Whereas many college freshmen succeed during their first year, some struggle with transitioning. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive generic study was to examine the difficulties some high school graduates experience adapting to the college social environment. First-year college students often have feelings of homesickness, isolation, depression, and loneliness. Tinto's (1993) theory of student departure addresses college students and their integration experiences in college. The model involves two areas: social integration and academic integration. The transition happens once students have separated themselves from their previous life experiences but have not yet adapted to their new environment. A qualitative methodology was used to capture the challenges and issues college freshmen experience during their first year. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with six college freshmen from various colleges and universities in the United States. The themes were analyzed to seek patterns to provide a stronger synthesis of data. Findings indicated participants felt anxious or nervous leaving home for the first time and making new friends in college. For social transitioning to be successful, college students must feel a social connectedness so they can adjust and feel comfortable with their collegial journey. Recommendations for practice included providing engaging in-person freshmen orientation. Future studies may expand upon this research by examining the experiences of a larger sample of students. There is much research on academic success yet scant research on transitioning socially during a college student's first year. College freshmen should know that challenges and fears of adjusting in a new social environment such as higher education will be recognized, not avoided. Support services to aid college freshmen with their transition may increase the number of those who experience social and academic success. [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.]