Student metaphors for the college freshman experience

Entry into college is part of a recurrent socialization that takes place in academic settings. From the standpoint of colleges and universities as well as students, successful student socialization is vital. It is important, therefore, to understand the perspectives students have about their own socialization. The purpose of this study was to describe student perceptions of what it means to be a new college/university student. Metaphors generated by freshman university students to describe the freshman experience were collected and analyzed. For communication scholars interested in the language of students, these metaphors provide insight into freshman socialization from the student perspective.