General education classrooms provide a common milieu for understanding and appropriating results of classroom research projects, which are typically viewed as having little application outside their original contexts. Here, results of an investigation into the "sophomore slump," where grades and class attendance rates typically suffer, are…

From a sample of 304 college freshmen, 68.8 percent reported experiencing homesickness (57.5 percent of males and 75.4 percent of females). Approximately 41 percent were experiencing homesickness for the first time. Homesickness lasted more than 1 week for 2-thirds of the students and more than 8 weeks for 18.2 percent of them. (DB)

Freshmen college students often experience a dramatic change in activities, values, and personal demands compared to home and previous schooling. To investigate the relationship between psychological maladjustment and stressful life events, locus of control, and social support networks, 62 college freshmen in their first semester of school…

This study examined the attitudes and behaviors associated with leadership qualities in 73 freshman athletes at the University of Maryland, College Park. The Sport Leadership Behavior Inventory (SLBI), the Noncognitive Questionnaire (NCQ), and the New Student Census were administered to the athletes. The SLBI was chosen to provide a definition of…

This paper reports on the use of qualitative methods to determine first-year student perceptions of the Orientation program delivered by North Carolina State University. One hundred thirty freshmen were interviewed, in groups of 6 to 10, to learn about their orientation experiences, and why they felt some sessions were helpful, and where sessions…

Five hundred incoming students attending Mount Saint Vincent University (Nova Scotia) were selected to participate in a study designed to compare the expectations and experiences of traditional students (who entered immediately after high school or transferred from another university or college) and nontraditional students (who entered part-time…

This study explores the factors that affect Latino college student experiences in the first year of college and adjustment in the second year of study when many minority students dropout. The study examined data from five primary sources and focused on Latino college students who were semifinalists for a national scholarship award. The National…