We studied first-year students through an integrated group workshop and longitudinal interviews that focused on students' transitional experience at the university as well as the strategies they developed to adjust to university life. Four themes emerged: the challenges of forming connections to other students with similar interests during the first few weeks on campus, the need to balance competing demands, varied experiences of connection with faculty and staff, and the need for translation of university life for minority students. To address the issues and concerns that emerged from our findings, we offer a number of advisory recommendations and programmatic initiatives.
Relative Emphasis: research, practice, theory
Author notes
Adele Baruch-Runyon, [email protected], is an assistant professor of clinical mental health in the Department of Human Resource Development at the University of Southern Maine.
Zark VanZandt is professor of school counseling in the Department of Human Resource Development at the University of Southern Maine.
S. Auguste Elliott is a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at Feilding Graduate University. She is also a licensed psychologist-master's level and consultant in Vermont.
The authors wish to thank Dr. Susan Campbell for her irreplaceable conceptual and practical support and the Melmac Foundation for its financial support for projects relating to student success.