In this post the author reflects on their own experience alongside those of peer freshmen across U.S. college campuses. Data were collected through 10 focus groups conducted over two months in-person and via Zoom using a combination of purposeful and snowball sampling to identify diverse demographics. While this is a small data set for a large population, it underscores the importance of understanding the temporal nature of emerging identities in research on college freshman and going forward. The author describes themes that emerged from data analysis, reflection, and discussion and provides considerations for researchers relating to the college class of 2025.