Older students?

[acmes]

Actually I also have a daughter in college (fortunately not local--THAT she wouldn't be crazy about) and it's been quite nice for the both of us to commiserate together.  She's the only one who seems to understand when I talk about answering questions wrong and feeling not up to par.   I sometimes run into a few of her HS friends around campus and they're always very sweet.  Surprisingly, there almost always a few older (even older than ME!) people in the classes, but I notice that few of them are doing it for credit.  I was the only one with gray hair sitting for the midterm today, for example.    I have to say, doing it for credit really keeps me on my toes. 

[avflinsch]

It is good to have someone like that to talk to, it makes you both realize that neither of you are completely crazy.

We actually got to take a 'course' together a few years ago, while we were both undergrads - Underwater Basketweaving -  yes it is a real class here at Rutgers - 0 credits offered by the rec department. If we weren't both busy we would try taking it again it is being offered again tonight - it was pretty fun the first time, her basket came out way better than mine.

 

[Scantronphobia]

I get feeling like you have weaker relationships than if you were in the same age range. I used to be really bothered by the fact that I didn't get including the in invites for stuff, but I realized I, often as not, would rather just sleep/catch up on work/not do it for those weeknight gatherings. After a year and a summer, I've identified a handful of folks who I enjoy spending time with and try to do coffee/lunch with one of them once a week, just to feel connected. I quit drinking at the start of the spring semester anyway, so I wouldn't be much fun as the wet blanket anyway.

That said, the new cohorts seem to have gravitated to me as some sort of mentor, which is a nice experience. I don't know if it's age, or just that I'm chatty, but they tend to come to me for help with the administrative part of being a grad student (funding forms, conference submissions, forming a committee), which feels good. It probably helps that I am clearly comfortable with my place in the program/field at the moment.

 

All that said, PhD applications are due in 46 days and I've got no idea if I want to re-up into my mid 40s or go find a nice CC teaching job.

Yeah--I hear you on the relationships. I do not talk about my age because I do not want to widen that divide, but it is clear that I am much older than your average phd student. I do not get the mentoring requests, though either. To be honest I am not sure where I belong, socially. Which is a problem when you are talking about word of mouth opportunities, recommendations, and other professional opportunities that can boost your career. One thing that has been drummed into me with my program is that we are encouraged--no, expected--to participate in social-professional gatherings. The message is that even those things that can seem just social turn out to be professional in some way because you are interacting with your professional colleagues. Anyway, I'd be interested to hear others' takes on this. 

[bhr]

Yeah--I hear you on the relationships. I do not talk about my age because I do not want to widen that divide, but it is clear that I am much older than your average phd student. I do not get the mentoring requests, though either. To be honest I am not sure where I belong, socially. Which is a problem when you are talking about word of mouth opportunities, recommendations, and other professional opportunities that can boost your career. One thing that has been drummed into me with my program is that we are encouraged--no, expected--to participate in social-professional gatherings. The message is that even those things that can seem just social turn out to be professional in some way because you are interacting with your professional colleagues. Anyway, I'd be interested to hear others' takes on this. 

See, the social-professional is where I thrive. I have a bit of a reputation for going into conference mode, where I suddenly become incredibly gregarious and social. It's much easier for me to sit down with faculty from other programs (and my own, for that matter) in a social environment, or trade cards, or do whatever networking type stuff I'm supposed to do, because that's just where my pre-school background trained me.

[justanotherlostgrrl]

Yeah--I hear you on the relationships. I do not talk about my age because I do not want to widen that divide, but it is clear that I am much older than your average phd student. I do not get the mentoring requests, though either. To be honest I am not sure where I belong, socially. Which is a problem when you are talking about word of mouth opportunities, recommendations, and other professional opportunities that can boost your career. One thing that has been drummed into me with my program is that we are encouraged--no, expected--to participate in social-professional gatherings. The message is that even those things that can seem just social turn out to be professional in some way because you are interacting with your professional colleagues. Anyway, I'd be interested to hear others' takes on this. 

Don't know where I belong either.  I do feel like I am a little too old for the program I'm in.  The T.A. is 16 years younger than me, and I'm working on projects with people who have 3 years of professional experience.  I can relate to them, but they don't attempt to relate to me.  It would matter if I wasn't in a program with so much group work.

I think people resent that I bring another perspective on things - something a little more experience and nuanced.  I'm a little sad that the program is pretty unstructured in a lot of ways - sometimes I feel like I'm showing up to class and there's little guidance, no written assignments (or very vague, or they expect us to be domain experts and know how to deliver quality work), and my team mates have little experience so I take the lead and just feel like people aren't contributing.... and I'm tired of a lot of it.  I'll stick it out, but go through moments where it's not at all what I had hoped it would be.

 

[Scantronphobia]

Has anyone noticed the younger students in your program doing any of the following?
1. Comparing their work/grades with that of their peers constantly

2. Doing so with the intention of finding out how they stand in relation to everyone else

3. Making more work for other graduate students by organizing study groups, peer review, or other voluntary, non-assessed duties.

4. Drinking before class

If so, please share your experiences and thoughts on these behaviors. Are they normal? So abnormal that I should be concerned? A millennial thing?

[avflinsch]

8 hours ago, Scantronphobia said:

Has anyone noticed the younger students in your program doing any of the following?
1. Comparing their work/grades with that of their peers constantly

2. Doing so with the intention of finding out how they stand in relation to everyone else

3. Making more work for other graduate students by organizing study groups, peer review, or other voluntary, non-assessed duties.

4. Drinking before class

If so, please share your experiences and thoughts on these behaviors. Are they normal? So abnormal that I should be concerned? A millennial thing?

 

1&2 - no

3 - yes

4 - If they did they might lighten up a bit. Some do after class, and it might be fun to go once in a while, but with an hour drive home after a class that ends at 9pm, it would be too much for me.

 

[bhr]

9 hours ago, Scantronphobia said:

Has anyone noticed the younger students in your program doing any of the following?
1. Comparing their work/grades with that of their peers constantly

2. Doing so with the intention of finding out how they stand in relation to everyone else

3. Making more work for other graduate students by organizing study groups, peer review, or other voluntary, non-assessed duties.

4. Drinking before class

If so, please share your experiences and thoughts on these behaviors. Are they normal? So abnormal that I should be concerned? A millennial thing?

Honestly, I think you are being a bit hypercritical (and it's definitely not a problem or a millenial thing). Many programs actively rank students (for competitive funding, fellowships, summer assistantships), so it's no surprise that people try to figure out where they stand. Almost every program ranks their acceptances in some way, and, once people know that, they tend to get a little obsessed in finding out where they stand.

As for the "more work" issue, not only do I not think that any of those things are a problem, but they are good practice that should be encouraged. Collaborative studying, peer review, or other types of study sessions have a documented track record of positive results. Hell, the whole point of cohort admissions is to bring in students with complimentary perspetives to work together. If you don't want to participate, that's fine, but you definitely don't need to be critical of them for it (or care).

FWIW, I rarely socialize with most of my fellow students, cause of the age difference (outside of large events/gatherings), but I do working teas or lunches once a week, either with a senior PhD (to hear about their research/experience) or with one of my cohort mates. Sometimes just sitting in the same place as someone else gets me to settle down and work in a way that sitting in my office or at my desk at home just can't (especially because we've got some great study spaces on campus).

As to #4, I wouldn't care if it didn't directly affect me. Just this week I had a senior faculty member offer to buy me a drink when we went to lunch (knowing I had a class after), and I don't see a problem with someone having a single drink (unless it becomes a problem).

 

TL/DR: Butt out, and don't concern yourself with how other people live their lives.

[justanotherlostgrrl]

On 11/16/2015, 11:36:25, Scantronphobia said:

Has anyone noticed the younger students in your program doing any of the following?
1. Comparing their work/grades with that of their peers constantly

2. Doing so with the intention of finding out how they stand in relation to everyone else

3. Making more work for other graduate students by organizing study groups, peer review, or other voluntary, non-assessed duties.

4. Drinking before class

If so, please share your experiences and thoughts on these behaviors. Are they normal? So abnormal that I should be concerned? A millennial thing?

1. & 2.  I find it happens quite a bit, but only mostly because our professors aren't quite clear on our progress on grades, and also because there are a lot of international students trying to see where they need to improve.

