SUPPORTING YOUR STUDENT
Understanding Transition

Joining the Purdue community is an exciting event for your son or daughter and for you, the parent or guardian of a university student. We hope this handbook will help you get acquainted with Purdue and answer many of your questions.

The following are 10 phases that many students go through during their first year of college. As parents of a college freshman, you may want to prepare yourself for them. We have also included helpful tools and tips to assist you with this.

Early summer anticipation
This is when high school seniors graduate and begin to look toward the future. They may have feelings of sadness, accomplishment, and anticipation.

Midsummer anxiety
Students begin to realize that soon they will be leaving their home, family, friends, and the security those things offer.

Late summer panic
The student is plunged into the collegiate environment complete with a new roommate, university bureaucracy, classrooms, homework, and a foreign social world.

The honeymoon
A couple of new friends and no tests for at least three weeks, let's go have some fun!

The end of the honeymoon
Where did all of this hard work come from? And where did all of the time go? Homesickness may appear at this phase.

The grass is always greener...
They are sure that transferring somewhere else will solve their problems. No doubt they would be doing better at another university.

You can't go home again
This starts the first time students come home to visit. They are hit with the harsh realization that life for the rest of the family goes on without them.

Primitive coping behavior
Well into the first semester, students have finally learned to use the library, and they are excited about the things they have learned.

Realization
This phase usually precedes finals. Students realize the great amount of work ahead and know that their future depends largely on their academic success.

Putting it together
Sometime during the second semester, students see college as a total experience. They realize that hard work and achievement must be priorities but do not totally exclude time for having fun. They have learned what it takes to make the most of the college years. Then again, there are some students who graduate in spite of themselves.