Persistence in the first year at university is a phenomenon that has been studied many times. However, most research has taken a very linear view of the persistence process and little research has attempted to understand persistence by taking into account its full complexity. Yet the process of academic persistence is punctuated by striking events and critical moments that may interact with the characteristics of the student and his environment and then have some influence on persistence. In this perspective, a qualitative study was conducted to better investigate the process of persistence. This study confirms the idea that persistence is a more complex phenomenon than it had previously seemed and shows that there are different pathways resulting in students persisting or dropping out.