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This week Her Campus OSU caught up with transfer student Lexi Emerson! We got a chance to talk to her about what it’s been like transferring to OSU and also her awesome experience studying abroad in France this past summer!
Name: Lexi Emerson
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Avon Lake, Ohio
Major: Mechanical Engineering
You transferred to OSU from University of Dayton, which is a pretty big adjustment. How has your transition been from going to a school like U of Dayton to OSU?
Walking around OSU is a lot different than at Dayton because the campus is so much bigger here, so the walk to class is definitely longer. It was harder to adjust to OSU at first because of how many students there are here compared to Dayton; the undergraduate enrollment is more than five times bigger here than it is at Dayton! Even though it was a bit more difficult to adjust I love the fact that while it is such a big school you can still get that “small school” feel once you start meeting people and friends, yet at the same time you always get to see new people everyday.
University of Dayton and OSU are such different schools, what made you decide that you wanted to transfer to OSU?
For the most part I wanted to go to OSU because I knew they had a really good Mechanical Engineering program, but I also wanted to go somewhere that was in a bigger city, so I definitely love being in Columbus. I also love the fact that no matter where you go people know about OSU. I have family who live in Quebec and when I told them I decided to go to OSU they said, “Oh yeah, go Buckeyes!” Also, when I studied abroad in Europe this past summer people there even knew about OSU, so it’s really cool to go somewhere that is so well-known around the world.
Mechanical engineering is a pretty demanding and difficult field of study, what made you want to pursue a degree in it?
I really like math and science. I’m also really passionate about innovation, energy and figuring out how things are made and using that to help people.
That’s pretty exciting you got to study abroad in Europe! What was that like?
It was an incredible experience; it was mostly in Paris during the summer for six weeks. I found a program online where I was able to study at a university and live with a host family, they were Buddhist, which was really interesting. Also, studying at a university in France helped make the switch to OSU seem a lot easier because transitioning to a foreign college was a much bigger adjustment.
Where else in Europe did you travel?
I went to London, Brussels and the south of France
Did your experience abroad change or influence you in anyway?
Definitely. It made me want to travel a lot more and made me realize how much of the world I haven’t seen yet. The other students who did the program with me had all been to such amazing places like Ireland, Italy, Germany and so many other countries. It made me want to do the same thing.
That’s pretty awesome that you got to experience that, where else do you want to travel?
I want to go everywhere! I would love to go to South Africa and South America. I want to go to at least every continent.Â