Many veterans get a lot of real-world training for future careers while they're in the service, but others may want to further their education. Now, one of the nation's most prestigious universities has a relatively new program that may be able to help them along the way.
Yale's Warrior-Scholar program has been up and running for a little less than four years, and helps get more than 200 veterans into some of the nation's best-known schools, including 30 who attend Yale itself, according to a report from the New Haven Register. It's a two-week program that helps them to better understand the process of heading back to school after spending years away from the classroom.
"Honestly, I wasn't sure I had any chance at all [to go back to college]," 26-year-old Rob Henderson, who served in the Air Force and didn't attend school for eight years, but is now a Yale sophomore, told the newspaper. "It was definitely a shot in the dark. It seemed to be kind of the solution to what I was looking for. Veterans who have not been in school for several years need to refresh their academic skills [and might] have some questions about the admissions process."
Many veterans who go through the program say that they don't feel much difference between themselves and their often younger classmates, the report said. That helps with the transition back to civilian life as much as any program probably could.
The more veterans who are interested in academics after their service can do to review their options, the better off they're likely to be. Many other college have programs similar to these and that can go a long way toward helping them achieve their goals.