Hi Sleepie, I see where you're coming from, but I've seen things a bit differently when it comes to the age of other alcoholics. I am one of those who got shoved into recovery at age 21 when I was in college. However, at the time, I felt like I was the only young alcoholic out there because most people in rehab were middle aged and the few young ones who were there were all there as junkies rather than alcoholics. And when I attended AA , everyone seemed much older than me when they started having issues. It was hard for me to relate early on.
I think alcoholism definitely sets in around the later adult years for most people and not all people have their crazy years in college. There's a perception of alcoholism being an old man's problem for a reason, although it's an inaccurate one. I think if you look closely, you'll see there's more like you who started late than you think.