For me...I am an older student as well...AA in general studies, BA in psychology...my early years of school were NOT good at all, but I pulled it together in the later years. I have seen some of the experience some people have in here and honestly, I could not compete, but I would say get some experience, keep your grades up and you should be fine for their program. Also, as an older student you likely have more life experience. I definitely called upon that when it came time to write my statement of purpose as I don't have any direct social work experience. I definitely had to research the values and I realized a lot of that could apply to life in general so I just went with it and it worked out for me.
After I applied I started getting second thoughts because of the cost, but then when it came time to apply for scholarships I applied for everything! I got $50k scholarship which definitely helps plus I have money coming from my gi bill so I am practically going for free. Obviously I couldn't say no to USC after that. I almost didn't apply for any of the scholarships because it was a bit overwhelming for me, but I am so happy that I did because it paid off