I'm a late-bloomer, apparently. Do I have any hope of college? [closed]

I'll keep this short.

I'm a 26-year-old high school dropout. College never seemed to be in my cards. (I come from a poor family and higher education was always seen as a pipe dream.) My grades in school were abysmal, but not for lack of intelligence; I was the kid who'd draw patterns on my Scantron answer sheet and then nap until the bell rang. Academics meant nothing, so I dropped out, got my GED (near-perfect score without having studied, btw), and moved on with my life.

Anyway, when I was 23, I decided to look into the strange world of mathematics. I bought a used algebra textbook, and, to my surprise, was easy. I worked through the whole thing, cover to cover, in about a month.

I became curious at that point, so I continued learning. By the end of the fifth month, I had learned geometry, and in another month or two I had gone through a trig textbook. Long story short, within a year and a half of self-study, I went from knowing rudimentary algebra to passing the CLEP calculus exam.

I haven't gone any further than that, but never once did I find myself puzzled by any concept. It all made sense to me.

As a 26-year-old with nothing but a GED, is it too late to start college, assuming I find the money for it?

Thanks for your time!

Solution 1:

You refer to US exams, so I guess you would study there.

The short answer is "yes, of course", but the longer answer is that especially in the US system, costs and benefits are heavily tied to: which school you attend; the so-called financial aid that determines the true out-of-pocket cost; the subject in which you take a degree; whether you obtain further education after the degree; whether you graduate and whether that happens within 4-5 years; whether you work during the studies. This makes it very important to have a source of advice who knows the system well, and who knows your situation in detail.