Career Advice for a Late Starter

Hello all. I need a little bit of life advice and I was hoping to get some ideas from the community here. I am a non-traditional student returning to college and I am trying to figure out what to do.

I attended a decent public school for five years without actually managing to graduate. I was way more focused on girls and booze than I was on going to class and worrying about my future. I failed out after my 10th semester and immediately went to work. I've worked odd/clerical/random jobs in the financial services field for the last 6 years. This included stints at RIAs, a small mutual fund, and a broker/dealer, but always in a menial capacity. I was exposed to some topics that I was really interested in, including some commercial real estate acquisition, investing in distressed municipal and asset-backed securities, and the purchase of a company by one of my employers. Of course I was not hands-on with the models or doing anything important, but I did see enough and help out enough to get my interested piqued. As I mentioned, I am returning to college next year. I will be attending an Ivy League school through a program designed to admit non-traditional students (i.e. Brown RUE, Columbia GS, Yale Eli Whitney Scholars, NOT the Penn online degree thing).

Given what I saw while working and some networking/mentorship I have sought out, I am interested in private equity (who isn't right?). I liked the process of evaluating investment opportunities using a deep and thorough dive into everything about the project and I was really impressed with how it seemed like the guys became experts in all these arcane fields/regions of the country seemingly overnight. I would like to set myself up to have a fighting chance to break into or private equity. As it stands right now, I will be graduating at age 32. I will be 8 years older at a minimum than most traditional graduates so I don't know if the traditional SA-> IB FT route would be appropriate for me (would it)? Is there an alternative route/path I should consider? I am not in it for the money & prestige like delusional 23 yo who thinks he will be liquid for 7 figures by 30. Of course I want to make money like everyone else, but I just want to solve problems, think critically and analytically, and learn for a living and it seemed like that's what I saw at work.

Given my circumstances, what can I/should I realistically do? Any ideas for fields or niches that I should consider as well? Also, if anyone is a Brown/Columbia/Yale alum, would you be responsive to someone from one of these programs who reached out for networking/advice?

Thanks everyone!