4.  I can see a lot of benefit of organizing study groups etc. -  sometimes collaborative sessions really do help us by talking things through.  I appreciate it when we collaborate and work things out.  There can be a danger though that some of those activities can spin out of control.  I know of one class where a student-led initiative has added extra work (teaching classes above and beyond what's required), and it hasn't been agreed upon by everyone.  It's interesting you see this as a millennial issue - I saw it as just people being very keen, but I do wonder how much of it is an age thing.

4. - thankfully not.  I think we've been a pretty sober bunch, thankfully.  I worry that people will use substances to cope with the stress.

[MarineBluePsy]

On 11/16/2015, 8:36:25, Scantronphobia said:

Has anyone noticed the younger students in your program doing any of the following?
1. Comparing their work/grades with that of their peers constantly

2. Doing so with the intention of finding out how they stand in relation to everyone else

3. Making more work for other graduate students by organizing study groups, peer review, or other voluntary, non-assessed duties.

4. Drinking before class

If so, please share your experiences and thoughts on these behaviors. Are they normal? So abnormal that I should be concerned? A millennial thing?

Thinking of my Master's program I would say....

1 & 2)  Yes, but it wasn't just the younger students.  I thought this was bizarre at first because in undergrad this wasn't the norm for me.  I also tend to be more self motivated and less interested in comparing my performance to others.  I set my own goals and am happy to just keep beating myself and creating additional challenges as needed.  Clearly they were happy working in this manner so I just let them be and did my own thing.

3)  Yes, but again it wasn't just the younger students.  The only time this was a huge problem was when they'd bring this up in class and convince the professor it was a great idea to make it required to do this kind of extra work.  I used my class evaluations to suggest that kind of thing be encouraged, but optional and clearly I wasn't the only one to say so because things changed after my first semester.

4)  No, but there were plenty of happy hours after class and on the weekends that I heard about.  

[Oshawott]

Disclaimer: Not actually an older student, but I like to read about the experiences of them, and tend to frequent these threads often.

On 2015-11-16, 11:36:25, Scantronphobia said:

Has anyone noticed the younger students in your program doing any of the following?

3. Making more work for other graduate students by organizing study groups, peer review, or other voluntary, non-assessed duties.

If so, please share your experiences and thoughts on these behaviors. Are they normal? So abnormal that I should be concerned? A millennial thing?

I have to ask: Why is this an issue?

As for 1&2: Are you talking about new grad students? They're probably not out of their undergrad mindsets yet--none of the senior grad students in my program care about grades.

Edited November 22, 2015 by Oshawott

[avflinsch]

On 11/21/2015, 11:48:02, Oshawott said:

I have to ask: Why is this an issue?

I think the issue with #3 is when the shift subtly goes from 'voluntary, non-assessed' to 'expected'

Look at it this way -
Many of us older students are coming back to school for a possible career change or advancement.
We may have significant responsibilities outside of school - working full time, families, volunteer work, home duties, mortgages etc...

In my case - working full time, school 2/3 time, main support for a family of 5 which includes me, a disabled spouse, a special needs child, and 2 grown children (one of whom is in grad school full time, the other still trying to find his niche in life)

WE DON'T HAVE ANY TIME FOR ADDITIONAL UNEXPECTED STUFF!

sorry for shouting there --

 

[justanotherlostgrrl]

On 11/24/2015, 8:04:56, avflinsch said:

I think the issue with #3 is when the shift subtly goes from 'voluntary, non-assessed' to 'expected'

Look at it this way -
Many of us older students are coming back to school for a possible career change or advancement.
We may have significant responsibilities outside of school - working full time, families, volunteer work, home duties, mortgages etc...

In my case - working full time, school 2/3 time, main support for a family of 5 which includes me, a disabled spouse, a special needs child, and 2 grown children (one of whom is in grad school full time, the other still trying to find his niche in life)

WE DON'T HAVE ANY TIME FOR ADDITIONAL UNEXPECTED STUFF!

sorry for shouting there --

 

It's not shouting at all - it's a completely valid critique.  I have classmates in another class who are dealing with something that started out as 'something you guys can do in your spare time' to 'let's have the class do this class you'll all be teaching for an extra 3 hours every week'.  It can very quickly shift subtly, and we should fight back against it. 

