theesmithie

[theesmithie]

declaring my major!

If I'm being honest with you all, I've been saying I'm a Computer Science major probably since my first semester at Smith despite me not actually officially declaring. I was pretty sure of what I wanted to major in before actually coming to Smith, but I wanted to give myself the space to explore some classes before really committing.

It took me until literally the last minute to actually officially declare... not a good idea! Please don't do this!! I definitely don't recommend it. I do, however, recommend not declaring right away. Many people have some idea of what they want to major in and declare right away, and some unfortunate people realize too late that their major is actually not what they actually want to study.

No fear! You can always change your major during your first two years of college, but I think giving your space to explore is also very valuable. Especially with Smith's open curriculum, some may find it rather easy to just take classes that are in their realm of study. However, despite being a STEM major, I actually took a lot of humanities courses alongside my major requirement courses. I've really enjoyed them! I think having a balance between the two has made my semesters not too busy but also very interesting.

But alas, after 1 and a half year, I decided that I do indeed want to major in cs and I finally did just that! It isn't hard at all. For computer science specifically, when you go on the cs page on the Smith website, there is a form you can take to pick an advisor for the major. Before declaring, everyone gets a liberal arts advisor. They may not necessarily be in the field you plan on majoring in, they're really just there to help you get started! Mine was a Spanish professor, which is obviously very different from CS.

Every time we have registration, we have to meet with our advisors prior to discuss what courses we plan to take for the following semester. Your advisor is there to help you! Sometimes they might recommend a course that you wouldn't have previously considered, or they might warn you that your workload might be too heavy for you to handle. Previously we did registration on a website called BannerWeb which required a code to be given by our advisors, but we recently switched to do registration on another website. Now, you have to meet with your advisor still, but they just have to take off a hold on your registration account.

Once you declare, you get an advisor that is in your major. You just have to get your new advisor to sign the declaration form, and also get your previous liberal arts advisor to sign, and then you turn it in to the Registrar's Office so that it can process. It's really simple!

I think CS is unique with having the advisor form, but no worries! If you take some classes from your major before declaring, you might find that you really like the professor that you took a certain class with. You can even personally ask them to be your advisor. Even if they say no, I'm sure they'd be happy to advise you on who else in the major you can ask.

Usually you will find smithies take pictures in front of the front gate at Smith with their declaration form, but I unfortunately did not have the opportunity to do that because of the pandemic. However, Smith has released plans of having us all be in person for next fall, so maybe I'll get the photoshoot I've been wanting!

Here is a photo proving that I am a CS major anyway :P :

[theesmithie]

my spring 2021 schedule

Hello everyone!

Since the semester has already started and I have now completed more than a week of the semester, I decided to mix how my first week went and my course schedule together into one post.

Here is my schedule for the semester!

This semester I am taking 5 courses, with a total of 18 credits.

The courses are:

-  CHINESE II (INTENSIVE) / CHI 221 (5 credits)

-  CLQ: POLITICS US MEX BORDER / GOV 237 (4 credits)

- COMPUTER GRAPHICS / CSC 240 (4 credits)

-  CLQ:WOMEN& NARRATION/MOD KOREA / EAL 273 (4 credits)

-  DRAWING SOCIAL JUSTICE / ARS 153 (1 credit)

For my computer science major, I decided to only take one course this semester since the other course I wanted to take clashed with my Chinese class. I have been taking Chinese since my first semester at Smith and I have really been enjoying learning a new language, therefore I decided to continue learning it this semester. Since I was no longer taking another comp sci course this semester, I decided to take courses in other interests that I have. I took a course last semester called Latin American Political Systems, and since I really liked the professor and the content, I decided to take another one of her classes, which is the Politics of the US Mexico Border. And finally I decided to take a course on Women and Narration in Korea because I really like films and it is a subject matter that I’ve never learned about. 

I really like Smith’s open curriculum because it allows me to explore subjects that I’ve never been exposed to. I’ve taken a wide range of courses and subject matters already despite the fact that this is only my 4th semester here.

