This study reveals that first-year college students are more impacted by the process of learning to learn than by the content of what they are learning. Specifically, adapting to college-level academic expectations, adopting successful study habits, and coping with the tendency to procrastinate were found to be critical to students' academic development during their first year of college. Grades received during the first year helped students determine the amount and type of effort they put into their academic work. Acquiring new knowledge from course content was identified as an academic turning point more in the students' second term than in their first. Based on the survey results, the authors provide specific recommendations to faculty who teach first-year students. (Contains 2 footnotes.)