How do I get started with college?

October 13, 2005 8:55 PM

I'm a high school dropout who's been working professionally for several years. How can I go to college?

I'm a mid-20s professional. I dropped out of high school (but I did get a GED). This was in 1997 or so. I'd like to go to college, or at the very least audit some classes. How can I do either of these things? My understanding is that I need to take an SAT or something to get in as an undergraduate even though i'm not coming in straight out of high school - is this true? Is there some specific means of admission for professionals? I'm strongly considering not even staying inside my field. I've been doing what i've been doing (professionally) for about 9 or 10 years, long enough to have made significant professional accomplishments. What are the steps I need to take to see about getting into school?

posted by arimathea to education (19 comments total)

Community college. Usually just need a diploma or GED to get in, and it's cheaper to do the two years there and transfer to a four year college.
posted by Ruki at 8:59 PM on October 13, 2005

Only top schools require SAT scores. Most state colleges will require nothing more than the details of your GED and the standard application info (address, maybe a few essay questions, etc.) A strong letter of recommendation will help you. Depending on what your job is, your employer might be able to help you out here. FYI, if your employer offers to pay for your education, he can write that off on his taxes.

A community college won't even require your GED info, since they most often accept anyone over 18. All you need there is proof of in-district residency. You can start at a lcoal community college and then transfer to a 4-year school after a year or so. This is a good option money-wise and also because some schools frown on GED applicants (tell me what schools you plan to apply to specifically). First, they will see that you will be a student who will take his education seriously, because you might take your job seriously, but they need some more proof that you won't drop out again. You'll be able to get course experience in your field and get recomendation letters form professors, maximizing your chances of getting in, possibly getting a cut in tuition. I took the community college route (i have a GED as well), and I have done very well for myself.
posted by frankie_stubbs at 9:10 PM on October 13, 2005

As i'll probably end up going into an international affairs or political science program if I decide to stay out of technology, or some place like Georgia Tech if I decide to stay in technology, a better school would be ideal. I was under the impression that SAT scores were a critical part of the application process.
posted by arimathea at 9:13 PM on October 13, 2005

I also strongly suggest community college. You don't have to apply for admission and most of them are extremely helpful and supportive about helping you get into a four-year school.
posted by jrossi4r at 9:14 PM on October 13, 2005

You aren't limited to community college, actually. Many larger universities have schools for continuing education/professional development (basically, night school) where you can get in without SAT scores. You don't have to officially apply to a lot of places to take a class, either - just register.

I went back to school three years ago at the age of 30 and am about to graduate next month. I have worked full time all along. Taking a mix of online and classroom classes was great for me, since online classes can be fit into a busy schedule a lot easier. However, I would not recommend getting a degree from an online-only school, because they are seen as diploma mills (rightly or wrongly).

You can do it!
posted by acridrabbit at 9:14 PM on October 13, 2005

Only top schools require SAT scores.

That's only true for an exceedingly broad definition of "top." Your basic state schools (University of State and State State Univ.), one-directional state schools (Northern State Univ, Univ of West State), and privates worth going to will almost all require an SAT (or ACT in some parts of the US).

Is there a reason why taking the SAT is objectionable to you? Get a few prep materials, take some practice tests, and then go take the SAT. Easey-peasey, and not particularly expensive. You won't need to ace it or anything like that.

Not that there's anything wrong with going through a community college first. That's an entirely normal way to proceed for people going back to school. If you do that, you want to be absolutely certain that the state school you might want to feed into will be required to accept you and your credits. My only point with the SAT is that you're not limited to that route.

An international or poli-sci degree is fine, but please don't fool yourself into thinking that it leads into particular job possibilities. Undergraduate IR and poli-sci degrees are just more liberal arts degrees, where the important thing is not (normally) your mastery of the subject but your development of communication and information-processing skills. You can go far with a liberal arts BA, but the trick is to major in something that you give enough of a damn about to put the work in to really excel.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:44 PM on October 13, 2005

I spent three years at a community college getting my bearings after high school, then transfered to finish the last two years at a good university. It was great for a couple reasons: incredibly cheap to build up credits at a community college and I got to graduate with my university GPA from the last two years only (which meant I graduated with a 3.5 instead of a 3.25 if you averaged my first two years in as well).

