It took me 10 years to graduate college. I mean, school sucks — when you’re a teenager, at least. It feels very different as an adult who actually chooses to be there.

This week’s global confessors (8:55) reside in Southern California, Maryland, Hawaii, Ontario, London, Germany, and New Zealand. Each of them decided to finish their undergraduate degree or pursue higher education in their 30s, well beyond the age society tells us it’s “normal” to do so. 

We hear from a mother of two studying psychology to become a sex educator; a divorced mom back in community college at 35; and a woman pursuing her PhD while raising children in a foreign country. There’s a crime scene investigator pursuing a Master’s after seeing one too many dead bodies; a former nonprofit worker who fled abroad for graduate school after the Trump administration cut her funding; and an administrative employee pursuing a second Master’s out of fear that her mindless job would slowly rot her brain. We also hear from an Indigenous first-generation college student who took the LSAT four times before getting into law school, and a soon-to-be graduate navigating the complicated expectations of her immigrant parents.

From tuition costs and lifestyle adjustments (goodbye Pilates, hello grocery budgets) to childcare, burnout, and balancing work with studying, all of this week’s confessors agree that returning to school later in life is no easy feat. But bringing real-world hardship, work experience, and parenthood into the classroom has made education feel far more meaningful — and the satisfaction of breaking barriers, whether racial, economic, or personal, has made the struggle worthwhile. 

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Tales of Taboo is produced and narrated by Ali Weiss. Follow Ali on Instagram & TikTok @aliweissworld. Sound mixing by Cedric Wilson. Theme song by Chris Stathopolous. Cover photo by Erika Flynn. Cover art by Kristen Montenegro.