I'm 26 years old. Am I too old for college?

[Jacko]

After wasting my high school days away and then partying/working/being confused for the last 8 years, I'm now ready to do the hard work necessary to create myself a positive, fulfilling and amazing life I want.

I would love some advice on whether to go to college (its called university here in Australia) to really kick start my brain, training it to process information and building a strong study/learning habit.

I don't see a particular job I want at the moment, but I do have a hunger inside of me to learn. I've started a lot of great foundational stuff, clean eating, mindfulness meditation, yoga, journaling, reading, writing, exercise and I've moved on from my old friend group.

I now feel like a blank canvas, ready to take on anything, wanting to take on everything. I'm interested in philosophy, psychology and health and nutrition.

What are peoples opinions on going to college at this stage in life? I feel like I may benefit a structured environment like college where I'm spoon fed assignments until I develop the ability to create my own 'course'.

Would i benefit more from plunging myself into full-time study while doing self-actualization or would It be more beneficial to set my own study and find a job?

 

[RichardY]

@Jacko Was listening to an intro to David Hume "A treatise of Human Nature". The audio book mentioned that he attended the university of Edinburgh at age 12. And that there nothing to be learned from a professor that couldn't be learned more completely from a book.

[Space]

@Jacko It's never too late to go to college. You'll find older students on pretty much every college course, and often much older than 26. I was once told by a professor that the older students are the best students because they're more mature, hardworking and usually have a much better idea about what they want to do. So you can certainly still go to college/university at your age. But, it depends on the course and what you might end up doing afterwards. As Leo mentioned recently on a different thread, college is somewhat necessary if you're going to do medicine, engineering, law, nutrition, psychology or something like that. But for a lot of other careers it might not be necessary. As an example, if someone wanted to get into the film industry working in production, going to college is basically pointless. You'd be much better off getting a job as a runner and working your way up. 

[MarkusSweden]

@Jacko Never too late my friend! But you might be too wise, a lot of indoctrination and ideology is going on at collage, at least in the western world. It's not a place to think freely, Free thoughts are not that common as one might think it is.

[martin_malin]

I entered uni at 27 in similar circumstances. I didn't have a plan, it just felt like the right thing to do at the time. You'll meet some interesting people and some classes will be great. That said, understand that you won't get to read the books that you really want to read. They'll be times where you'll say to yourself ''I don't give a fuck about this'' and yet, you'll have to read, study or write about it. Personally, uni taught me that I was not a student but an entrepreneur. 
 

[Joseph Maynor]

No way.  I entered UCLA at 23 years old and graduated when I was 27 years old.  It was actually weird because everybody around me was 3-5 years younger than me, and I lived in the dorms too for the first 2 years.  Even though I was only 23 years old, I felt super old at the time.  Now I'm 40, and I look back on that and say, 'how the hell did I think I was so old at 23'?  When I was going to UCLA there were a few undergrads that were there in their 40's!  I sh*t you not!  The grad students were all around my age though, which was cool.  I actually hung out more with grad students and people off campus than I did with the kids on campus.  I was playing music at that time, and most of my friends were musicians off campus.

Edited August 18, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Jacko]

Thank you all for the insight, much appreciated

 

[eleveneleven]

Dude, you're never too old to follow your path, if that's what life is calling you to do. What else are you going to do while you're here on this earth, anyway, right?

If you ever feel old and need encouragement, just find someone 10 or 15 years older and ask them, "Do you think 26 [or insert whatever age] is old?" Chances are, they will say, "Hell no, man! 26 is SO young. When I was 26, my life was filled with so much possibility! I wish I hadn't squandered it. Now I'm too old!"

Then it will be their turn to find someone 10 or 15 years older and have a similar conversation, lol.

[Thomas Morris]

I do not think so. At any age, you can begin to learn. It depends only on how much you want it. I also think that difficulties will force you to use assignment provider https://au.edubirdie.com/assignment-provider . And this is absolutely correct. Each student uses such a resource. 

 

Edited February 27, 2019 by Thomas Morris

[Coco Money]

@Jacko It is better if you start fabricating products and offering services to people. You will learn from your own experience.

Turn your passion into action.

If you really want to learn something, learn it from doing and fabricating stuff. Learn it from performing productive activities in your life.

Think about what you can do for the people. Add value to people's lives.

[Michael569]

I've graduated from business uni at 24 and re-entered college to study naturopathy at 28 after I decided that the uni was pretty much a time lost pursuing wrong path. Can absolutely understand the struggle, it is not an easy decision, just be sure that this is setting on a correct path for your life purpose and don't do it because you "feel the need" or just feel bored. 

[Coco Money]

@Michael569 Yeah, Michael, I can totally relate: I tried Computer Science/Coding Engineer in a uni and it was all maths/algebra... Didn't last long there. Also tried some "Business School" type of career in a uni... Lasted a little longer there but... C'mon man math, history, sinus, cosinus, statistics... I expected them to show me HOW TO MAKE A BUSINESS!! I didn't want to go to school again to learn sinus/cosinus and what some king did in the year xxxx in some country LOL.

Self-education guys is the way to go for me. Oh yeah! I love it

[Jacko]

@Coco Money  great advice. I'm doing a low level drug and alcohol course at the moment and I can see that i get a lot fulfillment out of helping others. I can also see that it could be easy to become a part of the system. I hope to use this as a way into health care, I do not wish to climb the ladder within the industry though, I would rather branch off into alternate therapy, something which allows me to express my creativity a bit more.

[Jacko]

@eleveneleven haha yes  I suppose too old can be used as an excuse to procrastinate 

[mandyjw]

I probably wouldn't go to college until I had a really good idea of what I wanted to learn and what job I wanted to get qualified for. College is so over-priced right now, but hopefully that's not true in Australia like it is in the US. My concern would be that if you're into yoga and mindfulness you're going to want to have the financial freedom to set your own schedule and have time to pursue those things. But if college is what you really want to do it's never too late to go, you're better prepared than ever. 

[Sunny J Gupta]

I know college wasn't right for me. Im a big dreamer, huge aspirations, and I'm a great self-learner. I wouldn't pay attention in lectures at all, study a few nights in a row before an exam, and ended up with a high GPA after graduation. If you are like me in any way, definitely don't go to college. 

Edited March 3, 2019 by Sunny J Gupta

[Arcangelo]

Yes you are way too old. Sorry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now go and prove me wrong.

[FowlerAnthony]

No dear, never too old to learn. Support you to do so. Just make sure that you know your purpose of studying, and your goals though.

Edited March 12, 2019 by FowlerAnthony

[Pras]

Why are you even asking this question. No matter what the answer is DOES NOT MATTER. 

The only question that you need to ask is DO YOU WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE and why ? 

The answer to that will solve your problem ! 

[ZenDancer]

Do it! I did a degree and a masters in my 30s and loved it! The beauty of being a bit older is that you actually enjoy and appreciate learning!