It's hard to believe I've been out of school long enough to consider myself a "non-traditional applicant," but after reading the other posts in this forum I get the sense that I'm a bit beyond the average age. I'd love to hear from others who are in a similar situation, and get to know what kinds of issues you are dealing with as you're trying to apply to grad school.
As for my own story, I'm thirty years old and hope to pursue a Ph.D. in electrical/computer engineering. I have a masters degree and two bachelors degrees from a relatively average state school, and while I did very well in classes, had teaching experience, and worked at a job most of the way through college, I never had a chance to do academic research. As the first person in my family to graduate from college, I didn't even know what grad school was until I was in college. I applied to Ph.D. programs when I was finishing my M.S. five years ago, but I aimed too high and was disappointed by mostly rejections. I decided to work for a while to save some money and get some experience.
Now, I have a wife, a house, and a decent job in my field, but I still want the Ph.D. and I still want to be in a more research-oriented role. I'm re-taking the GRE next month, and I plan to apply to mostly local schools this coming fall. Once the GRE is out of the way, I've got to get recommendation letters (from whom?), write a statement of purpose, possibly take the CS subject GRE, and all the while hope that my work experience somehow makes up for my lack of publications and academic research.
I've had informal discussions with my employer and they've expressed some willingness to help pay for the Ph.D., but with the stipulation that I study what they want me to study and that I stay with them for some amount of time. Sounds like a great opportunity, but for me the reason to pursue the Ph.D. is the chance to study in depth an area of my field that I'm passionate about. I do what someone else wants me to do at work every day.
So I'm concerned about things like what I'll do with my current job, whether my age/experience will be a liability in applying, how I can get the research experience universities want, and whether it even makes sense with the economy in its current state to leave a well-paying job to pursue a degree that will probably reduce the number of jobs for which I'm qualified. I know at this point that I'm going to have to "settle" for a less prestigious school (because of qualifications as well as geographical location). But I've known for years that I wanted to pursue the Ph.D., and I have to try it again.
So what are your stories? How are other "non-traditional" applications handling the application process? What keeps you motivated?