Age survey of admitted graduate applicants for Fall 2013

[KenAnderson]

Okay, this poll is a bit different. For admitted applicants only: How old will you be when you start your graduate program?

Edited February 23, 2013 by KenAnderson

[KenAnderson]

interesting

[KenAnderson]

So far, the admitted age percentages are the same as applied....

[KenAnderson]

It looks like with both age polls the numbers drop substantially after the age of 30....

 

Anyone want to draw some conclusions why?  I have my theories...

[planesandtrains]

well because grad school is the first step on a career track, which most people do in their 20s regardless of career, but a few decide to switch directions and start a whole new career track later on. why would that be surprising? more interesting is that there are a greater percentage of 26-30 year olds accepted than applying, and a lower percentage of 21-25 year olds accepted than applying.

[asleepawake]

more interesting is that there are a greater percentage of 26-30 year olds accepted than applying, and a lower percentage of 21-25 year olds accepted than applying.

 

To be fair, "How old were you when you applied?" and "How old will you be when you attend?" are two different questions with a good 8 months in between them. Some of us jumped categories.

Edited February 24, 2013 by asleepawake

[planesandtrains]

To be fair, "How old were you when you applied?" and "How old will you be when you attend?" are two different questions with a good 8 months in between them. Some of us jumped categories.

 

fair 'nuff. though the above 25/below 25 category changed about 14 percentage points from one survey to the next, so even if was all due to birthdays, it's interesting that there were that many people on the upper limit in the under 25 category that made it in. can't do math, though, so...

[practical cat]

fair 'nuff. though the above 25/below 25 category changed about 14 percentage points from one survey to the next, so even if was all due to birthdays, it's interesting that there were that many people on the upper limit in the under 25 category that made it in. can't do math, though, so...

The age breakdown isn't sufficient to give much information here. It's also kind of early to be interpreting results (I'm 22-23, voted in first poll, and could still be accepted). Finally, survey respondents are self-selecting which, frankly, doesn't tell much. Bad methods, not much can be extrapolated.

[KenAnderson]

Well, I agree with you about it being "self-selecting" if this was an opinion poll ( which are flawed due to the  inherent bias) , but it is not an opinion poll. The poll is  just asking to state their age, which is the same factual data ALL  universities collect.   And there are other reasons I think that are more nuanced besides the given "grad school is the first step on a career track, which most people do in their 20s regardless of career," such as a poor economy and the resulting number who enter college for the first time, return to college, or decide "now is the time" to apply to graduate school. I think there are several things that can be extrapolated.... granted, there is no data on "age" from previous years to compare and contrast, but it is interesting to ponder especially since I have heard from several different places that grad programs are experiencing a record number of applications this year...and I wondered how it breaks down with regards to age... 

Edited February 25, 2013 by KenAnderson

[ZacharyBinks]

I would like to see how the 21-25 category breaks down. I wonder if many are coming straight from undergrad or if many have taken a year or two off.

[KenAnderson]

Also,  It would be interesting to see the age break down on the data complied by Arizona's Rhetoric Review of Rhet & Comp programs...the review is a bit outdated (2007) and also I wonder about the reliability of some of the data, especially  the admit/applicant ratio reported by the programs.

Edited March 1, 2013 by KenAnderson

[KenAnderson]

Rhetoric Review of Rhet & Comp programs: ...all the data  is  outdated (2007) ....

 

and due to the present poor economy the admit numbers reported are much too high...I heard Arizona RCTE only accepted 6 this year!!!