Considering the developmental and contextual approaches in the study of academic adjustment, psychosocial development and academic achievement of first-year college students, the authors analyze the personal and academic experiences of a student sample from University of Minho (n=1273). It was administrated the Questionário de Vivências Académicas (QVA; Almeida & Ferreira, 1997), organized into 17 subscales considering personal, interpersonal and environmental dimensions of academic adjustment and success. The results present some mean differences between the groups by gender, student status and major in graduation. The conclusion is that these factors should be taken into account in college politics and practices if we want to produce an increase the chances of accademic success among students.
Higher education; Academic adjustment; Academic achievement; Psychosocial development; Academic success
