Abstract:

Although the transition from school to university presents many opportunities for first-year undergraduate students it also creates many challenges that students face during this adjustment period. In addition to first-year students trying to fit into their new university environment, they simultaneously have to adapt to making new friends, university academic rigour and responsibilities in their chosen course of study. Many first-year students are under-prepared for such responsibilities and changes. They arrive at university with varying expectations of what university life is all about. Much of their expectations are influenced by their prior schooling experience and family background. When first-year students’ expectations of university are unmet by their actual experiences encountered, this could lead to them becoming stressed and anxious. This behaviour could have a negative impact on first-year academic performance and university retention. This study investigated the gap between first year students’ prior university expectations with their actual university experience, at one institution in the Western Cape. The focus of this study was twofold: firstly, to identify the intensity of the gap between incoming students’ university expectations with their actual experience; and secondly, to investigate if the first-year students’ unmet university expectations have an influence on their academic performance. Quantitative data was collected in two phases, the first phase collected information from a Pre-Entry Expectation survey conducted with first-year students’ prior to the start of the academic year. The second phase of data collection from a First-Year Experience survey was done towards the end of the academic year. A total sample of 187 first-year students completed both surveys. Paired T-test and regression analysis was used to analyse the gap between the students’ university expectation and experience. Tinto’s student integration model together with Lizzio’s five senses of successful transition model guided the research process. The analysis of the data provided an in-depth understanding of how students connect with their new university environment. Students’ pre-entry attributes play an important role in shaping students’ initial university expectations and experience which could impact on the way the students integrates into the social and academic university environment. The finding from this study reveal that first-year students entering university have unrealistic expectations with regard to the following four dimensions investigated in this study: students’ resourcefulness, purposefulness, connectedness and capabilities.

The study found that the students’ university expectation scores were higher than their actual university experience scores. In addition, the findings reveal that there was a positive correlation between students’ capabilities scores and their academic performance. Finally, the study posits that addressing first-year students university expectations as early as possible could positively influence academic performance and retention.

Keywords:

First-Year Expectations, First-Year Experience, Student Retention, Student Success.