Non-Traditional Freshman

Applicants wishing to be considered for admission as non-traditional freshmen must complete their admissions file by the published deadline for the term in which they plan to enroll.

If you graduated from high school five or more years before the term of admission and have had no intervening college or university course work, you may be admitted to the University if you graduated from a high school and ranked in the upper half of your graduating class or achieved a score at least equivalent to the 50th percentile on a college entrance examination, i.e. ACT or SAT, and met the high school course requirements (see Admission Standards for Traditional Freshmen).

Applicants without a high school diploma must have achieved a standard score average of 45 on the General Education Development Test (GED) and a score of at least 40 in each of the GED areas.

Non-Traditional freshman applicants with GED credentials who are applying five years after their high school class has graduated must complete the following requirements:

1. remedy any English, mathematics and reading deficiencies as indicated by SIUE placement tests and
2. complete at least one three-semester-hour course in each of the following areas:
   1. science,
   2. social sciences, and
   3. either foreign language, music, art, theater, dance, or speech.

Courses must be selected from Introductory and Distribution General Education courses numbered below 300. You must complete these courses with a passing grade or achieve a minimum grade of C on a proficiency examination. Courses taken to meet this additional course requirement will not carry credit toward General Education or major/minor requirements. Credit will be awarded as general elective credit toward graduation, i.e., elective credits not required by the major and/or minor.

Applicants with GED credentials who are applying for admission before a five-year period after their high school class has graduated are not considered non-traditional applicants and must meet the minimum high school course requirements (see Admissions Standards for Traditional Freshmen) and achieve a standard score average of 45 on the GED Test and a score of at least 40 in each of the GED areas. They are considered for special admission as first-time freshmen.

Applicants who graduated from high school five or more years prior to application for admission and who do not meet the admission requirements above may be considered for Special Admission.