Dear First-Years: Advice From Lawn Resident Ashwanth Samuel (MSDS '22)

Extract from Dear First-Years: Advice From 19 New Lawn Residents

Published by UVA Today
Aug. 16, 2021
Written by Jane Kelly • Photo by Sanjay Suchak

Ashwanth Samuel - West Lawn

Hometown: Olathe, Kansas

Major: M.S. in Data Science (earned an undergraduate degree in Statistics in May)

Best discovery made at UVA: I played violin in high school, but I didn’t come to UVA to play in the orchestra, so for me, it’s been about finding creative outlets. I joined a group called Radio Music Society. We write covers to pop songs in a string quartet fashion. One of my favorite things about UVA is being able to pursue things like that.

UVA insider tip: You have to understand how much stuff you have in your dorm room, because at the end of the year, you’re going to have to pack it all up. Each of my family members brought a suitcase filled with my stuff, but when they left, they took the bags with them. So at the end of the year, all I had was the suitcase I came with. So I bought a bunch of trash bags, stuffed them and started calling upperclassmen to ask if I could leave my trash bags full of stuff in their apartments. I think I’m still missing a bag.

What advice would you give to your first-year self? I was hesitant about a lot of things and unsure of myself. In high school you are at the top of your class and you get to UVA and you’re surrounded by brilliant people. I remember I was taking “Intro to Computer Science” because I wanted to major in computer science and economics. But I was so intimidated that I dropped the class. If I’d not done that, I could have very well become a computer science major. Luckily, I found what I wanted to do.

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