This dissertation examines transfer shock and its impact on community college students after transfer to four-year institutions. The author utilized the concept of consequential transition as developed by King Beach as a lens for examining progress over time in the relationship of the transfer student to the new four-year university. Thirty-five transfer students were interviewed in January of their second semester at Michigan State University (MSU) regarding their community college experiences and their first semester at MSU. Thirty students returned to recount their second semester experiences and to compare them with their first semester and their community college experiences. The author developed five themes: (1) Learning Resources; (2) Connecting; (3) Familiarity; (4) Negotiating; and (5) Integrating. The themes played out in three environments: (1) Academic; (2) Social; and (3) Physical. The 35 students were lived both on- and off-campus. They had attended only one community college, transferred in with 45 credits or more, were ages 18-24, and were full-time students with various majors. The author found that a transfer orientation course can be valuable, and that informal sources, such as friends who were MSU natives, were the most highly utilized resource. Campus activities and formal peer mentor programs, as well as living on campus, assisted in the peer connection process. (Contains 83 references.) (NB)