The downside is that the community college I attended was filled with people not really interested in learning -- who had to be there because they were forced to or felt compelled to go. So lots of note passing and talking during class. You have to be really motivated and focused and ignore all the people around that don't really give a crap. I learned later on I was one of six people that transfered out of the college my year out of approximately 6 thousand students.
posted by mathowie at 9:46 PM on October 13, 2005

If you would like to go to a good school the best way about it is to take the SAT [or the ACT if you're in the midwest or applying to a school that asks for them]. If you know 9th grade math [up to basic geometry, and you don't even need to know the formulas for some of it] and have a good vocabulary the SAT will be a cakewalk. If you have some sort of disability that makes taking tests wretched, there are ways of getting extra time or taking the test under differing conditions.

It's a good idea to at least try this because 1) if you do good on it, it can only help you 2) if you do badly on it, you can forget you ever took it and just go to a school that doesn't require it. It's a can't lose siaution. For people who aren't coming straight from high schoo, an essay describing what you've been doing in the meantime is going to be pretty important, but the numbers [GPA/SAT] is still going to be noticed especially at larger schools [more important to have some way of weeding out a LOT of applicants] and at very competitive schools [same]. The basic process for applying is to check the website of the school and figure out what they need, note the application deadline, take the SAT, apply [or you can take the SAT later as long as it's before the absolute deadline], bite nails for a few months, get big envelopes and small ones in the mail [hint: the big ones are good news, the small ones, not so much] and make your decisions.

Colleges often like dealing with adults, so if there is one place you'd really like to go, give them a call and talk to them about what your options are. If there is a professor that is interested in what you are interested in, consider dropping them an email to ask about what it might be like there for a returning student. Any personal contact is a good way to say "hey I'm serious" and put a face to a sheet full of numbers, which is especially important at smaller schools. Also at smaller schools, if you can possibly do it, try to go to campus for a visit, do an interview and meet with people there if you're curious to learn more. Either way, way to go, going back to school is a good thing to get taken care of early if it's something you're interested in doing.
posted by jessamyn at 9:54 PM on October 13, 2005

Ok, on the Community College bandwagon.

But let's give you a bit more of a schedule.

Go for one class, one term...get an A. See if you still want it/enjoy it. Key is taking a class you'd like.

Most universities have a night school for adults. Take a good class there. Also, get an A. Now, if you're hating either class, drop it, and drop it early. You have nothing to prove, just go, enjoy yourself, making learning something you want...not because "you have to have a degree"

Now, go to the admissions office of that university. Often, you can now transfer there, you have some credits, shown that you're willing to work...and do so at their institution.
posted by filmgeek at 10:06 PM on October 13, 2005

You can absolutely attend college with very little fuss. Talk to some admissions people at local universities--they will look for ways to get you in. At my "moderately selective" state university, once you are 26 you can enroll without a high school diploma. The truth is, higher education is a very competitive business, and you are a potential customer. (This kind of language drives many academics crazy, me included, but there you go).

Community colleges are good too, with the right attitude. I went to one in my mid-20s. By taking the professors with reputations as hard-asses I learned a lot and got tons of individual attention. I eventually transferred into an "elite" university. So you can do it.
posted by LarryC at 10:20 PM on October 13, 2005

I took the same route as acridrabbit: the continuing ed. school (though it was called something different at the time) at a "prestigious," highly selective university. To matriculate, to actually be heading for a degree, the continuing ed. school required transcripts and so on, but to take classes, for full credit later, all you had to do was pay the tuition and show up (and pass, obviously). After the first year I transferred to the regular day school (a rather exacting process, though doable), but with a good GPA for that first year they didn't require SATs.

What was much more important, I went from feeling like a failure for dropping out of school first time round when I was young and foolish to feeling that I could hack college via a process that proved I was ready without requiring anything high stakes up front. I found school was much easier second time round -- it's amazing how much of an advantage ten years of perspective and world experience can be.

I guess community college would have worked somewhat the same, though there were advantages to being affiliated with a good school, especially when it came time to transfer to the regular program. The trick is to get started and to prove to yourself that you can succeed at the college level, at which point you are ready to prove it to the admissions office.

I did end up taking the SAT later, after I was admitted, when I thought I might want to transfer to a different school as that other school required it, but, honestly the SAT wasn't much of a big deal for me at that point, though in the end I never did transfer. If you get to that point you will also probably find the same thing; don't sweat the SAT now, go somewhere where you can start taking classes and build up confidence, GPA, and credit.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 10:40 PM on October 13, 2005

Are you sure you want to get an undergraduate degree?

