Jason Koski/University Photography

Katie Whalen says she has been impressed by her peers taking advantage of their college experience. "Everyone is very passionate about what they're doing, and it invigorates you," she said.

Katie Whalen transferred to Cornell as a sophomore from Villanova University, but soon found ways to fit in and take advantage of the many social and academic opportunities on the Ithaca campus.

"There are about 500 transfer students a year here, so you have that built-in support network," said the senior government major from Boston who graduated this week. "Cornell seems very large and intimidating at first, but then the school becomes very small because you find your niche."

Whalen applied her experience as a newcomer to her role as tour guide for Campus Information and Visitor Relations, and she pledged Delta Gamma sorority along with seven of her fellow transfer students.

"It was a good way to get out and meet people -- the Greek system here is so integral to the social scene, and I think that's a great thing," she said. "I couldn't imagine what it would be like for me if I hadn't joined."

She also joined and helped reorganize the Women's Lacrosse Club, serving as its president last year; and she has served on the University Assembly, which recently addressed the Campus Code of Conduct and the Code of Academic Integrity.

"Cornell is definitely a challenging place to be," she said. "I'm grateful that it's taught me to stand on my own two feet. Nobody holds your hand at Cornell. With 14,000 students, you're forced to be assertive."

Whalen has been impressed by her peers taking similar advantage of their college experience.

"There's so much to do here -- my friends are doing plays and films and photography," she said. "The one thing I love about the school is the diversity of interests. Everyone is very passionate about what they're doing, and it invigorates you. Every day my frame of reference is being challenged."

Whalen worked as a summer intern for U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy in 2004, as a liaison between the Democratic National Convention Committee and the city of Boston. "I loved it so much I went back last summer, to his Judiciary Committee office, to get more of a policy perspective," she said.

She has also seen community development in action in New York City in the Bronx, through the Cornell Public Service Center's Alternative Spring Break program.

"This last semester I've gotten to know my professors really well," she said, including Mary Katzenstein in her course on prisons. "It's by far my absolute favorite class I've taken here," Whalen said. "You can really feel how passionate she is. A lot of government classes are based in theory, but we actually went and visited the prison in Elmira. It was really an amazing experience to see that firsthand."

Whalen has almost as many options after graduation as she had as a student.

"I was planning to take two years off to work in the public sector and then come back for my J.D./MBA," she said.

To that end, she has been accepted by Teach for America to work in Houston in the spring, and she has applied to Cornell's Urban Fellows Program and would ultimately like to work for the City of New York. "It would be an opportunity to see the effects of policy on a really firsthand basis."