A freshman is a first-year student.
Freshman or Freshmen (or The Freshman or The Freshmen) may also refer to:
The Freshman is a 1925 comedy film that tells the story of a college freshman trying to become popular by joining the school football team. It stars Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Brooks Benedict and James Anderson. It remains one of Lloyd's most successful and enduring films.
The film was written by John Grey, Sam Taylor, Tim Whelan and Ted Wilde. It was directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor.
In 1990, The Freshman was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", going in the second year of voting and being one of the first 50 films to receive such an honor.
Harold Lamb (Harold Lloyd), a bright-eyed but naïve young man, enrolls at Tate University. On the train there, he meets Peggy (Jobyna Ralston). They are attracted to each other.
Harold decides the best way to ensure his popularity at school is to emulate his movie idol, The College Hero, down to mimicking a little jig he does before greeting anyone, and taking his nickname, "Speedy". However, the College Cad (Brooks Benedict) quickly makes him the butt of an ongoing joke, of which the freshman remains blissfully unaware. Harold thinks he is popular, when in fact he is the laughing stock of the whole school. His only real friend is Peggy, who turns out to be his landlady's daughter, described in one of the film's title cards as "what your mother was like when she was young".
"The Freshman" is the first episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode was written and directed by series creator Joss Whedon. The narrative follows Buffy Summers as she attempts to fit into her new college environment at UC-Sunnydale. She first encounters several problems and struggles with her feelings of isolation. Willow is blossoming with Oz in the new environment, Xander is away, and Rupert Giles, who is currently unemployed, has his friend Olivia visiting.
The episode starts off with Buffy and Willow waiting in a cemetery for a vampire to rise while they are reading and discussing possible college courses. As the two of them are sitting and talking, the vampire crawls his way out of the grave behind them and begins to approach them with a grin on his face, ready to attack. But when he sees the crossbow and other weapons on the ground, he reconsiders and wanders off unbeknownst to them.
Buffy, Willow and Oz begin attending the University of California at its fictional Sunnydale campus. Buffy (as novelist A.M. Dellamonica writes) "feels overwhelmed by the University of it all, while everyone else is apparently thriving." Willow is excited by the bigger library and the opportunities to advance her learning, while Oz seems typically unfazed. Meanwhile, Giles is a retired "gentleman of leisure" now that the Sunnydale High School library has been destroyed, and Xander is out of town on his much-anticipated cross-country road trip.