Throughout their education, students go through various changes. During their first year of school, children must go from spending a full day at home to attending school for several hours a day. These transition periods occur several times throughout the school years, but the most drastic changes occur during the transition from high school to college, where students face many lifestyle changes. Even though each student goes on their own journey, certain themes remain common among different students. Studies are being conducted to examine these themes and identify the many differences and similarities. A common theme among students transitioning to college is the concept of the 15-year-old freshman. The 15-year-old freshman is the idea that a freshman will gain 15 pounds throughout their schooling. their first year of university. This is something that almost every new student hears about (Delinsky & Wilson, 2008). The 15-year-old freshman can be attributed to many factors, such as the student's living environment, the food available to them, their level of physical activity, their stress level, and their eating habits. environment. Students living on campus in residence halls are more likely to gain weight than students living at home with parents or off campus (Provencher et al., 2009). This is due to the availability of food on the campuses of the various universities where the studies took place. While students living at home with their parents often eat home-cooked meals, college campus dining halls often serve all-you-can-eat buffet meals, where students are free to eat as much as they want. Students living far from...... middle of paper ......o lose weight? Psychosocial factors among first-year university students. Physiology and Behavior, 96(1), 135-141.Racette, SB, Deusinger, SS, Strube, MJ, Highstein, GR and Deusinger, RH (2005). Changes in weight, exercise, and eating habits during the first and second years of college. Journal of American College Health, 53(8), 245-251. Vella-Zarb, R. and Elgar, F.J. (2009). The “Freshman 5”: A meta-analysis of weight gain during the first year of college. Journal of American College Health, 58(2), 161-166. Wengreen, H.J. and Moncur, C. (2009). Change in diet, physical activity, and body weight in young adults during the transition from high school to college. Nutrition Journal, 8, 32-32. Yakusheva, O., Kapinos, K. and Weiss, M. (2011). Peer effects and the freshman 15: Evidence from a natural experiment. Economics and human biology, 9(2), 119-132.