Abstract
Underachievement in many beginning college students in American universities is a problem. In this small‐scale ethnographic study at a large Midwestern University, members of a class specifically designed for freshmen and sophomores who underachieved during their first or second year in college (defined as those who accumulated a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or less) were observed and interviewed to determine individual causes of academic underperformance. The personal explanations of these students, the rich commentary of their peer instructor and the teacher of the class, along with the researcher’s participant observation and examination of class documents allowed intimate perspectives about why college beginners academically underachieve. This qualitative, ethnographic research shines a light into the dilemma of academic underperformance and uncovers a complicated exegesis of why beginning college students struggle and achieve less than their academic potential.
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