This study examined what combination of students' adjustment, institutional attachment, Scholastic Assessment Test scores, high school class rank, college grade point average (GPA), adaptive style, self-efficacy, and help-seeking would discriminate persisters from nonpersisters after 1 year of college. Researchers investigated the degree of accuracy with which the assessment of factors within the first six weeks would classify students as persisters or nonpersisters, noting increases in accuracy when independent variables were assessed during the last six weeks. During the first and last six weeks of the first academic year, students completed the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire, Help Seeking Inventory, Adaptive Style Inventory, and Academic Self-Efficacy Scale. The dependent variable (persistence or nonpersistence) was determined using student enrollment records from the following fall. Persistence related to dynamic interactions throughout the year involving students' self-evaluations. Persisters were students whose GPAs improved during the year, whose GPAs were consistent with their expectations, or who indicated they had adapted academically. Many students persisted despite contrary predictions because their successful social integration and feelings of fit with the institution compensated for academic performance inconsistent with expectations. Results highlighted a complex, dynamic relationship among multiple variables which modified feelings of attachment throughout the academic year. (Contains 27 references.) (SM)