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contextoftheretentionmetric,andinparticularhowthesuccessfultransitionfromsecondaryschooltouniversity,notonlyintermsofacademicsbutalsointermsofsocialstandingandself-image,isnotonlycriticaltosuccessatuniversity,butoperateswithinarathersmallwindow,thepassingofwhichmayleavestudentsunabletosuccessfullyintegrateintotheuniversitysetting,andmorelikelytofailtocompletetheirstudies.2．3StudentsintheJapanese“UniversalAccess”SettingTosummarize,TrowandTinto'stheoriesasappliedtotheJapanesecontextsuggestthatwecanexpectthat,especiallyintheprivatesector,anincreasingnumberofstudentswillbecomingtouniversityfromeducationalandsocioeconomicsettingswhicharenottraditionallyuniversity-track,arenotaswell-preparedacademicallyorsociallyasstudentsfrompreviousgenerations,withless-robustfamilyandsocialsupportorinformationnetworks.ItisthegoalofthisstudytoexaminetheexperiencesofstudentsintheDepartmentofEnglishLanguageandCulturethroughthislens.3DescriptionoftheStudyThispaperdescribesthefirsttwostagesofaplannedlongitudinalstudytotrackstudents'academicandsocialexperiencesinthefirstfewmonthsofuniversitylifeandbeyond.Thegoalistocreateapicturethedepartmentcanusetoaccuratelyassessdepartmentaltohelpincomingstudentswiththetransitionfromsecondaryschoolstohighereducation,payingparticularattentiontostudentsfrombackgroundswhichtheliteraturesuggestswouldleavethemlesswell-preparedforthistransition,andthereforemorelikelytostruggleintheircriticalfirstfewmonthsatuniversity.Thestudybeganwithasurveyof33first-yearstudentsintheDepartmentofEnglishLanguageandCulturebeginninginSpringsemester2024（Laurence&King,2025）.Thisinitialsurveywasgivenattheendoftheirfirstsemesterofstudy,andincludedquestionsabout:●Self-imageasastudentandeducationalbackgroundofparentsandpeers●Howstudentsapproachedthedecisiontoattenduniversity,thedecisiontostudyEnglish,andthedecisiontoattendChubuUniversity'sDepartmentofEnglishLanguageandCulture●Academicexperiencesinthefirstsemester●SocialexperiencesinthefirstsemesterThesecondstageofthestudy,inSpring2025,gaveafollow-upsurveytostudentsinthefirstcohortandadditionallyexpandedtoincludethenewfirst-yearstudentswhoenteredthedepartmentthatyear.4Analysis4．1EducationalBackgroundInthefirstcohort,8students（24%）were“verifiably”first-generationstudents,meaningthattheywerecertainneitheroftheirparentshadattendeduniversityofanykind.Anadditional6students（for42%total）answeredthatthey“didnotknow”ifoneormoreoftheirparentshadattendeduniversity,whichwebelievemeansthattheycouldreasonablybeincludedinthisgroupofstudents.Additionally,14students（42%）indicatedthathalforlessoftheirhighschoolpeerswentontouniversity,suggestingthattheywerecomingfromsecondaryschoolswithaless-strongtraditionoftrackingstudentsintouniversitystudy,oratleastwereinvolvedinpeergroupsthatdidnotgenerallytakeadvantageofthistrack.Thesecondcohortansweredsimilarly,with6outof40respondents（15%）“verifiably”firstgenerationandanadditional5students（for25%total）notknowingifoneormoreparenthadattendeduniversity.Additionally,fully67%ofthesestudentsindicatedthathalforfeweroftheirhighschoolclassmatesattendeduniversity.Thatistosay,whiletherearesomedifferencesinspecifics,bothcohortshadsignificantnumbersofwhatwemightclassifyasourmost“at-risk”students,comingfromfamilyandeducationalbackgroundswhichhavepreparedthemlesswellforuniversitystudythanotherstudents.4．2SocialIntegrationintheDepartmentWhenaskedabouttheirsocialintegrationwithotherfirst-yearstudents,subjectsinthefirstcohortgenerallyansweredpositively:18studentsAContinuingStudyonIntegrationIntoHigherEducation―39―