The primary purpose of the current study was to explore the nature and process of transformation as described by students in their stories of first-semester experiences and to compare these processes to those outlined in transformative learning models in order to examine the degree to which they correlate. The secondary goal was to investigate how honors students spontaneously described the role of honors programming that had been put into place with the goal of promoting transformative outcomes. This process-oriented assessment is useful in highlighting which of the strategic elements of the program are perceived to be most effective by students who believe they have been transformed.