When you arrive on campus there's a lot to explore! Here's a roundup of my tips to ease your transition to college in all ways, from social and well-being, to academics, and career preparedness.

Social & Well-being

• Attend social events. Lots of clubs on campus have events that are open to everyone even if you are not a member of their club. For example, as a first year, I attended Salsa Pa’lante workshops, La Asociación Latina’s game nights, and Cornell’s chapter of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated’s tips for first year students workshop which gave me the opportunity to meet upperclassmen and fellow first years.
• Use the free resources available to you as a Cornell student, including taking the bus to explore off campus or get around campus when it is cold or use the library. If you come from an area where you are unfamiliar with using a bus system, there are times during orientation when you can learn how to use the bus to get around on and off campus.
• Use the support services available to you. College is about becoming more independent, but independence doesn’t mean only relying on yourself. You are a part of the Cornell community now; you are not alone. Cornell has numerous resource offices to help students with different areas of their life. If you need help figuring out which one can help with a specific issue, reach out to any of them or your Residence Hall Director and they can connect you to the department that can best support you. You can also contact the Office of the Student Advocate, a club on campus that is a peer support service that connects students to on and off campus resources based on their particular need.  
• Use Cornell’s amenities. Cornell is like its own town with a movie theater, bowling alley, rock climbing center, tennis and basketball courts, an observatory, libraries, and multiple dining halls and cafés.
• Attend lunch and learn events. You can connect with a speaker, often a Cornell professor or director of a program, in an informal setting. I have attended the Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives’ Tuesday Lunch Series, but there is also the Asian Studies Department’s Wednesday Lunch Series and the Latina/o Studies Department’s Fridays with Faculty Lunch Series, all of which are open to any Cornell student.
• Join a social club that is open to anyone or find something you do that is non-academic and not for professional development, whether it is weekly plans with friends, watching a movie, or catching up with people from home.

Academics

• When you go to a building for class, explore it more and you will often find a place to sit or buy a snack in between classes.
• Learn to study and get your homework done anywhere. Whether you need headphones to accomplish this or need to find the perfect study spot in between classes (there might be seats in the hallway or an empty classroom) try to make use of the time in between classes or meetings.
• Explore colleges other than your own. Find new study spaces in Duffield Hall (an Engineering building) or Ives Hall (the Industrial Labor Relations building) and try the cafés in Martha Van Rensselaer Hall (the Brooks School and Human Ecology building) and Statler Hall (the Hotel School’s building). You can also learn about upcoming events and research opportunities by reading the flyers in these buildings.
• Make use of the libraries. If you have a Zoom meeting or interview or just want a private room to study you can reserve a room in one of the libraries on campus. You can also borrow study materials like whiteboards and device chargers and learn about clubs by visiting the tables in the Mann Library lobby.

Career  

• Work with Career Services to create a résumé or to have your résumé reviewed when you first get on campus so you can have it ready to go in case an opportunity arises in which you need a résumé.
• If you need professional clothes you can borrow from The Wardrobe; a club on campus that provides free professional clothes to students, or attend one of their pop-up events and take home new clothes from brands for free.