The goals of increasing student retention and developing effective learning communities led the College of Business and Economics faculty to experiment with freshmen learning communities. In this study we investigate the effects of combining academic cohorts with a freshman seminar. Academic performance and retention of this group are compared to those of a control group that received no special retention efforts. No statistically significant effects were identified. However, when the analysis is focused on students who may be at risk as identified by characteristics at the point of admission, the positive academic effect of the freshman seminar and academic cohort groups is large and statistically significant. (Contains 6 tables.)