Same. Also, my response = wall of text. I am sorry. Sort of.

I came to this realization in my mid 20s and spent the next 4 years cringing and flogging myself with shame and regret (until this year). What helped actually was reading other peoples' stories and experiences on reddit (on phone so crossposting is a bit iffy rn), and meeting older people who started school in their 30s. The job market was different then, even 10 years ago, but if it's what you really want to do then it won't matter how long it takes, because eventually you'll be doing it - that's also how I realized what I don't want to do and that I was making myself miserable trying to be something/someone that I am not (although everyone else at my school seemed to powerthrough, but they didn't learn the same life lessons!).

When I was in my very early 20s and less frivolous with my money (spent it on travel instead of going out with friends every night, etc.), I met a Swedish girl who was 28 and only just thinking about starting school. She finally started at 30 and now has her PhD at 38 (not that you have to get one, just that it's never too late!). She went on exchange at 34 and met loads of older students who gave zero shits (you don't have to hangout with the freshies!) about her age. I was 21 when I met her and I did not even realize that she was older, because she was fun and didn't care. You could also befriend masters students, who are of varying ages and who also may be on exchange. Age isn't a weird thing unless you make it weird (spent my 20s learning that... also, some younger people are giant dicks, but there are so many who aren't!).

I still struggle with shame and doubt, and I wake up some days regretting the myriad opportunities I've wasted, but I also realize that if I hadn't done that stuff I would have always wondered if I was missing out, I wouldn't have learned a lot of life lessons that a lot of now 24-year-olds have no idea about...

You have experience! Life experience that those fresh-out-of-uni clowns don't have - that's already a one-up on them in the job market. Plus, you can start volunteering now (if it's engineering, volunteer at a track, or a lab, or join a university club to start building your network; if it's teaching, volunteer at a school... Idk!)

Everyone has different lessons to learn; spiritual, intellectual, emotional... And everyone (cliché), has a different path in life. The scenic route is prettier anyway. Plus, how boring would it be to have 8 years of whatever work already under your belt at this age? You have your whole life to work (seriously, I don't know where you're from, but by the time we're 80 pensions aren't going to exist in my country).

If you wake up one day at 34 then decide to do this all, you'll be even older. So may as well apply now!

Either way, we're not ancient. We're literally (hate that word) still in the prime of our lives. Don't let people make you feel bad, or your brain make you feel like you're somehow less than.

This may not be helpful at all, and I apologize if it wasn't, but I felt the need to share.

Good night.