This dissertation evaluated the efficacy and effectiveness of a first-year freshman seminar course designed to improve self-regulated learning skills and bolster academic success. First-year seminars (FYS) are designed to help at-risk students (as indexed by their admissions criteria) gain the learning and motivational skills they need to succeed in college. Self-regulated learning (SRL) requires the student to take control of their own learning experience both in terms of the learning strategies they employ and the motivational strategies they use to maintain progress on a task. In Study 1, the ability of a first-year seminar to improve SRL skills was assessed via the Motivational Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ; Pintrich et al., 2001). Students completed the MSLQ at the start and end of the semester. The change in MSLQ scores were then used to predict measures of academic success (i.e., GPA, retention, academic warning/probation). In Study 2, I assessed how students who completed the FYS compared to a matched sample of students (matched on admissions criteria) who had never completed the FYS on measures of academic success. Overall, I found that students improved from the start of the FYS to the end on both learning strategies and motivational strategies, as measured by the MSLQ. Learning strategies had the greatest improvement, but motivational strategies was the only SRL variable related to academic success measures (Year 1 GPA, and Year 1 Retention). Despite the improvements to SRL skills and their relationship to academic success measures, when comparing FYS students to those who never completed the FYS, there was no benefit to GPA, retention, or academic warning/probation. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]