Jason Koski/University Photography

Cornell President David Skorton answers questions from the audience as moderator Andrew Heilmann '09 listens during a fireside chat in Willard Straight Hall.

What is it like to be a transfer student? To have to cope with challenges in college, to change careers? And what if you are a really lousy singer? These were just a few of President David Skorton's musings in a fireside chat with transfer students, Jan. 17 in Willard Straight Hall.

The orientation event, cheerfully billed as "S'mores with Skorton," was specifically for transfer students coming to Cornell for the first time this semester. The students roasted marshmallows with chocolate and graham crackers as Skorton fielded a host of questions posed by Andrew Heilman '09, co-chair of the 2008 Orientation Steering Committee.

Skorton, himself, was a transfer student, he recalled, switching from the University of California-Los Angeles after his first year of college to Northwestern University in Chicago. "That was a big geographical change; it was 2,000 miles," he told the group. "There was a certain feeling of excitement and exploration of coming into a much different place."

In sharing other personal stories, Skorton described how he went from being a cardiologist to a university president, and he joked about his inability to sing.

"It's actually been measured that I'm the worst singer of people my age still left alive," he said. Despite this, Skorton said he still loves karaoke bars, even though, he confessed, he's been asked to stop singing at a few.

Skorton talked a lot about music and noted that growing up he had wanted to be a musician, not a doctor. "I was briefly a professional musician," he said. "I wasn't good enough to do it. It takes a lot of guts to do anything in the arts. You have to have a lot of belief in yourself."

And what are his thoughts on the music at Slope Day? "Snoop Dogg [the rapper who performed in 2005] and Skorton together at last," he said.

Skorton suggested that new and current students alike should explore such places on campus as the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at Kroch Library, Cornell United Religious Work in Anabel Taylor Hall and the Public Service Center. He also urged the transferring students to devote some time to service to give back to the community.

"Cornell is a resource-rich institution. Expensive, elite, wonderful facilities. But, we live in an area of great need," he said. "There are a lot of areas where you can get involved."

He noted that doing community service can also ease the transition of being a transfer student. "I think it's important to try to find a community in which one can have some comfort, so there is some emotional support," he said. "At the same time, be courageous to wander outside that comfort zone."

The event ended with this Skorton advice: "Cornell is a serious university, in the sense that a lot is expected of the people who work here and study here. I think it's important to view each day one day at a time."

Julia Langer '08 is a writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle.