<p>Though it isn’t transfer admission, my class at Dartmouth is getting this guy [Dartmouth</a> News - Dartmouth?s 45-year-old first-year student - 08/06/09](<a href=“http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2009/08/06.html]Dartmouth”>http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2009/08/06.html)</p>
<p>@entomom: It’s worth clarifying Columbia College’s requirements. Even so, they’re almost always irrelevant to a non-traditional student. If a student is significantly older than the traditional age for attending college, they will almost always have had a break in their formal education. In that case, a student would not be applying to Columbia College for the reasons noted above. Instead, the student would apply to the School of General Studies and then, if admitted, take courses offered by Columbia College.</p>
<p>fuzzyfirebunny: Depends on the student’s grades, personal achievements and conveyed maturity - as with any student. I don’t think colleges look down upon younger or older applicants. There are plenty of older students at my school. There are a few younger ones, too. In fact, my school brags about both their youngest and oldest students. 
They make the school look good (and greatly improve the student body IMO).</p>
<p>@Take - I’ve never really understood this. What is to stop an older, or returning student (and what is the “cut off” of that, by the way?) from applying to Columbia College? I’m a returning student, having taken 6 years off from education to pursue career goals, but I am applying as a transfer to regular undergraduate programs. Is this the wrong path to take?</p>
<p>“What is to stop an older, or returning student (and what is the “cut off” of that, by the way?) from applying to Columbia College? I’m a returning student, having taken 6 years off from education”</p>
<p>that is what’s stopping you - the 6 years you took off from school. columbia college doesn’t specify an age cutoff, but it doesn’t accept applications from students who have had more than a year’s break in their education.</p>
<p>Finally, XYZ is nearly 100% residential and from a practical
standpoint, you may want to consider whether you would be at ease in living
with students a good deal younger than yourself.</p>
<p>This was the reply I got from a college when I told them that I wanted to know about transferring to their college. And take this, I am not ancient, I am just 21 years old.</p>
<p>If you’ve been in college for more than two years regardless of how many credits you have, you can’t apply to columbia college and many other top colleges. I found this out over the phone with Columbia.</p>