I’m wondering if anyone can tell me my best route at age 23 (not ever taken a SAT or ACT) to get into a 4 year university.
I have a high school diploma. Also really prefer not to go into a community college first if possible. Has anyone pulled this off? I just feel like i could really benefit from staying on campus and not having to go home like high school. Any advice would be really appreciated.
Study for the SAT. Take it. Come back and tell us your GPA and your SAT etc and you can go anywhere a 19 year old can go if you have the right stats. Your choices might be different. Meaning perhaps a bigger school with grad programs might have more variation in ages so you dont feel so “old”. LOL
Note that being age 23 versus 24 can matter with respect to financial aid and state residency for public school tuition purposes.
There are many programs for “nontraditional students” such as yourself. Some excellent programs are reserved just for nontrads. You’re in a good place. : )
One way to begin the search is as suggested above, which is to find out your SAT/ ACT scores. That may help you narrow the options from 2000+ colleges and unis. Generally schools attract students of a particular range of SAT/ACT or GPAs. No rule is set in stone, but knowing your scores will help you figure out where your comfort level is as a student and where you might get accepted. Remember, though, that many fine schools are “test optional” and they don’t require that you submit your SAT score.
Second, see if you can figure out how much you can spend. If you’re over 23, then you’d most likely be considered a full adult and would not need to count your parents’ income, unless you’re still living at home. The lower your income the better in terms of FA in many cases. Your low-income status makes your need higher. “Need” is one measure of how financial aid is apportioned by the government and by schools. Some schools give “need-based aid”. Some give “merit-based aid” (to attract students with higher stats) and some give both. With exceedingly rare exceptions, all will require that you take some form of loans. Good planning and the right application strategy will give you choices among the schools so that you can minimize your loan burden. You won’t know the exact cost of your education for YOU until you see their financial aid offers. That comes in after you’ve been accepted. Low-income students will qualify for the government-backed loans. The higher your GPA the more likely that you will get into a school with excellent FA – meaning fewer loans. But even for middling students there are excellent options for schools.
To get your search rolling, here are a few tools.
-
You can figure out the approximate NET PRICE (not sticker price) for you for a school by using the website called College Navigator. Find a school. Click on the “net price” tab and locate your income bracket.
-
That tool will also help you narrow your choices of colleges by major.
-
make a spreadsheet using Google Sheets or Excel so that you can keep track of information. You will want to make columns in the spreadsheet for each of the things you’re looking for: Net price; size of school; major; greek or not greek; application deadlines; admissions contact info, etc.
-
Here are some schools with nontrad programs:
- Many women’s colleges (Smith, Wellesley, Agnes Scott, Hollins, Simmons, Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke, etc.) They also tend to have funding for nontrads
- Several universities in regular program: Tufts, Yale, Brown (age 26 though I think), MIT, – some have excellent funding
- Several coed colleges in regular program: Reed, Hampshire, Sarah Lawrence, Vassar (from community college), Knox, etc. Hampshire in Massachusetts offers a CONSORTIUM which means that you can attend classes at five total schools once you’re accepted at Hampshire. Hampshire has a great track record with nontrads as they allow you to focus on your own path more than at other schools. If you consider Hampshire, you may want to also check out the course offerings at the fellow campuses of Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Amherst and UMass amherst. https://www.fivecolleges.edu/academics/courses
- Unis with separate colleges, but get the same education: UPenn and Columbia (not great FA for these programs)
- Unis with separate college but different education: Harvard Extension (take three classes and that’s your entry method, or at least it used to be, but not great FA I suspect)
Here is a list of nontraditional programs – this list is incomplete and needs updating – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programs_and_colleges_for_non-traditional_students
-
Many colleges are happy to accept nontrads because they add a diverse set of experiences and the colleges appreciate enrollment numbers increasing. Also many nontrads are male and LACs tend to be 60-40 female (one exception is Union which is predominantly male). Most LACs need males. Other schools don’t offer great FA to the nontrads and their programs are sort of cash cows for the schools. So tread carefully. Again, you won’t know exactly how much they want you to pay until you get their FA offer. One strategy is to apply to several schools and then compare offers. Also you can bargain at that point and try to get them to increase non-loan aid.
