You’ve been to college before, and you’ve done some of this stuff already. You already know what it’s like to sign up for classes, apply for housing, join clubs. You know how to work hard, study effectively, and ask for help when you need it, and you made it to Cornell! Now what? You might feel like you’re a first-year student again, but you don’t quite relate to other new students. It can feel isolating to be in classes with people in your year, knowing everyone around you already had a year to make friends and get used to the way Cornell works. You’ve done all this before, but not at Cornell. Is it the same? Is it different? How do you ask for help when you don’t know what you don’t know?

Find an Anchor.

In your first few weeks, you meet so many people who work at Cornell, and I guarantee every single one of them has said something to the effect of, “I’m here if you need anything.” As the transfer student success navigator in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, I can speak from experience… students rarely reach out to us. We don’t take it personally, and we know you’re busy! However, sometimes we only see students when they are at a breaking point or in a situation that we could have helped if we had known sooner.

I challenge you to find an anchor for your first semester. Whether it’s an advisor, major advisor, counselor, faculty member, or staff member, find someone you can check in with a few times during the semester. What about the advisor who first helped you pick your classes? Maybe a professor you connect with or the major advisor who welcomed you at orientation? What about the staff member you met at that welcome event that also grew up in your hometown? It doesn’t need to be formal! Stop by and say hello and tell them about your latest project. Tell them about research you’re thinking about or a minor you’re thinking of adding. The first time you pre-enroll, register for classes, or need to drop a course, double check with them before you click “submit”. Having an anchor will help you stay connected. You never know if there’s a class you hadn’t heard of, resources or organizations you didn’t know about, or an easier way to do things. College is not brand new to you, but Cornell is, so find an expert! It never hurts to double check, and your anchor can catch anything you might have missed or open your mind to even better opportunities.

I didn’t mention anything about meeting other students, because you already know about that part. You can find tons of articles on how to meet other students, how to get involved on campus, and how to make friends. I could tell you to go to events, invite someone to the dining hall, make a study group. All of those are great plans! However, some of your best resources for adjusting to Cornell are the folks that do this for a living. Find one. Pick a favorite. There’s a lot of us, and we do this because we’ve been through it, and we’ll get you through it too. That is, until you sail off on your own.