Meet Ashley Smith!
Pronouns: She series
Class Year: 2019
Hometown: Scotch Plains, New Jersey
Major: Computer Science in the School of Engineering
Minor: Italian
Read our interview with Ashley here!
How Was Your First Semester in The School of Engineering?
My first semester, I took a class that specialized in Biomedical Engineering. I met with my pre-major advisor and told him that I have no idea what I want to major in, but that I really want to study abroad. He told me that I can definitely make that happen if I start planning early. And he told me to just pick classes that sound interesting to me, so that’s what I did! By taking a Biomedical Engineering class, I was able to eliminate that as a possible major for me. The class was interesting, but I decided it wasn’t for me
What Made You Decide on Your Major, Computer Science?
My second semester at Tufts I decided to take Comp 11 (Intro to Computer Science) because there was a lot of chatter around campus that it was a fun class. And I enjoyed it a lot! I was also taking Electricity and Magnetism that semester and enjoying that a lot too. When it came time to choose a major at the end of my first year, I had it narrowed down to Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Computer Science. Honestly, it was a conversation with my friend where she reminded me how much I was enjoying Comp 11 that urged me to declare Computer Science as my major.
Study Abroad Experience
I did have the opportunity to study abroad! I went on a non-tufts program to Bologna, Italy where I studied at the University of Bologna. I actually took some computer science classes there, which were taught in Italian and counted both toward my Computer Science major and toward my Italian minor! It was an awesome experience.