For veterans thinking of applying to college, particularly to top schools, I highly encourage you to make use of the following resources:
Service to School
http://service2school.org/
S2S is a veteran-run non-profit that provides assistance with the process of applying to colleges. It provides test-prep resources, interview-prep, peer-editing for your essays, and assistance in translating your military experience into terms that will make sense to college admissions officers. You will also be matched with a mentor who is a current student-veteran at the school you are applying to, to give you insider tips about that school’s process.
Warrior Scholar Project
http://www.warrior-scholar.org/
WSP conducts all-expenses-paid academic boot camps for transitioning veterans, hosted at great schools such as Yale, Harvard, and U. Michigan. Students receive training in how to succeed at an elite college, with tips on academic skills like test-taking, coping with large amounts of reading, and constructing essays, as well as advice on the admissions process directly from admissions officers.