This study examined comments from a qualitative study regarding African American students' level of adjustment at predominantly white institutions. A phenomenological approach and ethno-methodology provided the framework to focus on what African American students experience and how they interpret their experiences in what they perceive as a hostile environment. Eighteen black students were interviewed between October 1991 and July 1993. Also interviewed were four administrators who worked with minority students in an academic support capacity. Analysis revealed three major themes into which students' remarks and concerns could be categorized: identity (and how it gets sorted out), social interactions, and academic interactions. Black identity was an issue for each student either on an individual or group level. Socializing with and in the African American reference group was surprising for many of the students though most students found support groups in the first two or three semesters. These support groups grew in importance as the years continued. Data indicated a tendency toward "self assessment" at some time between the second semester of the sophomore and the first semester of the junior year. (Contains 56 references.) (JB)