Will add to the never ending backlog haha . <| sep |> I got out of the service at 30 and straight into college on the GI Bill . There will be a lot of young kids around but you won ' t be the only old manwoman . They might be quicker but you ' ll probably be more disciplined and study better . Definitely be somewhat active in clubs , get to know the faculty , and take on an internship but keep a balance . You ' ll need an internship to be competitive in the entry level market . Even a halftime internship during the school year is great if you can make it work . Starting out your career , get comfortable that engineers that graduated at 22 will outrank you . Sometimes it is a bit weird when your boss is a couple years younger than you even if you ' re about the same age you ' re not equal in the office . However , age and experience should help you be more responsible and navigate the office bureaucracy better than some younger entry level engineers . A lot of firms , including the one I work for , actively recruits vets . Plus veterans preference at public agencies . Your experience will also make for more interesting resume and a good icebreaker at career fairsinterviews . So even being a bit older you ' ll have a lot going for you after you graduate . If you don ' t know what you want to do for a career then keep the first year of college general and learn about what engineers do not just the various curriculums . Maybe hit up some local engineering firms and see if you can arrange a short informational tour to learn about their company and what they do . My office does these all the time , generally through our recruiters . In every field there ' s a ton of specialties you could never imagine one might be the perfect career for you that you didn ' t even know existed . For me , I ' m a civil engineer and thought I was going to school to learn how to design buildings . But my career is in transportation infrastructure technology , like supporting connectedautomated vehicles .