Too old for a PH.d?

[med latte]

Thanks to all participants for this wonderful thread.

 

I have gained so much from it. 

 

Just wanted to echo what Toyin said. Thanks for sharing your stories, everyone.

[Desiato]

Just bumping this dinosaur thread up because I found so much good info here.

I'm 50 years old and in my 2nd semester of a Masters program for English Lit. My school doesn't offer any PhDs (the closest one that does is several hours away). I'll be working for the next few years while I complete my Masters, and after that I will look to enter a funded PhD program focusing on British Literature. I am having a wonderful time in class, and I do want to pursue a tenure track job when I get my PhD. I realize I'll be close to 60 by the time I enter the job market, but I don't care. I'm in great shape, and family genetics say I'll be able to work for another 25 years in this field, which I plan to do.

Thanks for this great site. I'm glad I found this place!

[sackofcrap]

On 3/10/2011 at 8:07 PM, Amalia222 said:

I can only give my 2 cents on this, take it or leave it.

Let's say you enter and get your ph.d. you'll be 55 or 56 when you graduate. In the increasingly competitive job market in the humanities, few schools (if any) are going to hire someone who is near retirement age. They want to get the most bang for their buck--young, enthusiastic people who are going to stick around for 20 years. Ideally, anyways. Things are changing, of course, and tenure-track positions vanish every year. But if I were on an adcom, I doubt I would accept someone who is 50, for the simple practicality of it. Not to mention that there have been unprecedented numbers of applicants this year. But I am not on an adcom, and so can't speak to what they would do. I would say that someone who is 50 and going to grad school would have to be really amazing, beating out all the younger folks, which would be pretty hard to do, I think. I don't want to rain on your parade, and I certainly don't want to discourage you, if this is what you want to do. Keep trying, if that is the case.

I agree with this. I think the reason they are rejecting you is because they don't think you have many more years of work left in you. If it were me personally on the admissions board, I might be willing to give you a chance, but I can see why other people would be skeptical of it just for practical reasons. It's a little bit different between a masters and a PhD, just for the simple fact that a PhD is going to take so much longer to finish. 

Edited January 27, 2016 by sackofcrap