Objectives: To understand predictors of first-year college adjustment in the context of collective trauma, including a school shooting. Participants: Two consecutive years of entering freshman (Year 1 (Y1) N = 169, Year 2 (Y2) N = 94) were surveyed over time: Y1 in October 2012 and March 2013, and Y2 in October 2013 and August 2014. During Y2,…

We conducted 2 studies to determine whether the relationship between depressive symptomatology and college GPA is mediated by effort regulation and to understand how depressive symptomatology upon entry to college affects students' adjustment and academic achievement later in the first year of college. In Study 1, we found that the relationship…

This research draws on the experience of a group of mature students' studies during their first year at university. All experienced varying degrees of Imposter Syndrome, feelings of fraudulence and a lack of confidence in their ability. The process of "becoming" a mature student is one of identity change and risk. Gaining a sense of…

For more than 30 years, John Gardner has elevated the discussion about the importance of student success in the first-year of college, with a heightened emphasis on first-year seminar courses and their value. Many colleges and universities offer some version of a first-year experience seminar, which is true for the Midwestern MAC School discussed…

The purpose of this qualitative investigation was to discover personal reasons Millennial college freshmen, between the ages of 18-20, stated as obstacles to college retention. Fourteen students from a private college in the Midwest were selected to participate in an interview process. These students were asked a series of open-ended questions…

In South Africa under apartheid, higher education was unavailable to a large segment of the population. Many who enrol for an undergraduate degree today are thus mature students or 'adult learners' 25 years or older who are in full-time employment. Since these students learn differently from their younger peers, institutions need to know what…

The Latinx population continues to be underrepresented in higher education.This qualitative study explored the perceptions of 137 Latinx first-year students on factors that affected their college adjustment. Two primary domains emerged through consensual qualitative research analysis: (a) Detrimental Factors (i.e., issues that hindered adjustment)…

The study aims to empirically test the relationship between types of campus adaptations across academic years of engineering undergraduate B. Tech students pursuing a four-year study at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT's) and National Institute of Technology (NIT's) in India. The Multivariate Analysis of Variance (Manova) test was run with SPSS…

Success in college is topic that is continually debated and contested, specifically, with respect to identifying how it is defined, operationalized, and fostered. The first-year experience is a phrase used to describe the intricacies and associated issues of being a first-year student in college. This study addressed the limited research and…

Using Merton's (1957) anticipatory socialization theory, this qualitative study explored how participation in dual credit in high school helped introduce 12 female students to the academic and social aspects of college to ease their first-year transitions. These students, who entered one Texas university with between 15 and 78 dual credits,…

Self-concepts of ability (SCA) and intrinsic task values (ITV) are key determinants of students' choice of study program and dropout. Both constructs are multidimensional (i.e., specific to curricular learning content) and hierarchically structured (i.e., aggregate into one or more higher-order factors). The present study investigated German…

Purpose: Building upon attachment theory and emerging theory, the current study was aimed at examining the effect of peer attachment in predicting adjustment to life in university among freshmen in a public unirvsity in East Malaysia. Furthermore, it sought to examine the influence of gender and perceived-adult status as moderators of the…

This exploratory study used grounded theory to understand the role of minority stress on the first-year experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and questioning emerging adults attending a university in the Northeastern part of the United States. Twenty-one lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and questioning sophomores participated in focus groups…

This study is a mixed-methods research project designed to measure the effectiveness of a peer mentor program in meeting institutional goals such as increased academic performance and retention. The results suggest that peers are useful in helping students manage the demands of the first year by normalizing the experience and linking the students…

The underrepresentation of males from particular equity groups in Australian universities continues despite recent gains in achievement. This article presents a case study of the transition of one Aboriginal student, Robbie, from a school located in the Western suburbs of Sydney to an urban Australian university. Drawing on recent theorisations of…