<p>As a former dropout turned straight-A student, I honestly believe that beyond a certain aptitude, it comes down to maturity, guts, and motivation. I have dabbled in a broad enough base of classes to have seen material that I had a hard time swallowing. Younger me would have just skipped going to that class or try to wing it on the exam by skimming through the book or trying to learn from looking at old exams. Now I haven’t missed a class since I started back to school and I practice the hard stuff ad infinitum.</p>