<p>Greetings all,</p>
<p>By the spring 09 semester, I will be out of the military and starting college... Hopefully. My grand plan is to take community college while I'm in, which I'm doing now, and attending the University of Illinois. I'll be a little older than most of my peers (22). In your opinion, is this going to be a disadvantage?
Also, by the time I get out, I'll have about 24 transferable credits. Would you suggest taking the SAT and/or ACT over, seeing as I didn't do very well in it during my formative high school years.
This last question might not produce a very accurate answer, but in your opinion, am I at an advantage or disadvantage when I send in my application? Would you say that I'm in a better position to get accepted compared to other applicants? </p>
<p>Thanks to whoever helps me out here. Have a good day.</p>
<p>U of I may not require you to submit your SAT/ACT at all, so I wouldn't bother taking the test again, at least without a phone call. When my b-in-l did what you did, they said they never ask for standardized testing from anyone 4 years out of high school. That was 12 years ago though, so give admissions a call.</p>
<p>Since you haven't posted your scores I can hardly judge whether you might or might not be admitted to U of I. However, I do not believe your military service, especially if you have been to Iraq, will count against you.</p>
<p>Don't put all your hopes on UIUC. There are many colleges, especially in the Chicago area, that welcome older students, and might be a better fit for you. I don't know how much UIUC will look at your high school scores, but they do make a lot of decisions based strictly on numbers, so you may have a problem. Is your college GPA a B+, at least? </p>
<p>On another thread, you asked about landscape architecture. If that is a definite career plan, you should look at the websites (ASLA, ILA) of professional organizations for more information on programs. You may find that a smaller school will look at you more as an individual. Also, UIUC does offer distance-learning programs in Environmental Studies at the graduate level.</p>