-
Schools with nice FA for medium- and lower-stats students include: U of Maine at Orono (matching your in-state flagship for tuition and that makes the total about $15K per year currently); St. Olaf; Earlham; Agnes Scott; Knox; Southwestern University; Beloit; St. Lawrence University; Sewanee; Goucher; Wheaton in Massachusetts; Wells (can cross register at Cornell for a few classes); Hobart and William Smith; Union in NY; Trinity in CT; New Mexico Tech; South Dakota Mines;and several more. You may also want to consider the merchant marine academies – SUNY Maritime; Maine Maritime, etc. There’s also a free apprentice program in Virginia – https://www.as.edu/ And the Webb Academy on Long Island offers a unique marine engineering program with free tuition.
Best of luck to you.
Go for it
I agree with the above comments that taking the SAT would be helpful. Some preparation before taking the SAT is likely to improve your scores significantly. Where we live our local community center offers SAT preparation classes. Hopefully you have something similar near where you live. One daughter also did a small number of sessions at a tutor that she found helpful. The tutor can give you a practice test see where you need help, and then focus immediately in on the areas where they can help you the most. There are also some good books on how to prepare for the SAT.
Once this is done, you need to know (i) Your high school grades (you will need to get a transcript, wherever you went should be able to provide this); (ii) Your SAT scores; and (iii) Your budget.
The budget will matter a lot. We found universities ranging from $70,000 per year to less than $20,000 per year without any need based aid. We also found almost no correlation between academic strength and cost – the academically strongest and most demanding school that either daughter got into was the second least expensive. The second strongest was the most expensive. You might qualify for need based aid also.
What you want to study, and what geographic area you want to consider will also matter. You might also think about whether you want a large school or a small school. You in-state public schools are worth taking a close look at. The admissions staff at your local in-state public school are likely to be helpful in answering questions.
Armed with all of this knowledge, you should be able to find a good university or college to attend. 23 is definitely not too old. I worked after graduating university and then went back to graduate school at 24, and I was a much better student than I had been when younger. I did take at least one (I think probably two) undergrad courses in graduate school and was not bothered at all by being slightly older than the average student – there were older students even in the undergrad classes that I took when I was 24.
Definitely other students have pulled this off. You are not too old at all, not even close.
Hi–there’s another category of school that might interest you. They are called the “working colleges” – you work your way through. That’s part of their missions. Also the work experience helps you earn part of your tuition and provides a nice resume.
They range from very conservative to not very conservative.
If you’re interested in work throughout your college career, you may want to consider programs with coops. Coops allow you to work through a semester and earl real cash and to get job training and make networking contacts for future jobs. Some schools with coops include –
University of the Pacific
U of Maine at Orono engineering
RIT
Northeastern.
Drexel
and several more.
Also consider:
Drew University
Guilford
St. John’s of Annapolis/ Santa Fe (known for the great books and they have two campuses)
Mills
Whitman
And of course your in-state colleges.
Goucher would accept you with a simple video application, no SAT no grades. FYI. It’s a very nice school, besides.
Check out umass Amherst and the university without walls program.
As you are an adult and one assumes you have a job, been self supporting and self motivated,why not community college first with a view to transferring in a couple of years? CC gives you a potentially cheaper and more accessible and flexible introduction back into education, allows you to continue earning money and may well be more suited to you. 4 year residential school is expensive.
What state are you in?
At a Community College, you’ll meet a lot of nontraditional students. Plus it will be cheaper, and in two years you can transfer to your four-year college.
Not sure where you are located, but there are community colleges with dorms also.
Assuming you have been a self supporting adult, you may well despise dorm living.