@seekingpam: As indicated in my post, OP is exactly the kind of person Columbia is seeking for its College of General Studies, which is just the name of the path for nontradional students at Columbia. (students take regular classes in the regular Columbia College but cgs evaluated them on their life experience and accomplishments rather than high school grade and scores).
No college has age limits for its applicants.
Harvard or bust is silly though. What about Columbia? Brown? wharton? Stern? Stanford? Ucb? UCLA? Uva? Umichigan?