To help new students clarify goals, understand the demands of college, and successfully adjust to college life, Queensborough Community College (QCC), in Bayside, New York, developed the "Introduction to College" program. The program combines a 4-week orientation seminar with a writing-accross-the-curriculum approach to help QCC's diverse student population make the transition to college life, while maintaining the value of their diverse backgrounds and perspectives. The four sessions of the seminar focus on the realization that students' college careers will include challenging intellectual, vocational, emotional, physical, and social growth experiences and seek to impart a sense of the importance of the various facets of the college experience. The writing component functions as an avenue toward self-insight. At the end of each class session, instructors provide students with open-ended questions (e.g., "Who am I?") and encourage them to search for answers through writing in journals. These journal entries provide instructors, who also function as counselors, with insights into the diverse backgrounds and needs of students. A retention study conducted of fall 1980 freshmen indicated a positive correlation between freshmen enrollment in the seminar and reenrollment in the spring 1981 semester. (Includes samples of student journal entries). (ECC)