But this advice thing couldn’t be that hard. After all, Ben Franklin wrote an advice best-seller where he said things like “A cat in gloves catches no mice.” Who’s putting gloves on a cat?

And consider the advice you usually get at graduation. It’s terrible.

First, they say that the world is your oyster. This is true. It is sort of an acquired taste, hard to open with a spoon, and threatening to people with shellfish allergies.

Take the road less traveled.

The road less traveled is probably less traveled for a reason, like, it’s a less efficient road, or maybe it leads through a bad area of town where guys try to open your car windows with hooks.

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.

Sure, if you want to waste a lot of money on your space program and don’t care about astronaut life.

Some students, residents worry, will crave a rowdier college experience. Lisa Trader, 36, said she relished that her children, ages 8 and 6, could “just run” freely when they got off the tram. If the neighborhood dynamics changed, she said, perhaps the island’s more idyllic charms would disappear. “I don’t need to go back to college,” she said. “It would be a shame for it to turn into a party island.”

Ms. Torres said Roosevelt Island families need not worry. “This is Cornell,” she said. “One would assume they’ll be working.”