The main objective of the study was to assess the adjustment problems and to determine the relationship between the overall campus adjustment and academic achievement of first year students at wolaita Sodo University. The population was 1873 first year students accepted to the university in regular programme in the year 2012/13. Among these, 250 (175 male and 75 female) students were selected using multi-stage sampling technique and involved in the study. The data were collected using questionnaires and interview guidelines. The questionnaires were adapted from the already existing tools, but the interview guide was locally developed based on literature in the area. For analysis, both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed. The qualitative data depicted that the students were challenged by adjustment problems from four basic dimensions. These adjustment problem dimensions were academic, social, personal-emotional and institutional attachment dimensions. Quantitative analysis findings showed that students’ overall campus adjustment was at moderate level and male students were found to be better adjusted compared to female students. According to the results of the study there was statistically significant positive relationship between students’ adjustment and their academic achievement. Academic adjustment became the first predictor of the students’ academic performance and followed by the personal-emotional adjustment.

adjustment, first year students