A freshman (US) or fresher (UK, India, Ireland) (or sometimes fish, freshie, fresher, prep; slang plural frosh, freshmeat or pichones) is a first-year student in secondary school, high school, college or university. The term first year can also be used as a noun, to describe the students themselves (e.g. They are first years).

In Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland, the term "first year" refers to the first years of either secondary school or university. In the case of university students, the term "fresher" is also used as in the United Kingdom.

The term first year is used within New Zealand universities, primarily to describe students in their first year of tertiary education direct from secondary school.

In the Portuguese Praxe, the whole of the student and academic traditions of Portuguese universities, a major part of it is the hazing of freshmen (in Portuguese, Caloiros). It is accompanied by a series of music festivals and partying.

The Verve Pipe is an American rock band from East Lansing, Michigan. It was formed in 1992 by Brian and Brad Vander Ark, Brian Stout and Donny Brown.

In November 1992, working with producer/engineer Jonathan Frazer, they released their first album, I've Suffered a Head Injury. The original 10-song version of the CD is no longer available. A 7-song version, without the original recording of "The Freshmen" was later released as an EP. The band, known for its energetic live performances, built strong followings during its early years, especially in the college towns of Kalamazoo and East Lansing.

In the fall of 1993, the band released a second album, Pop Smear again working with Frazer that helped them gain a devoted following in their native state of Michigan and their eventual signing with RCA Records in 1995. A.J. Dunning replaced Stout on guitar for the recording of Pop Smear and remained in the band for their three RCA records. This album featured the popular tracks "Spoonful of Sugar" and "Victoria".

Quincy Matthew Hanley (born October 26, 1986), better known by his stage name ScHoolboy Q, is an American hip hop recording artist signed to Top Dawg Entertainment and Interscope Records. Hanley is a member of Black Hippy along with Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar and Ab-Soul. In a 2011 interview when asked about what encouraged him to start rapping, Hanley explained that it was something he was "born to do": "I was just chillin’ man, but rapping’s just something I was born to do. I don’t know when I started rapping. I don’t know how I started rapping, but I know I wrote a verse and I was stuck ever since," he explained.

Preceded by two mixtapes, his first independent album Setbacks, reached #100 on the US Billboard 200 chart in 2011, selling close to 1,000 digital copies in the first week. On January 14, 2012, he released his second independent album Habits & Contradictions. The album debuted at #111 on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 3,900 digital copies in the United States.

Jay Brannan (born March 29, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He was born in Texas and briefly studied in Ohio, but moved to California to become an actor. Brannan appeared in the 2006 movie Shortbus, which included one of his songs in its soundtrack, and began to build a fan base by performing on YouTube. He released an EP and acted in Holding Trevor in 2007. Since then, he has toured and released two albums.

Brannan was born 1982 in Texas in a middle-class family and grew up as the son of a petroleum engineer and a teacher. He described his family as conservative Baptists and discussed their difficulty with accepting his homosexuality. Brannan went to college for one semester in Cincinnati, Ohio, and went to California, first to Palm Springs and later to Los Angeles, trying to become an actor. In 2002, he was shown a casting notice and, after the end of a relationship, moved to New York City and submitted an audition tape.

Brannan was cast in 2003 for the movie Shortbus, which featured him in an explicit sex scene, and worked as a proofreader and in other jobs to support himself. He contributed the song "Soda Shop" to the film's soundtrack, which he stated was his "first professionally recorded track". The song was also released on Team Love Records. Brannan began to record sparse music videos for YouTube, accompanying himself on the guitar, and built an international fan base without corporate sponsorship, using MySpace and Blogspot. In 2007, he appeared in the movie Holding Trevor as the promiscuous best friend of the protagonist, and released a limited-edition EP with fours songs named disasterpiece or Unmastered, adding two additional songs for a 2008 re-release.