Hi Hyo
I can’t help you with all your questions but what I can tell you is that this year I am completing a four year degree and will finish two years after my 45th birthday.
For me it has been one of the hardest things I have done. It has been incredibly rewarding too and an amazing learning experience for many different reasons apart from the educational value. Most of my contemporaries are 20-25 and I am the oldest person on a course of about 80 students. Many people would look back at my career over the last 25 years and say my career path is “unconventional”. However, I can see a pattern as all of my previous work has involved advising or educating people on some level. I would not have taken the degree had I not been made redundant from my previous (unrelated) job because the skills I learnt in that job gave me the confidence to then apply for the degree. I am not even sure now whether I will use the degree directly in my next line of work but as a life experience the four years have been worthwhile and I still hope to earn enough to pay off the student fees.
Being a bit older and having a different educational background when you return to study will give you a completely different experience and different perspective than some of the other students. Sometimes this will help you and sometimes it might not but you have the maturity to be able to learn a lot about yourself from the experience. You will also find that you have obtained other skills and experiences in any previous jobs you have had and just through your life experiences which will help you in your studies in ways that you don’t expect. So just relax, enjoy the experience and rise to the challenge. Think of your studying as enhancing your life rather than just enhancing your employability. You are only behind because you think you should have followed a particular path and have deviated from that, but sometimes we learn more by going the long way round rather than the most direct route.
Good luck and I’m sure you will be fantastic