Purpose : In this study, we aimed to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing students' adjustment to college life by focusing on their empathic ability, perceived stress, and resilience. Methods : We applied a descriptive survey research design, which included a self-report questionnaire. The participants comprised 307 nursing students in B city. The data were analyzed by calculating the percentages, means, standard deviations, t-tests, ANOVA, Scheffé test, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and hierarchical regression using SPSS 23.0. Results : The participants' empathic ability score was 3.30±.42, perceived stress score 1.85±.49, resilience score 3.44±.64, and adjustment to college life score 3.25±.52. Adjustment to college life was positively correlated with resilience (r=.43, p<.001) but negatively correlated with perceived stress (r=.27, p<.001). Factors affecting adjustment to college life include, among general characteristics in Model 1, in descending order, major satisfaction-satisfied (β=.54, p<.001), interpersonal conflict: never (β=.26, p=.018), health status: healthy (β=.25, p=.002), character: positive (β=.21, p=.006), character: optimistic (β=.19, p=.015), parents' economic power: high (β=.15, p=.047), and gender: male (β=.11, p=.016). Model 1 was statistically significant (F=11.67, p<.001), and the explanatory power was 41 %. In Model 2, empathic ability, perceived stress, and resilience were added as independent variables. When including the dependent variables, the factors that most influenced adjustment to college life were perceived stress (β=-.37, p<.001), major satisfaction-satisfied (β=.36, p<.001), health status-healthy (β=.25, p<.001), gender-male (β=.10, p=.015), and resilience (β=.10, p=.029). Model 2 was statistically significant (F=17.65, p<.001), and the explanatory power was 56 %. Conclusion : We found that gender, major satisfaction, health status, perceived stress, and resilience affected adjustment to college life among nursing students who had experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. To increase their ability to adjust to college life, a gender-specific intervention program should be developed that can improve the students' health status, major satisfaction and resilience, and reduce their perceived stress.