Do you know exactly what you want to do? What will you be able to do, that you can't do now, if you had that piece of paper?

This is coming from someone with a BA (liberal arts), finishing a MSc (immunology), and slated to start studying for a PhD (neurology) in a couple of months

I am sympathetic to people being more educated, but on a practical level, is this something that you really want to do? Do you want to do this because you think that you'll be a) able to make more money, b) be employed in a job that you may enjoy more, or c) be a broader and deeper person?

If it's c) or b) - "mature" students can generally get into university under less strict criteria, so best of luck, and I hope that you have a *ton* of fun, which it can be. If it's a) - I'd recommend suggest that you reconsider.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 11:01 PM on October 13, 2005

It does depend a lot on what your specific goals are. Do you have your eyes on a particular degree, and is your desire to get the best possible education you can? In that case, research programs and based on what you think looks best, find out what you'd have to do to apply. If you start with "where can I get in right now" you close off a lot of options. In that case you would obviously want to take the SAT if it was required for a school that was one of your top picks.

On the other hand, if your goal is to get into the educational environment as soon as possible, to test the waters and take a look around at your possibilities, there are a lot of options. Community college, technical college, mainstream university (just call admissions and explain your position and what you are looking for, they will know about the options). Also consider the online option. I worked for an accredited online grad school for a few years: they had a number of specific cases where they would consider relevant professional experience to fulfill educational prerequisites. Different from your situation (these were people with college degrees looking to get an advanced degree outside their original area of study but within their current profession), but some undergraduate programs might give similar considerations. A lot of the onlines are directed at professionals without or with interrupted college education. You don't mention the money factor: I saw a lot of people, from all ages and walks of life, complete degrees while working full time when I was at the online university. Those who succeeded worked very, very hard - but of course they emerged in a significantly better financial situation.

A little off topic, but perhaps worth considering: you're in your twenties, you've gone a long stretch in a career path and you're thinking you might want to change direction in your professional life. It sounds like a good time for a change. While you investigate education you might want to invest some time doing formal work on figuring out what you might find fulfilling as a career. Either with books, perhaps springing for sessions with a career coach, in some places their are groups. Figuring out concrete outcomes and opportunities you want out of college will narrow the field a great deal.
posted by nanojath at 1:05 AM on October 14, 2005

Arimathea, my entire family (1 brother, 2 sisters and I) went to Georgia Tech. I had a B.A in English from UGA and taught tech writing at GT. While teaching, I got into a M.S program there. I'm still working on that degree although I'm no longer at Tech. The great thing about being a university employee is that after a brief stint there you can take classes for free! You may want to try that route.

One sister got an International Affairs degree at Tech, the other a STAC degree. I'm finishing an IDT degree, and my brother had a CS degree. My dad also just finished a BA in Political Science and an M.Ed at GSU. My brother-in-law (getting his PhD, Emory) tutors SAT/GRE on the side.

Email me if you like... we all have lots of contacts at Tech.
posted by mdiskin at 3:27 AM on October 14, 2005

If you just want the piece of paper and you have a good idea of what field you're interested in, two very flexible programs are: Empire State College and Excelsior College both part of New York's SUNY system.

Empire is a design-your-own degree program;

Excelsior is an external degree program (I got my B. S. from them in 1 1/2 years with exams and transfer credits.)

Since they're both state schools, they're fairly easy to get into - if they think you're mature enough to do the work and succeed, you'll probably get in.
posted by chocolatepeanutbuttercup at 6:57 AM on October 14, 2005

I once had a professor explain the "back door" method of getting into, say, Harvard. Take an open seminar or continuing ed class (no admissions!) with a respected professor. Get to know him. Do outstanding work. Make a good impression. Then, ask him to write you a recommendation when you apply for admission to the program full-time. Hopefully, he will champion you to the admissions committee; the combination of proven coursework in your field and the support of a faculty member is a powerful incentive for acceptence.

This technique probably works best in the humanities, and may have little application in business or technical fields.
posted by junkbox at 7:01 AM on October 14, 2005

You might be interested in the CLEP program - I just started at a CCollege, and used CLEP (And my last 8 years of theatre experience) to start with 12 credits under my belt.

