History Main / FreshmanFears

May have some overlap with WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld, especially if the certain freshman student is also a superhero. Might involve a FirstDayOfSchoolEpisode, though Freshman Fears can happen throughout the student's first year. Often this involves EveryoneMeetsEveryone or WelcomeEpisode, where what goes on to be a long-standing ensemble throughout a school story comes together when the characters are freshmen due to these struggles. Compare with NaiveNewcomer. Also compare with both SeniorYearStruggles, which is about characters in their last year of secondary or tertiary education, and SecondYearProtagonist, a trope about characters who are in their sophomore year, which is employed mainly for the sake of enabling writers to explore the topic of being a student while preventing avoiding certain issues pertaining to freshmen (such as being new) and seniors (such as graduation) from affecting the plot.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': in "The Last Day" D.W. has an anxiety attack over what she thinks is to be expected of her as a new kindergartener and breaks down and cries. Of course, this is retconned at the beginning of the next season, where all of the children turn out to be in the grade they finished at the end of the previous school year.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* In acknowledgment of how lost and nervous newcomers can feel, many schools, colleges, and summer camps implement orientation programs, trial opportunities, and/or shadowing protocols which may or may not be mandatory depending on the organization.
[[/folder]]

* ''Film/{{Master}}:

** Jasmine has just entered the college as a freshman and one of VERY few Black students on campus. She's made miserable by oppression in the college, struggles to make friends, and to improve her grades, [[spoiler:culminating in her potential suicide or supernaturally-influenced murder.]]

* Sarcastically invoked by Carla in the ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' episode "My First Step", when Carla decides against entering a nurse-practitioner program, because she's proud of the job she does, and Cox says that, for the record, she'd ace it.

%% In fiction at least Kindergarteners have been known to be nervous about going to "big school" for the first time and not knowing anybody there, in which case they might be reassured about an older sibling being at school with them if they have one.

%%* ''Series/FullHouse'': on Stephanie's first day of kindergarten, she clings to DJ; on Michelle's first day of kindergarten, she goes looking for Stephanie during the school day and ends up disrupting her class.

%% * ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': in "The Last Day" D.W. has an anxiety attack over what she thinks is to be expected of her as a new kindergartener and breaks down and cries. Of course, this is retconned at the beginning of the next season, where all of the children turn out to be in the grade they finished at the end of the previous school year.

* ''Series/FullHouse'': on Stephanie's first day of kindergarten, she clings to DJ; on Michelle's first day of kindergarten, she goes looking for Stephanie during the school day and ends up disrupting her class.

* Implied in ''VideoGame/TheSimsFour'' with the ''Wall o’ Gym Lockers, Large'', which the description mentions that it give nostalgia of high school gym class, and that it stores everything short of freshman hazing victims.

[[folder: Real Life]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': in "The Last Day" D.W. has an anxiety attack over what she thinks is to be expected of her as a new kindergartener and breaks down and cries. Of course, this is retconned at the beginning of the next season, where all of the children turn out to be in the grade they finished at the end of the previous school year.

Can be TruthInTelevision. Some freshmen may be anxious with more schoolwork, as well as love interests and peer pressure, and yes, there have been many cases of bullying and hazing of freshman students, particularly from upperclassmen. In fiction at least Kindergarteners have been known to be nervous about going to "big school" for the first time and not knowing anybody there, in which case they might be reassured about an older sibling being at school with them if they have one.

The main reason is that the character is new at the school, which undoubtedly is a different environment from their middle school, and may be scared because of their expectations for their first year at a higher school. Another reason for their fears is more studying, meaning that the character has less time devoted to subjects that they enjoy. Then there is socialization, like peer pressure and love interests, which begin to be relevant in freshman years, mostly for middle and high school students, as [[HormoneAddledTeenager hormones start running high]]. They will usually face bullying, usually from a JerkJock for males or an AlphaBitch[[note]] and also likely her GirlPosse, especially her BetaBitch[[/note]] for females. Underclassmen might also face various forms of hazing; for some these are silly rites of passage, but in extreme cases, they veer into abuse.

Can be TruthInTelevision. Some freshmen may be anxious with more schoolwork, as well as love interests and peer pressure, and yes, there have been many cases of bullying and hazing of freshman students, particularly from upperclassmen.

* ''Series/GirlMeetsWorld'': There's an arc focusing on the kids' first days in high-school. They struggle to adjust because everyone is so much bigger and more prepared than they are, and can't fit in the way they did in middle school. They even end up hazed, as some seniors force them to stay in a spot under the stairs, which convinces everyone but Riley to say ScrewThisImOuttaHere, temporarily ditching her to try and survive high-school. However, they eventually manage to reconnect and learn AnAesop about sticking together even as they grow and change.

* ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'': One episode focuses on all the characters going to the first day of their new high-school. Zack tries to flirt with a girl who has a boyfriend, London makes friends by paying everyone to like her, and they all end up in detention.
* ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'': Alan and Charlie accidentally inflict this on Jake when he was just starting High School. Alan goes into vivid detail about some of the horrors he faced as a freshman, with Charlie providing context. This extends to the pair helping Jake pick out school clothes that won't get him beat up for either being too expensive or gang colors. Ultimately this unnerves the boy so much that he hops off the bus on its way to school and spends the day reading comics in Malibu.

[[Real Life]]

May have some overlap with WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld, especially if the certain freshman student is also a superhero. Might involve a FirstDayOfSchoolEpisode, though Freshman Fears can happen throughout the student's first year. Often this involves EveryoneMeetsEveryone or WelcomeEpisode, where what goes on to be a long-standing ensemble throughout a school story comes together when the characters are freshmen due to these struggles. Compare with NaiveNewcomer. Also compare with both SeniorYearStruggles, which is about characters in their last year of secondary or tertiary education, and SecondYearProtagonist, which is about characters who are in their sophomore year, mainly to avoid certain issues for freshmen (such as being new) and seniors (such as graduation) from affecting the plot.

* ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'': Alan and Charlie accidentally inflict this on Jake when he was just starting High School. Alan goes into vivid detail about some of the horrors he faced as a freshman, with Charlie providing context. This extends to the pair helping Jake pick out school clothes that won't get him beat up for either being too expensive or gang colors. Ultimately this unnerves the boy so much, he hops off the bus on its way to school and spends the day reading comics in Malibu.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "Jungle Love", Chris starts high school, and finds himself subjected to the "freshman hunt", where the seniors relentlessly hunt down new students. Even Lois got in on the act by honking her car horn and announcing his presence after dropping him off. Chris suffers so much from this that he decides to volunteer for Peace Corps work in South America just to escape.

In fiction, the freshman year [[note]]Freshman year varies from country to country; in most areas of the United States, it is the sixth grade for JuniorHigh, and the ninth grade for HighSchool. College doesn't use grades, but it is referred to as Freshman Year.[[/note]] of education at a secondary or tertiary school is a struggle.

!!'''Examples:'''

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

* ''Film/{{Bratz}}'': The very beginning of the film involves the main characters starting high-school together and discovering that their [[AbsurdlyDividedSchool school runs on cliques]]. They're slowly forced apart as they discover their new niches and end up fitting in better with other groups than with each other, before the TimeSkip kicks in.

* In the live action ''Film/KimPossible'' remake, Kim is going into her Freshman year. She has no fears at first, but suffers a horrible and humiliating first day. Her subsequent experience is not much better as she is outshone at every turn. But it ultimately works out.
* ''Film/{{Minutemen}}'': Virgil and Charlie became best friends because, on the first day of high-school, they were both hung up on the school's statue by a bunch of {{Jerk Jock}}s. This makes Virgil drift apart from his old best friends, who both remained pretty popular, while he became a nerd.

* In ''Literature/ThePerksOfBeingAWallflower'', Charlie is a high school freshman who is shy and withdrawn at first, but comes out of his shell after being taken under the wing of a group of seniors.
* In ''Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote'', one of the first problems Aya meets when she enters junior high is its social dymanics. She is appointed the ClassRepresentative for some reason, but the local AlphaBitch and her posse immediately ignores her, owing to a rumour about class appointees being the top student of the homeroom (which is TruthInTelevision in some Japanese schools). This is where [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood Sunahara]] enters her life; he saves her by asking the class to keep quiet and invites her to start again. Aya's response? BecauseYouWereNiceToMe.

* ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'': Season 2 opens with Corey and Shawn starting high school and going through a particularly rough first day. They find out they don't share all their classes, try to get in the good graces of a bully named Harley, but the man they initially mistake for him turns out to be a teacher (though at least a cool one), Cory gains the ire of the real Harley and he gets sent to the principal's office where he finds out his former teacher, Feeny, is now the principal. Near the end Cory is forced into a fight with Harley but is saved by Eric and the new teacher, Mr. Turner. While he worries how the rest of the high school experience will play out, he does acknowledge it's not as bad as he thought.
* ''Series/GirlMeetsWorld'': There's an arc focusing on the kids' first days in high-school. They struggle to adjust because everyone is so much bigger and more prepared than they are, and can't fit in the way they did in middle-school. They even end up hazed, as some seniors force them to stay in a spot under the stairs, which convinces everyone but Riley to say ScrewThisImOuttaHere, temporarily ditching her to try and survive high-school. However, they eventually manage to reconnect and learn AnAesop about sticking together even as they grow and change.

[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "Jungle Love", Chris starts high school, and finds himself subjected to the "freshman hunt", where the seniors relentlessly hunt down new students. Chris suffers so much from this that he decides to volunteer for Peace Corps work in South America just to escape.