Current Student: Questions before O week? Ask!

<p>Orientation Week (you'll hear it called O week a lot) is less than a month away. I just graduated in May and I'm really missing Cornell so I'm in the mood to answer any Cornell related questions you freshmen may have. Also, I was in ILR. Throw anything at me but I probably won't be able to answer questions like "Should I take Chem205 vs. Chem209?" Any general freshman questions are great. I know you guys are all anxious so let's hear them!</p>

<p>And, yes, O week is the most fun week you will have at Cornell (at least until Senior Week; Rush Week is a close second/third)</p>

<p>What’s the best place to eat breakfast on North Campus?</p>

<p>do most people party on the first night, knowing their parents will be there the next day?</p>

<p>Thank you for providing advice to us freshmen =)</p>

<p>I’m not sure whether you would be able to answer this, but do you have any insight into auto-tutorial courses, such as BioG 1105?</p>

<p>I’ll answer some of these based on my opinion:</p>

<p>@ananya77041
Breakfast: Appel, is the only place where they take meal plan anyway.</p>

<p>@jtp17
Auto-tutorial is really just what it sounds like, you have better control over your grade, but it’s heavier work load. You also get more grades than intro-bio. But it’s probably harder to get an A in intro-bio. If you have good time management, it’s probably worth it. Otherwise, lecture is better, for most.</p>

<p>@ananya77041- This question is always causes controversy haha. The two options are either RPCC or Appel. I would definitely say RPCC is better for both brunch and dinner. Breakfast is only available at Appel. Brunch is available at both on Sunday morning though. I’d go to RPCC for brunch. Also, during the week you can grab breakfast at Ivy Room, Trillium, or Statler, but they are a-la-Carte meaning you use BRBs instead of meal swipes.</p>

<p>@Feral24- Yeap, I’d say a decent amount of freshmen go out the first night (friday). But more definitely go out Saturday. You will see hundreds of freshmen in the walking down College Avenue in groups looking sooo confused trying to find a party. There will be a bunch of parties at the different Collegetown houses and Collegetown will be a mess. You can pretty much just walk into any Collegetown house that looks to be having a party and probably get some free alcohol. There is no chance you’ll run into your parents in Collegetown so I wouldn’t worry. A lot of freshmen also chose to go to the OSC sponsored events at night time. In general expect the first friday, the first Saturday, the first Thursday (first day of classes), and the next Friday (one week after you arrive), to be the biggest partying days.</p>

<p>@jtp17- sorry no idea.</p>

<p>1) My biggest fear is being alone every night in my dorm room, not knowing what the hell to do. It’s a new town, with new people all over the place. I don’t know what I’m going to be doing. Do you have any suggestions to end up not being lost in the shuffle and around the campus? Basically, I need some socializing tips.</p>

<p>2) Do residence halls, floors, suites do anything together the first week? Or is it just “Find fun yourself. Bye!” type of situation?</p>

<p>3) What do you recommend us do for breakfast if we have class early in the morning? I know you’ve already answered a question about open dining halls, but do you recommend the dining halls or do you suggest we buy bagels at a supermarket or something and just eat in your dorm?</p>

<p>4) I’m sure I have more questions to ask later. Thanks!</p>

<p>If you can’t make it to your dining hall for breakfast, most of the a la carte eateries on central campus have breakfast sandwiches or other foods that you can grab (fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, cereal, etc…). </p>

<p>I also kept some cereal bars and bagels in my room for those mornings when I was moving too slow to stop and grab something :)</p>

<p>i’m not exactly a breakfast person…is there a convenient place that you would recommend to just pick up a coffee or something on the way to class in the morning?</p>

<p>There are TONS of places to grab coffee. Seriously, no matter which part of campus you’re on, you’ll be able to find coffee. It’s fantastic (the availability, not necessarily the coffee. Though, the coffee isn’t bad). </p>

<p>Check this out: [Dining</a> - Dining Locations](<a href=“Residential Life | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University”>Residential Life | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University). In conjunction with a campus map, you’ll be able to see that there are lots and lots of little places to grab coffee on your way to and from class.</p>

<p>Note: Libe caf</p>

<p>Oh yeah, while we’re on the subject of early breakfasts, when does Appel open? I have class at 8am every day, so I don’t want to go hungry.</p>

<p>@Bobaboy:</p>

<p>1-2. To be honest, I’d say it’s hard NOT to make friends. Everyone’s kind of in the same situation so it’s pretty easy to make friends where ever/when ever.<br>
3. Depends on your meal plan. If you have too many meals and you can’t kill them breakfast is always good. Personally I skipped breakfast a lot.</p>

<p>@ananya77041
I think it opens at 7 but you can check the dining website to confirm. If you have 8 AMs though you’re probably going to want the sleep more.</p>

<p>@ Bobaboy-</p>

<p>1) Every freshmen is set up with an Orientation group and an Orientation leader. Everyone in your OL group (about 4-6 people) will be in your school (obviously major if you’re an ILRie or Hotelie) and live in your building. You have 4 OL meetings for all of O week. This gives you time to mingle with people in your group. It’s a very easy easy way to make friends. Also, throughout O week everyone will be in the same situation as you. You and a bunch of kids on your floor will all come together and run around Collegetown. Trust me, it happens every single year. It’s normal to be worried but by the end of the year most people feel like “I was meant to be on this floor and I really love everyone on my floor”.</p>

<p>2) Besides what I mentioed above there are HUNDREDS of OSC sponsored events to O week and some of them are really fun. Definitely go to some with people on your floor. check newstudentprograms.cornell.edu and click on the orientation guide.</p>

<p>3) I suggest either eating cereal with milk in your dorm room or grabbing a quick bite to eat from either Nasties, Trillium, Statler, or Ivy Room. You probably won’t have time to sit and eat in a dining hall so grabbing something to walk with (yogurt parfait or egg sandwich etc.) is easiest.</p>

<p>@alamode- Coffee at Olin Cafe (arts quad), Trillium (ag quad and near ILR), Statler (hotel school and near ILR), Green Dragon (arts quad), Mandible (ag quad), and Matten’s (engineering quad).</p>

<p>when does Orientation officially start on the first day? I probably won’t be able to get there until early afternoon? (my move-in time is 2PM if that matters)
so is it ok if I miss the morning?</p>

<p>I’m pretty sure the only “important” thing is at night when your orientation leaders come get you.</p>

<p>Orientation Guide: <a href=“Tatkon Center for New Students | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University”>Tatkon Center for New Students | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University;

<p>That should answer every single thing you need to know about O week.</p>

<p>It looks like the first Orientation Week event is on Friday at 7PM with your RA and then a meeting afterward with your OL group. Check out page 21 of the guide.</p>

<p>Is Carol’s Cafe good? I’m in Balch, so it would be super convenient when I don’t have the time or energy to make my own coffee or breakfast.</p>

<p>Also, do people eat in the dining halls on the weekends or do a lot of people go out or get take out or something? Because I’m not a big breakfast eater, won’t have time for a dining hall lunch on my schedule, and according to my calculations, if I get the $2000 7 meal/week plan, it won’t be worth it if I fail to use even one meal a week.</p>

<p>We all get sick of dining hall food by the end of first semester anyway. And you’re pretty much forced into at least 7 since most people will occasionally eat lunch, most of the time dinner.</p>

<p>Re: coffee on the ag quad… Manndible doesn’t accept BRBs. Try Alfalfa Room in the basement of Warren or Trillum Express in Kennedy. :)</p>

<p>“We all get sick of dining hall food by the end of first semester anyway.”
so true…</p>