Teaching experts suggest that establishing clear expectations and a supportive environment at the beginning of a college course has a lasting impact on student attitudes. However, minimal empirical evidence exists to support these suggestions. Consequently, we randomly assigned instructors to either begin their course with a reciprocal interview activity aimed at these goals or in their typical fashion. At term's end, students experiencing the activity (n = 187) reported greater clarity regarding their course responsibilities, more support from their instructor, and greater course satisfaction on both official evaluations and experimenter-administered measures, compared to students who had not (n = 190). These results contribute to a converging body of evidence regarding the effectiveness of reciprocal interviews and similar activities generally. (Contains 2 notes, 1 table, 2 figures and 2 footnotes.)