The United Arab Emirates invests great resources in the education of their youth to ensure they can continue and improve the legacy of the nation’s founding fathers. As such, the government pumps in billions of dirhams annually to build an innovative, learned, and globally competitive society (MOE Website, 2021). However, at a crucial transition point, something is missing. Studies found that in some parts of the country up to 45% of high-school seniors, and young Emirati nationals are not interested in pursuing higher education (Bayoumi et al., 2016). This and probably other elements contribute to a disturbingly common phenomenon of Emirati students struggling to succeed in their first year of college. In light of this problem, this exploratory research seeks to analyze the factors that affect freshmen year success among Emirati students in particular. A qualitative method is suggested to identify the main challenging factors that hinder the success of the demographic studied and address those challenges to maximize success.