The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to better understand the resilience-building experiences of traditional incoming college students through semi-structured interviews. The study sought to identify themes or vulnerability factors associated with the phenomenon described as low resilience in this population. This study was framed in resilience theory, as the current research on resilience is focused on where and how to intervene during the process of developing resilience to facilitate greater resilience and diminish the likelihood of maladaptation in response to adverse experiences. The researcher's focus on life-skill development of college students and the discovery that college counseling and mental health centers are overwhelmed with the life-skill development needs of incoming college students, most notably the lack of resilience, formed the researcher's interest in this study. Through the interviews of 12 first-year college students, two themes emerged from the data collected: conflict avoidance and not seeking parental support. These experiences were common among those participants identified as having low resilience. [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.]