriously and confuse simple definitions with each other, leading to an absolutely terrible grade on the midterm (which, lo and behold, contributes to a terrible final grade). A great example of this is knowing the difference between Diminishing Marginal Utility and Marginal Rate of Substitution.

6) Get together a top-notch study group, and practice, practice, practice! Get old exams if you can. Ask friends if they know anyone with old problems that you can cherry-pick and study from. The more you expose yourself to the types of questions that will be asked on the midterm and final, the much better prepared you will be. 

7) Get a tutor (and/or go to CLAS for additional practice if you need to!). If you need a B or higher in this course in order to get into the major, then obviously a tutor is well worth the investment. This is a course where a good tutor can help make or break the difference between a B and a C. Don't forget, other students in this class will be getting tutors as well, so you don't want to lose out on the competition.

Here are five UCSB courses that you should absolutely take before graduation. We promise that they'll be more useful to you than any liberal arts course that you honestly don't give a crap about. If you want to get something out of your undergraduate career, then take these courses:

1) Writing 107B - Business Writing.

In this course, you will make a business plan with a small group of other students. This is one of the few courses offered to UCSB undergraduates that will actually teach you how to plan out a business. If you're planning to start a business anytime in the future, then this class should be absolutely mandatory. (Beware, it fills out FAST during Pass 1!) Although the course is mandatory for all Economics students, it is open for enrollment to all majors.

2) Economics 3A - Introduction to Accounting.

Yes, even if you don't plan on working for the Big 4 and being a 9-to-5 schmuck, this class will still be useful. Basic knowledge of how a spreadsheet works is necessary for anyone who's planning on starting a business. Hello, revenue? Take this course so at least you'll know if your accountant is lying to you or not.

3) A basic foreign language - Spanish 1, German 1, Chinese 1... you get the picture!

The world is getting more globalized by the minute, so the more you know about a language other than English, the better off you'll be. Hell, this is beneficial even for future travel to a country as well. If you're going to Latin America or China in the future, even some phrases that you learned in Spanish 1 or Chinese 1 will come in handy. If you're traveling to any foreign country, the more you know that country's language, the more you'll get out of the trip. Also, truth be told, a foreign language will probably be more useful than that random liberal arts class that you'll completely forget about the minute that class's final is over.

4) Political Science 186 (cross-listed as Global Studies 123) - International Political Economy.

This class teaches you the BIG picture of how the international economy works. Yes, you can learn craploads about microeconomic theories that you secretly know go out the window when it comes to real life, but at least know how the ACTUAL big picture of international trade and finance actually work. You will learn the big picture of how bonds, trade, markets, and financial policies combine together and how they all affect the political and economic environment. 

5) A Technology Management Program (TMP) course. (http://www.tmp.ucsb.edu/academics/undergraduate.html)

If UCSB had a business minor, it would probably look like this. TMP offers courses on marketing, start-ups, and sales to undergraduates. You don't have to sign up separately; just enroll on GOLD through the Engineering (ENGR) category. TMP courses will definitely be beneficial to anyone interested in entrepreneurship who is looking for more hands-on material.