Be sure to ask your prospective college which tests they accept first, though. And the CLEP home study guide can be a big help in deciding which tests to take. Good luck!
posted by Orb2069 at 7:04 AM on October 14, 2005

I know a high school dropout who just enrolled at a good state school without ever taking the SAT or GRE. He went to community college for two years, taking care to get good grades and take classes he knew would transfer. After he earned his associates degree, he got into college without much difficulty.

My brother, also a high school drop out, got into a good four-year school after taking the GRE and SAT and doing well on both.

If money is a big factor, community colleges are a LOT cheaper, so you can save quite a bit of money that way.

I've heard your odds of getting in to one of the big name-brand schools are actually greater if you're transferring in from a community college (assuming good grades) than if you're going direct from high school.

On the other hand, if you transfer in you will not get the full four-year experience, so that's something you should consider if it's important to you.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 7:08 AM on October 14, 2005

Unless you want to do science, in which case you should do whatever it takes to go to your dream school no matter how big it is, I recommend going to a small school where you can get not only attention, but where you as an older student probably qualify for money to attend.

Go for the whole college experience. Go to a little liberal arts college where you can get to know experts in your field personally and develop important contacts and friendships that last the rest of your life. You may still have to go to a community college for a year and then transfer in, but the perks are crazy-good and the environment is so aesthetically sweet and cushy that the work is easier because some of the ass-busting is taken out of the equation by virtue of the culture and the habitat.

There is an enormous difference between a gigantic lecture class taught in a cinder-block building that's always cold and taught by an overworked, barely-making-it grad student, and a cushy seminar with six students taught by a man who actually knew Beckett in a classroom with comfortable seats and really great light.

I went to a really ritzy-titzy little liberal arts college that costs a bazillion dollars a year, and I went on full scholarship. What I noticed while I was there that applies to your particular situation is that the "continuing ed" students (that's the academic term for "older") seemed to get more out of the experience than most regular college kids.

For one thing, they don't spend every night chasing the beer bong or playing quarters in the fraternity basement. For another, they're going because they really really want to, and they show up to class prepared, with everything read, and the handout marked up with questions, and the professors take great joy in teaching people who are really there to learn (cf me as scholarship student vs. rich kid who had to go because dad said so). You as an older student will automaticaly be thought of favorably until you screw up.

How this applies to you in particular: Although it is true that state schools are affordable, and some of them are excellent, don't rule out in your search the boutique academy schools. These places have very small classes that are taught by actual professors instead of TAs, where you can get individual attention from professors who are the foremost experts in their field, they have tenure and so they're relaxed and focussed on the classroom instead of securing their post, they have access to a great gym and whatever other perks the school offers. This is important because happy, relaxed, not-harried professors teach really great seminars in which there is actual intellectual congress at play. They love their jobs, you get better teaching and better learning.

Also, little fancy colleges offer enormous perks to students, too: the aforementioned gym, really great concert series programs, visiting lecturers from certified geniuses, student unions that offer cash for your personal projects if you start or participate in a campus league or student group, great museums or libraries on campus -- in short, all kinds of things that will make your time as a student richer because your time is used better due to the wealth of resources at your fingertips.

And getting to know your professors is really the point of going to college vs. just reading the books yourself.

Also, these places have terrific food. You may not think you want to eat in a college cafeteria, but having your food prepared saves an awful lot of time.

The point, the point: These schools are incredibly committed to "diversity" of all kinds, largely because they spent most of their existence as all-white and have many good reasons to want to not be seen as perpetuating an all-white boutique culture. When the say they want to enrich the campus environment by recruiting people of all kinds to mix together in the academic broth, they actually mean it, regardless of whatever their extra-PR reasons are.

So you, as an older student, count as a contribution to the diversity pool, and with the right due diligence and research, can qualify for shitloads of money to attend one of these incredibly well-equipped and well-staffed laboratories of thought. Many of them have scholarships particularly for the continuing ed student. Others can offer you work-study arrangements that are so cushy you hardly feel like you're working at all.

Good luck whatever you choose. The person to contact is the Dean of Admissions. If you seem like a good fit with the school, they will set you up with an admissions counsellor who will help you find scholarships and loans. (Another reason to go to a liberal arts school - they have the staff time to give to you to help you. Community colleges are often overstaffed and won't be able to give you individual attention in the process of getting your schooling paid for. Because you don't have a high school guidance counsellor to help you do all that stuff, the college will throw you an advocate.)
posted by tarintowers at 10:16 AM on October 14, 2005