In recent years, there has been a burgeoning interest in postsecondary acceleration, which is evidenced by the increasing number of early-entrance programs being estab- lished in universities across the United States. While these programs vary on a number of dimensions, they are all predicated on the notion that exceptionally bright students thrive when they are appropriately challenged. Learning in a stimulating college milieu with other students who are their intellectual peers, early entrants are thought to fare much better than those gifted teens who remain under- challenged in high school and who risk losing interest in academic pursuits. In accordance with Tomlinson’s (1994) view, it makes intuitive sense that, “when learning tasks are designed to match student readiness, learning is optimal. If the task is too difficult, frustration results; when it is too easy, students become bored and lose interest in learning” (p. 43). Thus, although early-entrance programs “will not suit every highly talented high school student . . . for some mature, brilliant youngsters, [early-entrance programs] are manna from educational heaven” (Boothe, Sethna, Stanley, & Colgate, 1999, p. 201). While research strongly supports the effectiveness of acceleration as a curricular intervention (e.g., Benbow & Early-Entrance Students: Impressions of Their First Semester of College Michelle Muratori, Nicholas Colangelo, Susan Assouline University of Iowa ABSTRACT Although the long-term impact of early entrance to college has been examined, one issue that has received inadequate attention in the gifted education literature is how students enrolled in early-entrance programs adjust during their first semester of college, which is arguably the most critical juncture for them in terms of their transition from high school. The purpose of this study was to identify the unique academic, social, family, and transition issues that challenged the inau- gural class of the National Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering (NAASE), an early-entrance pro- gram at the University of Iowa. Through the use of in-depth interviews, behavioral observations, and stu- dent and parent surveys, a rich picture of the students’ satisfaction and challenges with their first-semester college experiences emerged. While the primary aim of this research was to examine the NAASE students’ first-semester adjustment, the study also served to evaluate the effectiveness of the NAASE program from the students’ perspectives. PUTTING THE RESEARCH TO USE Acceleration practices are more difficult for parents and educators to accept because they “disrupt” the f low and expectations that we have about age, grade, and sequence. Early entrance is a form of acceleration that engenders concern because it places a student in a new, more adult environment at an earlier age and often entails leaving the home environment. The findings from this study are consistent with previous reports on early-entrance students in that this form of acceleration is generally an advantage both in terms of academic and social development. This study’s focus on the first semester of college is particularly salient because that is the semester when students, parents, and educators are most apprehen- sive about the decision to start college early. Early entrance is clearly an effective alternative to a “nonchallenging treading-water” senior year for some gifted students. These students do make a suc- cessful transition to college, but it seems a support network such as NAASE needs to be available. Parents and students need to be informed of the chal- lenges of early entrance into college and that some- times the size of school, geographic location, and boyfriend/girlfriend at home can play a more power- ful role in first-semester adjustment than anticipated. Parents and students also need to know that early entrance for highly capable students is a rewarding and effective educational intervention. EARLY-ENTRANCE STUDENTS’ IMPRESSIONS VOL 47 NO 3 • SUMMER 2003 • GIFTED CHILD QUARTERLY 219