Why is Adjusting to College so Difficult, and How Can Colleges Support First-Year Students?

I closed the door to my black sedan and pressed the small button to open the trunk. It creaked as it slowly opened—revealing four black lawn chairs. I gently picked two of them up and handed one to my sister. My father and my mother gathered the other two. We set them up in the short grass around us. Together, we all sat down—staring at the brilliant sunset in front of us.

I had one week before I left home to attend the University of Notre Dame. This was one of the last times my family and I would have an opportunity to simply sit in peace and enjoy each other's presence.

“Are you excited for college?” asked my older sister. “I remember being nervous before I left.”

“So excited,” I replied without hesitation. Notre Dame was my dream school. Why would I be nervous?

“Do you think you’ll be homesick?” wondered my mother.

“Of course not,” I replied. “Homesickness only happens to kids.”

My family members smiled sadly; it was almost as if they knew something I didn’t.

Three months into my first semester of college, I now realize I was mistaken. I’m homesick; I miss my car, my friends, my shower, and my room. I miss waking up to the tantalizing smell of my mother’s butter chicken, playing tennis with my father, and laughing at Instagram reels with my sister. It’s challenging; in fact, I struggled so much that I submitted a transfer application to a college that is closer to my home in Pennsylvania before I had even spent a month at Notre Dame. I was fully willing to give up on my dream school that I had worked endlessly to get into just to be closer to the people I love. Why was this the case? Why has it been so difficult for me to adjust to college, and what can universities do to help similar students?

Homesickness and the issues associated with it may often seem like they are not that big of a deal, but they pose a significant challenge for first-year college students. Psychology and brain sciences professor Tammy English and others define homesickness as “the distress or impairment caused by actual or anticipated separation from home” (1). Research conducted by English and others found that homesickness was linked to several other issues, such as a more challenging time adjusting to college and participating in social interactions (4). In their study, they gathered 174 undergraduate students and measured each student’s weekly levels of homesickness on a scale of zero to four (where four is the highest level of homesickness); it was discovered from the results that homesickness tends to decrease over time (English, et al. 6). However, it was also found that time was only linked to a small decrease in homesickness (English, et al. 6). In other words, homesickness does generally decrease with time, but it does not dissipate by a substantial amount. This makes the issue challenging to deal with.

Another issue that homesickness can cause is a lack of concentration in the classroom. According to professor of psychology and sociology Christopher Burt, homesickness can make it more difficult for students to concentrate during class (333). In his study, Burt gathered 108 undergraduate students and showed each of them a set of 44 slides that reminded students of home (336-337). Immediately afterward, the digit span test (a procedure in which individuals are presented with 22 sets of numbers and asked to repeat them verbally) was used to assess students’ attention to a task at hand; from this data, it was found that homesickness was linked to a lower level of attention (Burt 336). It is important to note, however, that the study did not find any correlation between homesickness and academic performance (Burt 341). Thus, homesickness can make it more challenging to actually concentrate, but it does not necessarily lead to lower grades. My personal experience supports this idea; during classes, I’ve often become lost in thoughts of home. I’ll start thinking about the great memories I’ve made with the friends from my hometown, which eventually leads to me falling down a rabbit hole of melancholy feelings—making it much harder for me to focus on topics such as atomic orbitals and natural selection.

The four days of “Welcome Weekend” at Notre Dame were a complete blur. Members of my dorm raced around the parking lot during move-in day—screaming and waving flags proudly displaying Stanford Hall. I was lost in a whirlwind of new faces, locations, rules, and foods over the next few days. Although the sheer excitement of moving into such an electric dorm and environment for the next four years initially overpowered any feelings of homesickness, I began missing home about a day or two after moving in.

As I walked to my chemistry lecture with a student I had just met in my second week of classes, I decided to strike up a conversation.

“Are you homesick?” I asked.

“Not really,” he replied. “I love it here.”

Then, on the way to North Dining Hall after a philosophy class, I began speaking to a fellow classmate.

“Do you feel homesick here?” I questioned.

“No,” she said. “I really enjoy the freedom that comes with college.”

Roughly a week later, I met a Brazilian student in my dorm. I felt relieved. As a student who is so far from home, he would certainly be able to empathize with my homesickness.

“You’re from Brazil, right?” I asked. “How do you deal with your homesickness?”

“I’m not homesick at all,” he replied. “I call my parents once in a while, but I don’t really miss home other than that.”

These conversations made it more difficult for me to adjust. I could not find anyone else who was struggling with homesickness. It was as if I was the only homesick student in the entire university. As a result, I struggled to find people who I could speak to about the issues I was dealing with.

However, studies have shown that homesickness is actually a very prevalent issue. Research has shown that within the first ten weeks of college, 94% of students report feelings of homesickness (English, et al. 6). In addition, it was found that homesickness affects all people—regardless of age or sex (Burt 333). Yet, if homesickness is so prevalent, why did I struggle to find peers who empathized with my feelings?