It's one thing to have an optional study group - it's another thing to drag everyone in a class into activities that should be optional.   I resent having to rearrange my schedule for people who are doing things like putting on student events with people who don't make school work their first priority.  So their priorities are the student events and then classes - 'oh, sorry, can't make it for our assignment meeting because we have a deadline for the conference...'   Family commitments or work is one thing - student run events that affect my group's marks are another.  Far too many selfish people putting their extra curricular activities ahead of school work  and we all have to work harder because of it.  I also resent the implication for everyone - students and faculty - that you just need to pull a few all-nighters in a row, and you're expected to be up until 4 am.  Sorry, but sleep is valuable to me, and people who assume 'well just pull an all nighter' annoy the hell out of me.  I want to work hard, but just saying 'don't sleep' is a pathetic answer and an immature coping strategy.

Edited November 28, 2015 by justanotherlostgrrl

[Scantronphobia]

On 11/24/2015, 8:04:56, avflinsch said:

I think the issue with #3 is when the shift subtly goes from 'voluntary, non-assessed' to 'expected'

Look at it this way -
Many of us older students are coming back to school for a possible career change or advancement.
We may have significant responsibilities outside of school - working full time, families, volunteer work, home duties, mortgages etc...

In my case - working full time, school 2/3 time, main support for a family of 5 which includes me, a disabled spouse, a special needs child, and 2 grown children (one of whom is in grad school full time, the other still trying to find his niche in life)

WE DON'T HAVE ANY TIME FOR ADDITIONAL UNEXPECTED STUFF!

sorry for shouting there --

 

Yesss! I totally agree with this, and this is the source of my frustration--the reason I posted #3. I don't, however, have quite the number of responsibilities that you do, though, avflinsch. 

 

On 11/28/2015, 10:38:42, justanotherlostgrrl said:

It's not shouting at all - it's a completely valid critique.  I have classmates in another class who are dealing with something that started out as 'something you guys can do in your spare time' to 'let's have the class do this class you'll all be teaching for an extra 3 hours every week'.  It can very quickly shift subtly, and we should fight back against it. 

It's one thing to have an optional study group - it's another thing to drag everyone in a class into activities that should be optional.   I resent having to rearrange my schedule for people who are doing things like putting on student events with people who don't make school work their first priority.  So their priorities are the student events and then classes - 'oh, sorry, can't make it for our assignment meeting because we have a deadline for the conference...'   Family commitments or work is one thing - student run events that affect my group's marks are another.  Far too many selfish people putting their extra curricular activities ahead of school work  and we all have to work harder because of it.  I also resent the implication for everyone - students and faculty - that you just need to pull a few all-nighters in a row, and you're expected to be up until 4 am.  Sorry, but sleep is valuable to me, and people who assume 'well just pull an all nighter' annoy the hell out of me.  I want to work hard, but just saying 'don't sleep' is a pathetic answer and an immature coping strategy.

Ditto here, justanotherlostgrrl!

And the part about the drinking: I'm not talking about one or two at lunch or social drinking. I'm talking about self-medicating before class, maybe to get through said class. Not going to say anything to anyone about their choices, of course, but just wondering if this practice cuts across campuses and disciplines.

[Crucial BBQ]

Thought I participated in this thread a few times....  now I realize I never actually posted any of my comments...

Well, count me in as one of the older students. 

As for the OP; I am from Sacramento, CA.  To me, it will always be CSUS or simply "Sac", not Sac State.  

[shadowclaw]

I feel like I am in a weird place age-wise. I'm a bit older than the traditional grad student. It took me 10 years to get a B.S. and then I got my M.S. two years later. I'm 30 now and in the first year of my PhD program. Thankfully, there actually are a lot of people here in my age bracket since there seems to be a trend in the wildlife and ecology types of programs at this school for students to get their M.S. first, plus a lot of people took time off between undergrad and grad school. So I don't feel old in comparison to my fellow grad students. However, I feel like this may have been a terrible time to start a PhD. I feel like if I had taken a normal amount of time to get my BS and started a PhD program when I was 24, right now I would be in a career and getting myself financially stable and starting a family. Not that I don't love our furry family, but I do want to have kids at some point. On the flip side of that, if I skipped grad school for a while, I could have started working after undergrad, started the family, and then went back for my M.S. and PhD later like many of you are.

