Mental health is a rising concern in higher education, with increasing numbers of students experiencing mental health challenges. Stress is a common experience for undergraduate students and the first semester of college can be especially stressful for students as they navigate new coursework and surroundings and being without familiar supports. Simultaneously, engineering students report high workloads and competition that may exacerbate stress. Narratives of extreme resilience required for success in engineering may negatively impact student perceptions about norms of stress and how students care for their mental health and wellness. In order to best support students, we need to understand how students approach taking care of their mental health and wellness to inform curriculum and resources provided to students. In this study, we sought to understand how first-semester bioengineering students approached caring for their mental health and wellness and how these perceptions may be influenced by perceptions of engineering culture. Towards accomplishing these goals we measured (1) how students cope with stress, (2) whether they planned to use campus wellness resources, and (3) perceived barriers to mental health care. Students in a first-semester bioengineering course were surveyed during the second week of their first semester. Most students reported at least one coping mechanism for high stress and the most commonly reported mechanism was talking with peers. Only about 35% of students indicated that they would be likely to use campus wellness resources, often citing that limited time prevented them from doing so. While perceived barriers to mental health care were low on average, some students (between 5 and 10.5%) rated these barriers as severe. Students who rated barriers as severe most commonly held beliefs that mental health supports on campus, such as counseling centers, would not be effective. Engineering identity scores for students surveyed in this study were similar to national peers, suggesting that incoming students may identify strongly with engineering culture (e.g. shared expectations and norms commonly held in engineering). Understanding the barriers to help seeking and current approaches to wellness of incoming students will equip colleges and universities to implement proactive interventions and wellness curriculum to support student mental health and reduce perceived barriers to accessing mental health care.