I was never identified as gifted as a child and I never really considered myself that bright. When I was about 25 I decided that I was the type of person that should go to college. It took me 5 years because I took short periods off to work full time for money to continue but I graduated just a month short of my 31st birthday. I started law school when I was 34. I had a baby when I was 35. I started working as a lawyer at 37 when my DS was almost 2.
I know that I would have gotten much more out of college if I was going to college now as opposed to going there straight out of high school from a purely intellectual perspective and from a social perspective. I was extremely immature and didn't adjust well at all in college. That was coupled with my mother dying of cancer while I was in college and my father suffering a debilitating stroke while I was in law school. All in all, my college experience was pretty horrible, but that was mostly my fault for not being able to deal with things either at home or at school at the time.
I took the "check out of life" option during college and law school. Partially because it was the first time in my life I was actually challenged. I note that it's not a good idea to consider your life over and simply wait around for your life to end. I tried that. From experience, I note that there are no actual benefits from that approach. Except you can collect degrees without learning much of anything.
Check out of life? Bad idea.
Engage life? Good idea.
If you want to go to college, Island, I agree with Deonne, you can pretty much go whenever you want to go and ultimately do whatever you feel like doing, but everything takes time.
But, remember. Law school is generally a bad idea.
Law school? Bad. Unless you really really love law and know what you are getting into.
Med school? Usually good idea. Radiation oncology? Lots and lots of $$$. Dermatology? Lots and lots of $$$. Cardiology? Severe stomach ulceration and burnout. Psychiatry? Well, you don't have to work long hours or operate.
Dental school? Usually good idea.
Ph.D.? Generally worse than med school, better than law school.
(All these opinions are based on the outcomes that I've noticed in my family, in-laws, friends, and clients)
And if you go to grad school, make sure you have an interest in the area first. Don't just randomly pick something.
If you want to go into an intellectually rigorous specialty, you probably need to spend 5 to 10 years working in the field (with relatively long hours) until you get to the point where you are an expert and can push the boundaries of the field forward.
My wife's been a SAHM for 9 years (she's 33 now). Although she went to college, she wants to be a teacher, so she now needs to go back and get the education credits she needs to actually be certified to teach. She's looking for a teacher's aide position at the moment. It's only now that our two kids are both in school that she feels the need to get an actual job rather than a "play" part-time job.
