At this talk, we discussed transferring to Cornell and how the experience had been treating us so far. As a Junior transfer student, I quickly noticed that I was one of the very few. All the transfer students that I had met were Sophomores and it made me increasingly worried when I realized I didn’t have much time left compared to my friends. However, at this talk, we were able to hear from SA Andrew who was also a junior transfer last year. Hearing about his experience with adjusting academically and socially made me feel more at ease about my transfer process. He assured us that the competitive spirit at Cornell will always be present, but we will quickly learn to manage all aspects of the school.

In addition to this, we were able to hear from Dr. Hill about his opinion on everything from academics to extracurricular activities and strategic networking. He provided the perspective of a potential employer or admissions officer and explained that a perfect GPA and extracurricular is not always the most important part. He shared that he was never a straight-A student, but what he excelled at was his ability to create meaningful relationships and how that ultimately catapulted his career in academia into the direction he wanted. This talk made me realign my priorities and ever since I had made sure to remain conscious of what I need to do to reach my goals.