A college education is an essential component to obtaining many successful careers which lead to financial stability. Entering college can be a stressful transition that involves academic, emotional, and social adjustments for adolescents, and can be especially challenging for first-generation college students. A wealth of research has found that firstgeneration students are at a distinct disadvantage in regards to academic preparation and in terms of cultural knowledge and access to hidden rules of college success (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1992, Rendon, 1992, Terenzini, et al., 1994). As a result, fewer first-generation students attend college and of those who do, up to 50% stop attending during the first year. While much important research on first-generation college students has focused on the struggles these students face (Brock, 2010; Brooks-Terry, 1988; DiMaggio, 1982; Dumais, 2002; Dumais & Ward, 2010; Hsiao, 1992; Longwell-Grice & Longwell-Grice, 2008; Pascarella, Pierson, Wolniak, & Terenzini, 2004; Pike & Kuh, 2005; Terenzini, et al., 1994, Zalaquett, 1999), the current study took a different approach of learning about first-generation students' experiences and investigated the world through the lens of "successful" students. This qualitative, phenomenological study explored the strengths, support systems, and coping skills that assisted first-generation college students through the successful transition to college and beyond. The sample in this study consisted of ten first-generation college seniors enrolled at a historically black university in the Southeastern United States. The participants were interviewed and they completed a demographic questionnaire. Each interview was transcribed and sent to the participants for review for accuracy to increase the credibility of the results. Pattern coding was used to find units of meaning from the interviews. After collecting the interview data and coding the information, five major themes and 13 sub-themes were presented. The first major theme was pre-college characteristics of the participants and described the participants' high school characteristics, unique details about their families, and personal qualities they possessed. The second theme was decision to attend and experience assessing college. This theme provided information about the factors that contributed to the participants' decision to attend college as well as their experience of the application process. The third theme, transition from high school to college, included details about the participants' early academic and social adjustment to college. The fourth theme was student campus and social involvement. The final theme was coping skills utilized by the participants and described inner stress skills and other activities that assisted the participants in managing stress throughout college. The results of the study are useful to higher education and high school professionals and serve as a means for developing proactive interventions for other first-generation college students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]