My first week kind of felt unexpected. Usually my first week of classes at Smith are more chill and professors give students time to “shop” for courses (which just means the period of time students attend courses and decide whether or not they want to stay in the class or sign up for a different class). The first week is also relaxed in order to give students enough time to buy any required material for the course. This week however started off rather quickly, which I will attribute it to the fact that, due to the pandemic, this semester is an accelerated semester. I’m sure professors just want to start early so that they can cover as much material as possible in a shorter time frame. 

I am fortunate to only have needed to buy two textbooks, which were both for my Chinese course. My professors for my other courses are super generous and have supplied free pdfs of whatever readings they want us to do. As a low income student, this is super helpful for me, especially during a pandemic! I can say super lucky because I know how expensive it can be to buy all required material.

After completing a week of courses, I feel like I won’t be changing my schedule. The courses I’m taking this semester genuinely interest me and I’m excited to learn more about each subject matter! :)

[theesmithie]

how i maintained friendships during a virtual semester

I am currently on campus and have been for about over a week! While I am on campus now, this wasn’t possible last semester because Smith operated completely virtual.

Doing all my classes online was already hard enough, but on top of that, I could no longer see all the friends I made during my first year at Smith in person. I wanted to share with you all how I managed to maintain my friendships during a virtual semester given that Smith will still be, for the most part, virtual this coming spring semester.

1. Classes

Luckily I was able to land some classes with some of my friends! If you and your friends have the same major or are interested in a particular topic, I really recommend that you try to arrange to take the class together during the same time block if you can. Having a buddy in the same class can lessen any stress from the awkwardness of zoom classes -- at least that was the case for me :)

2. Clubs/Orgs

While many clubs and orgs were not active last semester, many were! Last semester, I was a part of LASO (latin american student organization) as a publicity chair, and we had full body meetings every two weeks. Since I was a part of MESA (LASO’s e-board), I also had additional meetings that happened every week. I loved being in LASO especially last semester because I was able to just chill with people I got to know last year, and also meet some cool first years. This was also a great way to talk to others going through the same thing, so I definitely encourage joining any clubs or orgs if you’re seeking a community at Smith.

3. Social Media

This is kind of obvious I think but social media definitely helped me stay in touch with many people. Personally, I am someone who doesn’t like texting someone everyday, so I was a bit worried about how I would stay in touch with some friends. I actually ended up creating a ‘finsta’ which was basically a spam account that I only let my closest friends follow, and through that account I could post about what I was up to, posted my struggles with a virtual semester and honestly many of my other friends could relate. I am actually really glad I made that account because it proved to be a great way to stay in touch with all my friends without having to individually catch them up.

Bonus!

4. House community

I wanted to add this despite the fact that I wasn’t actually active in my own house community, but it is definitely an option. I know many houses created discords or slack channels for everyone to stay in touch and just send anything that was on their mind. 

For this coming semester, I will definitely continue my methods, especially considering that not all of my friends are returning to campus. Some decided to stay home meanwhile some other friends are actually taking the semester off. Additionally, since the college is taking precautions against COVID, some activities done with friends will have to be done virtually for this semester. Hopefully as the semester progresses, we will have less restrictions and I’ll be able to see my friends in person more often! :)

[theesmithie]

✧ about me✧

Hello! My name is Aneliz Vargas, I am currently a Sophomore at Smith college. 

I am currently the admin for the Smith by Smithies blog! More about me:

- I am from a suburb of Chicago about 30 minutes away

- I am a computer science major

- I am Mexican-American, therefore I am heavily involved in a student org at Smith called LASO, and I am even one of the publicity chairs for them. 

- I love languages! I am fluent in English and Spanish, currently learning Chinese and am interested in learning Portuguese. 

My first year at Smith I lived in Talbot house, and this semester I am living in Park-Annex which is an affinity house specifically for students of color. 

Feel free to ask me about anything I’ve mentioned above! I’d love to chat with anyone that wants to know more about Smith and student life!

- Aneliz ‘23