CNS Cornerstones Communities

Foundations for today, preparation for tomorrow.

You are about to embark on one of the more momentous phases of your life. In college you will:

meet other new students who will become long-time friends
explore fields and topics you have not heard of that may become future passions, hobbies, or careers
learn to think creatively, solve problems, and work in new ways that are unimaginable to you
connect with faculty, staff, and business leaders who will be role models

That’s a lot to take on in 4 years. How do you get started? How do you navigate it all?

Through four Cornerstones, CNS will help you connect, acclimate, navigate and explore so that you can maximize your four years at UT. One way this happens is that every entering freshman joins a small academic learning community of peers with similar academic interests. In your freshman academic learning community, you’ll be led by a faculty or staff advisor and an upperclassman—someone who learned to be successful and is on a similar journey as you. Your community will incorporate the CNS Cornerstones, making this large university feel smaller and giving you a solid foundation to explore and optimize personal connection, resources, opportunities for success, and a sense of belonging. All CNS incoming freshmen will benefit from the Cornerstones whether you are in an honors program, a Freshman Interest Group (FIG), Women in Natural Sciences (WINS), Biology Scholars (BSP), Computer Science PODS, or TIP Scholars.

Key Components of CNS Cornerstones

CNS Cornerstones was designed by the College of Natural Sciences in consultation with our students. Our students told us the major hurdles they remembered from their first year, the key decisions they had to make, and the many questions when they were new at UT Austin. Based on their input, we designed CNS Cornerstones to include:

Community	Majors
Connecting to peers	What’s the science of your major for?
Campus student organization	What are the degree options (BS, BSA)?
Leadership and service opportunities	Academic advising for the semester(s) ahead
Succeeding in College	Careers
Study skills and time management	Get involved in research, hands-on learning
Learning from setbacks—and moving on	What did alumni find valuable from college
Core values and integrity	How to market skills from college

- Discovering Your Community

As a college we are committed to making UT Austin a welcoming and inclusive place for all students. During your freshman year you will join a small community. We have many different Cornerstones Communities and work to match every incoming student with a small academic learning community of peers with similar academic interests. All incoming students will be informed of their Cornerstones placement in the spring before they enter UT Austin. So whether it is through Biology Scholars (BSP), Women in Natural Science (WINS), TIP Scholars, First-Year Interest Groups (FIG), Computer Science PODS, or an honors program, these communities take common classes, explore Austin, find out about student organizations of interest to you, design service projects, study together, and hopefully become the foundation for your community of peers and support while you study at UT.

- Discovering What It Takes

College is challenging. And the majors in the College of Natural Sciences are among the most challenging majors at UT. While you arrived at the top of your class, it takes a lot more to be successful from here on out. Our students have told us the most important thing they learned early on were the key ingredients to success. CNS Cornerstones will serve as your guide through the common challenges students face and strategies for your future. And since you’ll be taking many of the same classes together, you’ll be able to help each other along.

- Discovering Role Models and Advisors

Students tell us over and over that the most important part of coming to UT is the mentorship and role models they find. Sure, up until now many students get by just fine on their own, but you will face new decisions and will have many new questions. CNS Cornerstones provides the foundation for acclimating to UT, navigating the university, and experiencing a wide array of opportunities. One of the main ways CNS Cornerstones achieves these lofty goals is by connecting you to an advisor and a staff or faculty member from your very first semester. In addition to the advisor and staff member, you’ll also be paired with a successful upper division student in Natural Sciences. Through CNS Cornerstones, your advisor, peer mentor, and staff member will talk to you about courses and will be a resource for you to help you along your path.

- Discovering Majors and Careers

Many students come to UT thinking they know what they will major in, only to switch once they arrive and find out about many fascinating options they’d never heard of. That’s great news, because the new things must have been really interesting to draw their attention away from their initial plans. In your small communities you’ll talk about career options available to your major, and how to prepare yourself to be successful in the career option you have in mind, and through the other resources of CNS Cornerstones you’ll be able to explore more opportunities than you thought possible. This means reverse-engineering your degree and your time at UT to be fully ready with a resumé that communicates your many skills by the time you graduate. The good news is that there are many paths to the same end goal, so you will not easily go wrong, and in fact you’ll have some important attitude-changing diversions along the way.