The answer to this question may lie in a study conducted on an issue related to homesickness: loneliness. A nationwide survey conducted in 2020 suggested that two-thirds of college students struggle with loneliness (Eisenberg 5). In addition, psychology professors Natalie Kerr and Taylor Stanley determined from their research that college students stigmatized loneliness (2). In their study, they found that college students involved in the study were less likely to think positively of individuals who were characterized as “lonely” (Kerr and Stanley 6). This suggests that it is possible lonely students may be reluctant to speak about topics relating to their feelings in fear of being viewed in a negative fashion.

Similarly, first-year college students may feel that there is a stigma surrounding homesickness. As a result, they may be worried to actually speak about their issues in fear that they will be viewed in a different light. This environment that makes it difficult to speak about issues such as homesickness and loneliness may also pose a deeper issue. It may cause students to believe that their feelings are not common—just as I felt when my peers all claimed to not feel homesick.

Yet, as challenging as it was to deal with homesickness, there were certain aspects of Notre Dame’s Welcome Weekend that aided in my struggle. For example, I met some of my first real friends at Notre Dame’s famous “DomerFest.” In addition, dorm-related activities, such as participating in a trivia competition with my roommate, playing several ferocious games of ping-pong, and engaging in heated scavenger hunts helped to foster new connections with my roommate and other members of the dorm. Other events, such as the welcome mass and official university welcome also made me feel at home.

Perhaps the most influential part of the four days was a peer-led social group. It consisted of roughly six freshmen and two upperclassmen; together, we all sat on the Library Quad and simply talked. The peaceful night air felt warm on my skin as freshmen bombarded the upperclassmen with questions—asking about parties, social life, academics, adjustment, and much more.

“What if I’m late to class?”

“How do I reserve a room in the library?”

“Where can I go to buy snacks?”

In my experience, this was by far the most helpful event of Welcome Weekend; it was nice to hear the perspectives of students who had specifically been in our shoes just a few years prior.

My personal experience with peer-support groups is mirrored in research that has been conducted on the matter. Psychology professor Jonathan Mattanah and others conducted a study and discovered that social support groups have a positive effect on students’ adjustment to college (104). Specifically, they found that students who were involved with groups that met roughly eight times in the Fall Semester experienced lower levels of loneliness and felt more socially supported by their peers (Mattanah, et al. 97). Students who are involved in such groups are able to freely express their concerns and feelings in an environment where they know they will not be judged. In addition, many upperclassmen have specifically experienced similar circumstances, meaning they may be able to provide guidance to struggling freshmen. However, the peer support group at Notre Dame was just a one-time meeting during Welcome Weekend. To further assist students, Notre Dame and other colleges can implement specific groups that meet more than just once a semester.

Another way colleges can aid in students’ adjustment to college is through the use of a summer bridge program. Professor of politics and global studies Gina Woodall and others explain that a summer bridge program is one in which recent high school graduates begin college prior to the Fall Semester; these programs can be beneficial because they help to create “momentum” for college students by giving them a first-hand taste of what the Fall Semester will be like (449). These programs generally have two purposes. Firstly, they help to foster social connections for first-years—allowing these students to have a general group before actually arriving for their first real semester (Woodall et al. 448). In addition, this concept allows students to get a sort of head-start on the skills they will need to succeed at college (Woodall et al. 448). Essentially, implementing a summer bridge program can theoretically help students in their adjustment to college by exposing them to a similar environment before their first semester.

When Gina Woodall and others further researched the idea, they found that students who participated in the summer bridge program typically felt more socially and emotionally connected to their university (1). In addition, the researchers found that, out of the students who participated in the program, 100% claimed that they would return for the spring semester; conversely, a smaller 92.5% of the students who were not a part of the program reported that they would attend the same college for the spring semester (460). This research shows that there is real promise in using summer bridge programs to ease students’ transition to college life.

During my first month of college, I was convinced that the intense feelings of homesickness would last forever. I was fully ready to give up on my dream school and transfer. Yet, times have slowly changed. Sure, I’m still homesick. I’m counting down the days until Christmas break when I can spend a whole month with my people, but little developments have shown me how far I’ve come. One day, I woke up and no longer needed to use Apple Maps to make it to the Coleman-Morse Center for my writing class. On a random Tuesday, I figured out how to order the Grubhub burgers at North Dining Hall. Recently, I’ve been able to make time to play Fortnite with my new friends without sacrificing my academic performance. In essence, the homesickness has become more bearable with time—just as it does for many other students. However, it doesn’t have to be a lonely battle. Notre Dame and other colleges can play a large role in helping students manage their feelings of homesickness. With the implementation of concepts like peer support groups and summer bridge programs, colleges can help freshmen make a smoother transition to college—allowing for a higher quality of life for these students in their first year.