Diverse transitions

This paper discusses some of the key experiences which contribute to successful first year student transitions into university. Interviews with seventeen first year students from across Macquarie University’s four faculties provided an insight into the degree to which their expectations of higher education were being met by the university’s initiatives. The participants’ educational, cultural and professional backgrounds were varied. The diversity of their responses indicates the dangers of understanding and treating first year students in a generic fashion in the university. The emphasis of the responses confirms previous and contemporary work stressing the importance of the socio-cultural, social capital and emotional domains in the successful transition of students.