@Doncic42 In all honesty, you shouldn’t regret your decision. It may have been where you were at that period. Maybe you would have enjoyed being at another college more, but then again, maybe not. Perhaps Yale wasn’t a transformative experience that changed your life and opened new vistas and introduced you to new opportunities, or whatever their brochure claims. At the end you are older, hopefully wiser, and your BA certificate has “Yale” on it, which may come in handy some day.
I’m not saying that you should delude yourself into thinking “those were the best days of my life”. I don’t even think that you should recommend Yale to all and sundry. Your perspective is good and it is helpful to anybody who is thinking of Yale, but you should stop thinking that those were wasted years, during which you could have been accomplishing greater things somewhere else.
While you may be having difficulty landing the right job for yourself, that is hardly unique. How old are you, 26?. You’re still extremely young, and still trying to figure yourself out. While it’s true that you may have benefited from a few years doing something else before you started college, but again, maybe not. I went to the army at 18, college at 21, and I was only a bit younger than you when I entered the work force. You’ve had four years to try things out.
Remember, you’re 26, you have the experience in the corporate world, as well as all the things you did learn in Yale. You’re better off than somebody of your age who did not go to college or somebody who did not finish a four year BA. You’re better off than the majority of the population, in fact. So take all of benefits that four years of college and four years of working have given you and go forward.
Also - take care of yourself. I know that sometimes thing feel worse than they are (I suffer from depression, so I know all about that), and it’s OK that you feel that way. Just remember that it’s really not that bad.