The article considers the problem of determining the role of self-reflection in the process of adaptation of students to the conditions of study at university. It is suggested that the specifics of self-reflection depend on the outcomes of social psychological adaptation of students in the educational environment of university. The study involved 320 students (average age — 24.1 years old, SD = 6.8, males — 10.3%). The following standardized techniques were used: studies on student adaptation at university (T.D. Dubovitskaya, A.V. Krylova), diagnostics of social psychological adaptation (K. Rogers, R. Diamond), measures of selfreflection level (A.V. Karpov, V. V. Ponomaryova), and custom-developed scales for evaluating self-reflective activity. The study revealed that self-reflective activity and situational, retrospective, and perspective self-reflection are specific for welladapted students as well as for students with difficulties in adaptation. It is clear that regulation of dynamics of self-reflective images is important for the process of adaptation to university, allowing the individual to combine the dynamics necessary for quick response to changes in the situation and sufficient stability and clarity for understanding and creating motivation.