<p>AlricT, with all due respect, those really are the standard requirements for non-traditional programs. 24 is usually the minimum age, and you need to be either married or a parent otherwise. There are certainly exceptions, however.</p>
<p>beginning:</p>
<p>That is not true...see Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Bard College, Harvard, Yale, etc...their requirements, as well as those of other programs (public or private) generally only require time away from college, although there are sometimes age restrictions (from 21 to 25 years of age). Also, you are not required to be married or have children to be defined as a non-traditional student.</p>
<p>I do not have children, do not meet the age restrictions, and I am not married. Yet, for traditional schools (that I appled to) they defined me as a non-traditional student for admissions purposes although I met transfer guidelines at the colleges. Thus, being over 21 meant not having the same kind of support that a traditional student would have from those schools' admissions offices. It required more effort to get the information I needed, as well as to understand what constituted being non-traditional with respect to traditional/non-traditional college admissions process versus the perceptions that people have of non-traditionals.</p>
<p>With all due respect, most traditional colleges do make a distinction between a traditional undergraduate and a non-traditional student during admissions, even if they do not have non-traditional programs. The majority of non-traditional students have one thing in common: time away from school. Do non-traditional students have to go through non-traditional programs? No. For myself, Harvard College, for one, modified or exempted me from some of the reqirements, to enable me to apply. If I had known about The Extension School, I would probably have gone there.</p>
<p>Examples:
<a href="http://www.extension.harvard.edu/2004-05/libarts/undergrad/prospective/default.jsp%5B/url%5D">http://www.extension.harvard.edu/2004-05/libarts/undergrad/prospective/default.jsp</a>
<a href="http://www.tulane.edu/%7Euc/admission_tuition/admission_tuition.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.tulane.edu/%7Euc/admission_tuition/admission_tuition.htm</a>
<a href="http://undergraduate.jhu.edu/prospective/5steps.cfm#%5B/url%5D">http://undergraduate.jhu.edu/prospective/5steps.cfm#</a>
<a href="http://www.scs.northwestern.edu/ugrad/degrees/%5B/url%5D">http://www.scs.northwestern.edu/ugrad/degrees/</a>
<a href="http://www.gs.columbia.edu/index.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.gs.columbia.edu/index.htm</a></p>