Posted: Aug 14, 08 11:05am

I've been tinkering with the idea of going back to school in a few years - once the kids are all out of the house. I don't have a specific major or field picked out yet - other than something technical, maybe math, maybe computer science - I'm primarily interested in going back because I want something REALLY challenging again. (Like raising a half dozen kids isn't 'challenging' :))

I've my eye on a couple of schools that the various rankings would tag as 'highly competitive'.

Back in the day, it wasn't nearly THAT competitive... You studied, you did OK on your SATs, you had a varsity sport on your resume, and you could pretty much get in wherever you wanted. These days, it seems getting through the admissions process is akin to Rollerball.

Anyone have any experience or insight about a greybeard getting into one of these 'highly competitive' places? (I have a BS in engineering from a fairly decent place, but that was a long time ago... I anticipate "What have you done LATELY?" to likely be the refrain from the admissions folks.)