Aiming for Princeton admission at 28?

[camacru]

Aiming for Princeton admission at 28??

I am 28 years old and I have a B.A in Industrial Design. I have worked in my field for 6 years now, but lately I've been thinking about getting my mechanical engineering degree. I am aiming high by considering admission into Princeton, but I am not sure how to go about it, considering that I am not a HS senior with a perfect SAT score looking for admission to college. I know that Princeton is extremely selective, so I don't how someone like myself would approach this.

Any advice?

 

[Luongo]

there's no shortcuts outta this, budday. you're just gona have to study to the best of your ability and that's all you can do so just do it. what worked for me was putting school before anything else in my life, i dumped my boyfriend, did not party/drink or anything and only met with my friends for a few hours every second week or a month but i would much rather stay at home and study all night long, but it was worth it it got me A's. and i got into MIT when i was a bit older with my associates degree in sciences planning to pursue electrical and computer engineering. You have to work Hard and make sacrifices. Just think of the goal when you get stressed or whatever and you will look back on it and thank yourself.

 

[cristo]

there's no shortcuts outta this, budday.

I don't think the OP is looking for shortcuts, and since he already has a Bachelors degree, I'm sure he knows how to study in college! I think the main question is what will the admissions tutors look for on his application, since he is so long out of high school.

 

[MissSilvy]

Before you st your heart on Princeton, make sure they even allow application for second BAs. Some schools do not allow someone who already has one BA to apply for a spot in their undergrad class.

 

[Heresy]

there's no shortcuts outta this, budday. you're just gona have to study to the best of your ability and that's all you can do so just do it. what worked for me was putting school before anything else in my life, i dumped my boyfriend, did not party/drink or anything and only met with my friends for a few hours every second week or a month but i would much rather stay at home and study all night long, but it was worth it it got me A's. and i got into MIT when i was a bit older with my associates degree in sciences planning to pursue electrical and computer engineering. You have to work Hard and make sacrifices. Just think of the goal when you get stressed or whatever and you will look back on it and thank yourself.

Wow.

 

[LewisEE]

Yea, I was going to essentially say what Heresy said. If you have a relationship or a family, don't throw it under the bus for this.

As far as Princeton goes, all I know for certain is that they don't accept transfer students. So while I'm sure you would have a tougher time, it's possible I suppose.

Depending on what you studied in Undergrad, you may consider trying to apply to their graduate program for a MEng degree. But I don't know very well what constitutes an Industrial Design degree.

 

[camacru]

Thanks everyone. I can definitely imagine how difficult it must be to gain entrance to Princeton, especially considering that I work full time and I also happen to be in a relationship. Nonetheless, I think I will begin by finding out if I can even apply as an undergrad, or if I can apply for graduate admission. There happens to be a strong relationship between industrial design and mechanical engineering, so I think it would be a logical progression for me, rather than a complete shift in careers. If anyone is interested in learning what ID is, a good starting reference would be the IDSA (Industrial Designer's Society of America) website, which is a very comprehensive resource. http://www.idsa.org/absolutenm/templates/?a=89&z=23

Again, thanks to all for their advice!

 

[Heresy]

...
I just remembered something I read about Luongo in another thread.
Don't heed his advice, it's laced with ********.

This guy recently transferred to UBC from Douglas College in Vancouver and now he's masquerading around this forum as a guy (girl?) who got into MIT... don't know what's up with that.

So yeah, you don't need to throw your life away for the sake of getting into a particular school.

 

[Redbelly98]

I'll advise applying to more than one college, at least 3 to 5 of them. And apply to ones with a variety of admissions standards; if you're considering Princeton then also consider Rutgers and also a lower-tier school.

 

[TMFKAN64]

I think that MissSilvy hit it on the head. From http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/:

"Who Can Apply

If you have already started a college or university degree program elsewhere, you are not eligible to apply for admission to Princeton."

With a BA, you have started *and* finished... look into graduate study perhaps?

 

[camacru]

Wow. So much for undergrad application! I think Redbelly98 is right in suggesting that I also apply to other schools. My other 3 choices would probably be Stevens Institute, NJIT, or Cooper Union. I'm not sure how their ME programs compare.