The study, released in March, detailed the college readiness of Hoosier students who graduated from Indiana public high schools.
The report defines college readiness as a measure of high school students who join universities across the state without needing remedial coursework before earning credits toward a ?degree.
College readiness “is a key measure for predicting student success and degree affordability,” Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Teresa ?Lubbers said.
The statistics in the report show 77 Indiana counties saw improvements in the percentage of students who were college-ready. Twenty-four of those counties saw increases of 10 or more percentage points.
Cecil Sayre, a professor in the English department, said students seem more motivated at the beginning of their freshman year.
“College students right out of high school seem more determined to do well in the first semester,” he said. “By the second semester, you can see their confidence and less of the fear.”
He added that the newness of college tends to contribute to the students’ ?performance levels.
“Students will always be concerned about their grades and assignments, but the first semester they are just afraid of making mistakes since it is a brand new experience,” he said. “Yet their determination pulls them through, and soon enough they get acquainted with the system.”
But one freshman, business management major Rita Wakim, said her freshman year experience involved some surprises.
“My first semester was pretty good,” she said. “There were some things which I ?expected to happen, and some I didn’t.”
She said maintaining a balance between academic projects and a social life proved difficult.
“I don’t understand between studying and extracurriculars when am I going to get the time to talk to people,” she said. “At times it just gets too much between case competitions, accounting and K201.”
She said the number of distractions increased at the collegiate level as well.
“I believe that there are definitely a lot more distractions when you come to college,” she said. “You have a lot more independence and it seems too much all at once. I feel that if you have taken (advanced placement) and honors courses in high school, then yeah, you are ready for college, at least for the study portion.”
Journalism student Jordyn Schmitz said she feels differently about the progression of her freshman year. She said she was adequately prepared for her freshman year because of her high school programs.
“I was in a program in high school which was supposed to prepare me for college assignments and other things,” she said. “It did help me, but at the same time this was just a whole new ?experience.”
Having friends at IU helped during the transition, she said.
“I thought I would be on my own a lot, but since I am from Indiana I know a lot of people who went here and kind of took me under their wing and just brought me along on what they were doing, which gave a different aspect instead of the freshman exploration,” she said.
