At 43 years of age, she applied. Smith admitted her to its elite Ada Comstock Scholars Program, an academic program for women of what the school gently refers to as “nontraditional age.” A sociology major, Boe says she’s considering law school and working in immigration or labor law. (Harvard Law admissions officers, take note.)

That’s not to say she’s a stereotypical Smithie: While thousands of college students volunteer in soup kitchens or classrooms during their undergraduate years, Boe’s community service group of choice is the Moving Violations, a Boston-based women’s motorcycle club that aids local fundraisers and runs events of its own.

And she’s still driving. “My personality is well-suited to that profession,” she says, recalling the regulars she would visit on her Cape Cod route. “It’s restored my faith in humanity. And the visual world is just amazing,” she adds. Between the wildlife she’s spotted along highways and her encyclopedic knowledge of regional geology gained by driving on mountain roads, it’s surprising that “park ranger” isn’t on her lengthy curriculum vitae.

Even now, she admits to being at a nexus; driving her truck and taking classes, doing her homework at 4 in the morning, falling asleep in the library, staying awake behind the wheel. A severe shoulder injury at work in October has forced her to look at things with a new perspective and wonder if it’s time to concentrate all her energies on education.

“It’s hard to let go of that safe little cab of my truck where I’m queen of the world,” she says. “But my life is moving forward in a different direction. This [program in Oxford] is the bridge.”

So why am I telling you about Boe?

Listening to her story, I realized how much I’ve taken for granted. College was a given for me; it never occurred to me that I would go anywhere else after high school. Where else was there to go? And I can count on one hand the number of students I know who took even a year off before deciding to apply to school.