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New students encouraged to embrace community

sdtudents at 2026 convocation at schoellkopf field
Devin Flores/Cornell University
Cornell President Michael I. Kotlikoff addresses the nearly 4,300 first-year and transfer students who, with their families, gathered Aug. 18 at Schoellkopf Field for New Student Convocation.

By David Nutt, Cornell Chronicle

Thousands of faculty and staff, tens of thousands of students, hundreds of thousands of alumni – the Cornell community is large. It’s diverse. And every Cornellian has a place in it.

“Every single one of you is here, because we saw something special in you that meant you belonged at Cornell,” President Michael I. Kotlikoff told the nearly 4,300 first-year and transfer students who, with their families, gathered Aug. 18 at Schoellkopf Field for New Student Convocation.

“So if at some point in the months ahead, when you’re wrestling with a problem set or a paper, and you start to wonder if maybe somebody in Admissions made a mistake – I can tell you right now, they did not,” Kotlikoff said. “You are a Cornellian. And this is where you belong.” 

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