The notion of the “freshman 15” weighs heavy on the minds of many freshmen as they prepare to attend college as warnings from friends of gaining an extra 15 pounds the first year ring in their ears. “Students come into college being afraid of the freshman 15,” said Gary Glass, staff psychologist at Boston University Counseling Center. “You are told, `You are going to gain weight, and it is going to cost you.’ It’s a terrifying message.” The myth has been spread around college campuses for years, said Ronda Bockram, dietitian at Michigan State University’s Olin Health Center. “The freshman 15 has been around forever, it seems,” Bockram said. However, Bockram said gaining weight the first year of college is probably feared more often than it actually happens. Whether fact or fiction, gaining an extra 15 pounds during the first year away from home is of concern to some students. Leslie Custer, freshman in elementary education, said older friends who had gone to college while she was in high school told her she would gain 15 pounds during her first year of college. Traditionally, the freshman 15 has been attributed to a decreased physical activity level, changing eating patterns and increased alcohol consumption, said Jolene Wolf, dietitian at Mary Greeley Medical Center, 111 Duff Ave. However, concerns about weight gain during freshman year might not be necessary. To an extent, weight gain experienced during the first year of college is not only normal, but also healthy, some nutritionists said. Bockram said the freshman year of college is an age when women continue to develop by adding fat and laying down bone mass. “You’re not 15 anymore,” Bockram said. “You should be glad.” Natural changes in body structure also cause weight gain in women, Wolf said. “You’re developing some curves and those curves carry weight,” she said. Glass said the warning of the freshman 15 is something freshmen need to forget. The message contributes to the “pathological emphasis society puts on weight and how it defines what one is worth,” he said. By concentrating on changes in weight, the focus is taken away from what coming to college should be, he said. “When you’re at college, there are a whole lot of other things going on that you are gaining besides weight,” Independence, a new identity, new social circles, time management skills and wisdom from relationships are things Glass said are the most important things gained by coming to college. Glass said in order to rid freshmen of the fear of becoming a failure because of their weight, other areas of the college experience for freshmen women need to be explored. “That way, each student can have her own way of defining herself during her first year of college life,” he said.