Expert: Todd Johnson - 1/13/2009

Question
Sir,

Im a 20 year old military service member that has done two combat tours. I am planning on getting out of the service in 2010 and want to attend a large university. I am a resident of FL and want to attend schools such as Miami, Florida university, university of south FL ETC. The only issue is in high school I had a 18 on my act and about a 2.0 average. I can say that my motivation and dedication has improved to the extreme. I know that college work would be alot easyer for me now. What are my chances of getting into a large universities like those I listed? Any info would be greatly apprecciated.VR-Brandon

Answer
Brandon,

Colleges typically look at your high school grades as the most important indicator of whether you can do college level work. Normally with a lower GPA I would suggest that you consider community college to start with a goal of transferring to a larger university. I still think this may be a good option.

Your time in the military will probably work to your advantage particularly if you can show that you have matured and are now ready to do college level work. However, any thing that you can do to help show your readiness for college level work would help. If you can take some college classes while still in the military and do well in those classes, that would definitely help your chances of getting into a 4 year college when you finish your military service.

Your best option is to take some college classes now while you are still in the military and do well in those classes. When you apply for colleges next year you can then talk about the maturity that you have had and use these college classes to prove your ability. At the same time you should look at some community colleges as alternative in case the 4 year colleges are not willing to take a risk at this time.

I hope that helps.

Good luck.