Chris Hallman/University Photography

Anistasia Sidorova '08 hangs wall furnishings with the help of her friend, Richard Benware '06. A welcoming message from her neighbor, Ashley Adams '08, is on her door.

Robert Barker/University Photography

Eugena Fung '09, an Arts and Sciences student from Indiana, calls friends from her new room in Balch Hall.

Libe Slope was a parking lot.

The Cornell Store was stocked and ready for the masses.

Friday, Aug. 19, was move-in day for many of the almost 6,400 incoming undergraduates newly landed at Cornell University. Many were freshmen, their parents in tow and loaded down with boxes, clothes baskets and little touches of home, from potted cacti to framed photos.

Red-shirted Campus Life staff directed traffic, answered questions and generally smoothed the transition for students and family members.

New students moved through the registration line in Bartels Hall to pick up their Cornell ID cards and sign up for everything from meal plans and parking permits to the mandatory swim test. The campus store was filled with students picking up textbooks and essential dorm supplies, from toothbrush holders and coat hangers to desk lamps.

At the President's Welcome Reception on North Campus, high winds almost tore the reception tent loose from its moorings; ROTC and other student volunteers helped to hold down the tent posts.

Long lines of cars, packed with students' belongings, queued up beside the West and North Campus residence halls. While freshmen moved in on North Campus, some upperclassmen were returning to upgrade their on-campus accommodations.

"They've made things a lot nicer," said Michael Hypes '06, a materials science and engineering major who was moving into the year-old main building of Alice H. Cook House after living in North Baker (part of the Cook House community), Sperry and Donlon halls. "It's a lot more convenient; everything is in one place. The dining hall is right downstairs, and you don't have to go anywhere else to pick up your mail."

According to figures released in the spring by the Cornell Office of Admissions and Enrollment, 26.2 percent of admissions this fall are from New York state. By race and ethnicity, 42.1 percent are Caucasian, 17.5 percent are Asian-American, 6.7 percent are Hispanic and 6.3 percent are African-American; 21.9 percent of the admitted applicants did not report their ethnicity.