Originally Posted by intecel

How long have you been out of High school? I'm assuming it's > 3 years. If so, then any SAT, ACT, etc that you took back then won't get you into a college. You will have to take a test called the CPT test. It only takes a couple hours, and covers math and reading abilities. There are practice tests online that give you the idea of what you need to study for. After 10 years out of high school, I studied for about 2 hours for this test and almost aced the reading sections and did ok enough on the math to be able to get into college algebra.

You will most likely want to start at a local community college to get an A.A. degree, or A.S. degree (it's much cheaper than a state school, and almost a guarantee to get into). If you get the A.A. degree, you're guaranteed admission to a state college after 2 years. The A.S. degree only gives you some of the credits required for the 2 year college (which is why it will take me an additional semester to finish my A.A.)

You can get an A.S. degree in computer programming, web programming, networking, etc. at most colleges. The A.S. degree gives you moderate knowledge in a wide range of things, without having to mainly go for general education classes.

For example, the A.S. for 'computer programmin' with my community college requires the following classes for the 2 years:

1 English
1 Math
1 Humanities
1 Social Science
17 computer classes, including c++ programming (or c#, web, perl, etc), network concepts, databases & sql, etc.. lots of choices.

You get the experience you need for that push into the field.

The best thing to do is schedule an appointment with the local community college advisor. They give good advice.