Gaining Entrance to College for the Non-Traditional Student

College Entrance exams
The big thing to remember about college is that prospective students can begin attending any semester; fall, spring, or summer. 

 

Getting accepted into college is no easy task.  College admission boards prefer intelligent, well-rounded students.  While the category percentages may vary, the boards look for good school grades and/or a high performance on the S.A.T.’s [Scholastic Assessment Tests] as proof of academic accomplishment.  Well-rounded students probably participated in sports and belonged to clubs in high school.  Traditional prospective college students volunteer their time at churches, hospitals, or community functions. 

 

You know, a person who never sleeps, has no time for family or friends.  These are tough sneakers to fill for a non-traditional student, a student over 30 years of age beginning college for the first time. 

 

This was one reason why I started at a community college or junior colleges as they are sometimes called.  Since I was a non-traditional student, with no S.A.T. scores, I needed to take a basic skills test, an entrance exam, to be sure I was prepared for college level math and writing. 

 

Okay, so I was only partially prepared for college, passing the writing portion of the entrance exam, not the math.  I didn’t have a college preparatory high school curriculum.  I was a business student.  I haven’t done algebra and rational numbers and integers, etc., for a long, long time.  I required basic skills math courses to bring me up to college-level math in order to complete the math and science requirements needed for a college degree.       

 

And that is where my college journey begins in the memoir: deciding to apply and take the entrance exam at a community college—with five children in tow for most of it.  However, even though I started at a community college, the possibilities from there were numerous.  I’ll discuss some of those possibilities together with scholarship next month.     

7 thoughts on “Gaining Entrance to College for the Non-Traditional Student”

  1. Nothing wrong with starting at a community college. My husband did too. Then he wound up at Stony Brook, Cold Spring Harbor Lab, Dana Farber Cancer Institute through Harvard, and now he's at a biotech company.

    I'm sure it was a struggle for you to do that with so many kids, as I'm sure your memoir reveals.

    Reply
  2. Thank you, Theresa, for visiting my Adventures in Writing blog. Wow! Bravo for your husband. He reached for the stars–and caught some. Congratulations.

    That is my memoir in a nutshell: A mother of five still being that mother–with all the ups and downs–and becoming a college student with classwork, group projects, and extra curricular activities. And surviving!

    Thanks again for visiting my Adventures in Writing blog. Please stop by again.

    Reply
  3. Thanks, Michelle, for visiting my Adventures in Writing blog. I believe determination is a part of any struggle, especially completing a college degree.

    Thank you so much for the compliment. It is greatly appreciated. Please stop by my Adventures in Writing blog again.

    Reply
  4. Thank you, Nas. Yes, I've come a long way, as I'm sure many other students have as well. My memoir will be my journey to a bachelor's degree from an Ivy League university.
    Thank you so much for visiting my Adventures in Writing blog, Nas. Please stop by again.

    Reply
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