"It's a Whole New World": A Qualitative Exploration of College Students' Definitions of and Strategies for College Success

Journal of College Student Development, Mar/Apr 2008 by Yazedjian, Ani, Toews, Michelle L, Sevin, Tessara, Purswell, Katherine E

Based on these descriptions, it appears that a salient purpose of college attendance, even beyond degree attainment, involves the development of skills that allowed the individual to transition into more adult roles and responsibilities (Kuh, 1995; Zarrett & Eccles, 2006). Although students did not discount the importance of good grades or degree attainment, their narratives indicate that grades were not the only meaningful aspect of being successful in college. Students also indicate that personal development was an important indicator of college success. This sentiment was succinctly captured by Abbi's statement when she noted, "I think college is all about finding who you are as a person."

Consistent with previous research, these findings illustrate that success, to the students in our sample, extended beyond the academic domain (Gottlieb et al., 2007; Harper, 2005; Kuo et al., 2004; Roe Clark, 2005; Swail, 2003). Specifically, students' narratives reveal the importance of achieving not only academic success but also of becoming socially integrated and developing a sense of autonomy and independence. Thus, it is necessary for researchers to broaden their definitions of success so that they are more fully capturing college students' perceptions by acknowledging that students are striving for success in multiple domains.

Strategies for Success

Follow-up questions asked students to elaborate on how they achieved success in college. Similar to previous research, the students in our study primarily focused on strategies for being academically successful, but also described the importance of concurrently maintaining their social relationships and developing a sense of responsibility (Fries-Britt & Turner, 2002; Harper, 2005; Kuh, 1995). Regarding academic success, many students reported feeling prepared to do well upon arrival. For example, Eric stated,

I just kind of figured it'd be like 13th grade, as far as the course load work. That's pretty much what I expected of college. It's kind of like high school, where it's just doubled up or something like that. That's what I expected, but I really had no idea what to expect going in, I won't lie.

Eric went on to describe that although he was aware that college would be more challenging than high school, he soon realized that his expectations were not realistic. These findings were consistent with previous research that found students' expectations regarding how much work it would take to be successful had to be readjusted once they entered the college environment (e.g., NSSE, 2006; Roe Clark, 2005; Smith & Wertlieb, 2005; Venezia et al., 2003).

Moreover, similar to the students in Roe Clark's (2005) study who reported they had to change their "high school ways to college ways" in order to meet the demands of college (p. 305), most of the students in our study reported that they never had to study in high school in order to do well, but they had to learn how to study once they got to college. Elaborating on his previous comment, Eric stated that