Spring — 2005

Saman Afshar

Computer Science

“I love the way Mr. Dehkhoda teaches computer science. And Peter Morse for physics? He’s all over the class when he’s proving a theorem, making conversation, and everybody gets involved.”

Sleep. The ‘great antagonist’ of students worldwide. And a commodity that’s normally in very scant supply. But Saman Afshar of Iran has a very useful secret to share with people like him who never seem to get enough shut-eye. “I will admit that I sometimes nod off in class,” he says with a laugh. “But in the physics and math classes, we have a lot of group studies where people with all different kinds of knowledge can share what they know and help you out. I think the best thing you can do at SMC,” he continues, “is to make use of the brains of your fellow students.” And Saman reports this is especially true during night and weekend classes.

“A lot of people with a Computer Science major study nights and weekends. And SMC has really excellent classes on the weekends, which I’m really happy about,” says Saman. “For me, I like to get all of my classes done in two or three days. That way I’ve got time to do my sports, like surfing and soccer. And SMC offers so many classes that I can always put together a schedule that gives me lots of time to play. And study, of course.”

Saman reports, “I’m really interested in hardware designing, and also in networking. So those are the classes that I’m focusing on now, and I’ll just wait and see which area grabs my attention the most.” And UCLA is where Saman is determined to make his mark in the world of computing. “I didn’t get accepted at UCLA out of high school. I got into UC Santa Barbara and Riverside, but I knew that SMC was the best way to get to UCLA. And if UCLA’s gonna be your ultimate school, SMC has all kinds of ways to fast-track you over there.”

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