The primary purpose of this article is to elaborate on a psychological concept related to Tinto's construct of social integration. The concept introduced in this article is worldview fit, defined as the perceived ideological compatibility between the student and the institution (e.g., faculty, peers). This purpose was accomplished through three…

Transfer students are a growing population for four-year institutions and on many campuses, a majority. While much research on transition practices exists, the focus has been on the two- to four-year transition or vertical transfers, which account for less than half of the transfer students at many four-year institutions, rather than on four- to…

The goal of this analysis was to explore students' perceptions of the role of supportive relationships in their adjustment during their first year of college. A total of 22 second-year students, who had a GPA of 2.0 or higher (the university's standard of academic success), reflected on their first year during focus group interviews. Students'…

The transition from secondary school to postsecondary education poses numerous challenges for first-year university students. Two hundred and fifty second-year students attending a small Canadian university were surveyed regarding the ease or difficulty with which they adjusted, in the previous year, to the next phase in their formal education.…

The academic language needed for success in college or university courses can be challenging for nonnative English speakers (NNES). Institutions have implemented initiatives such as study partnerships, Supplementary Instruction, content-based language courses, and technology-based support to strengthen the English skills of NNES. This study…

The senior-year experience represents a critical period as students prepare to make the transition from their familiar academic surroundings to post-college life. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a professional development curricular strand that has been infused across an undergraduate curriculum. This curricular…

This qualitative study provides insight into the first-year university experiences of students in a problem-based learning context an area that has received little attention in the literature. Data collection consisted of one-on-one interviews with students throughout their first year and of participant observation of students in the classroom at…

Faculty and administrators at many research-intensive institutions are concerned about effectively introducing students to the research culture that sets research institutions apart from technical and junior colleges. The first-year seminar with academic content might accomplish this objective because it can be focused on students' own research…

Assessment data from both an FYE-infused general education course (N = 153) and a first-year seminar (N = 392) were analyzed to identify students' perceptions about projects that required significant participation in out-of-class activities as an integral part of the course. The results from this analysis revealed that in addition to increasing…

This article describes the rationale for a first-year seminar for international students and reports the findings of a study examining its effectiveness. The seminar focuses on four primary objectives: (a) policies and procedures of the university's English as a Second Language (ESL) program; (b) university policies and American higher education;…

The goal of this study was to determine how ACT Aptitude Ratings (AAR, a pre-admission criterion) of first-year students are associated with various aspects of their first-year experiences. AAR scores were only weakly correlated with students' first-semester grade point averages (GPA), as well as their second-semester grades and attendance rates…

The purpose of this study is to assess personal and interpersonal predictors of college adjustment among a sample of 190 first-year Hispanic students. Specifically, we examined the extent to which personal factors such as self-esteem, acculturation, and ethnic identity and interpersonal factors such as parental education and parental attachment…

Incoming first-time, first-year students attending summer orientation (N = 1,710) at a large public university in the Southeast completed an instrument that assessed their use of alcohol and other drugs during the previous year, their perceptions of use by current students on campus, their intended alcohol use, and their intent to join a Greek…

While students who serve as peer mentors seem to experience significant growth and development, little research exists on learning outcomes associated with this experience. The purpose of this study was to examine what type of learning students who served as peer mentors experienced during the mentoring process. In this generic qualitative study,…

The adjustment to college represents a potentially invigorating and unsettling time for students. As students are socialized into college experiences, they must simultaneously navigate issues of identity, uncertainty, and change--all of which take place in a dynamic, ever-changing communication environment. The purpose of this study was to explore…