Instead, I'm going to be 34 when I get my PhD, assuming nothing goes awry. There's going to be a small window open for having kids after that, and I worry. I got married about a year and a half ago, and shortly after the wedding, I told my dad that I was applying to PhD programs. He told me my eggs were getting old. That really bothered me, and it's been bothering me more and more lately. I've thought about the possibility of having a kid towards the end of my PhD program, but I don't know how feasible that would be with me in grad school and my husband working full time. If I wasn't 3000 miles away from my parents and siblings, they would help me out. My sister also took a long time to get her B.S. After she got divorced when her daughter was very young, she decided to go to school, and my parents and I played a huge role in helping to raise my niece while my sister got her nursing degree. Considering that my parents are retiring soon and my sister doesn't work anymore, they are in the perfect position to help me. But they're too far away. 

So yeah, I feel like starting a PhD at 30 is awkward, but here I am.

[bhr]

4 hours ago, shadowclaw said:

I feel like I am in a weird place age-wise. I'm a bit older than the traditional grad student. It took me 10 years to get a B.S. and then I got my M.S. two years later. I'm 30 now and in the first year of my PhD program. Thankfully, there actually are a lot of people here in my age bracket since there seems to be a trend in the wildlife and ecology types of programs at this school for students to get their M.S. first, plus a lot of people took time off between undergrad and grad school. So I don't feel old in comparison to my fellow grad students. However, I feel like this may have been a terrible time to start a PhD. I feel like if I had taken a normal amount of time to get my BS and started a PhD program when I was 24, right now I would be in a career and getting myself financially stable and starting a family. Not that I don't love our furry family, but I do want to have kids at some point. On the flip side of that, if I skipped grad school for a while, I could have started working after undergrad, started the family, and then went back for my M.S. and PhD later like many of you are.

Instead, I'm going to be 34 when I get my PhD, assuming nothing goes awry. There's going to be a small window open for having kids after that, and I worry. I got married about a year and a half ago, and shortly after the wedding, I told my dad that I was applying to PhD programs. He told me my eggs were getting old. That really bothered me, and it's been bothering me more and more lately. I've thought about the possibility of having a kid towards the end of my PhD program, but I don't know how feasible that would be with me in grad school and my husband working full time. If I wasn't 3000 miles away from my parents and siblings, they would help me out. My sister also took a long time to get her B.S. After she got divorced when her daughter was very young, she decided to go to school, and my parents and I played a huge role in helping to raise my niece while my sister got her nursing degree. Considering that my parents are retiring soon and my sister doesn't work anymore, they are in the perfect position to help me. But they're too far away. 

So yeah, I feel like starting a PhD at 30 is awkward, but here I am.

Well, I know plenty of people who have had kids while working on their PhDs (paging ProfLorax, for one), including a friend who had two daughters, one during coursework and a second while ABD.

[justanotherlostgrrl]

On 12/5/2015 at 1:48 AM, shadowclaw said:

I feel like I am in a weird place age-wise. I'm a bit older than the traditional grad student. It took me 10 years to get a B.S. and then I got my M.S. two years later. I'm 30 now and in the first year of my PhD program. Thankfully, there actually are a lot of people here in my age bracket since there seems to be a trend in the wildlife and ecology types of programs at this school for students to get their M.S. first, plus a lot of people took time off between undergrad and grad school. So I don't feel old in comparison to my fellow grad students. However, I feel like this may have been a terrible time to start a PhD. I feel like if I had taken a normal amount of time to get my BS and started a PhD program when I was 24, right now I would be in a career and getting myself financially stable and starting a family. Not that I don't love our furry family, but I do want to have kids at some point. On the flip side of that, if I skipped grad school for a while, I could have started working after undergrad, started the family, and then went back for my M.S. and PhD later like many of you are.

Instead, I'm going to be 34 when I get my PhD, assuming nothing goes awry. There's going to be a small window open for having kids after that, and I worry. I got married about a year and a half ago, and shortly after the wedding, I told my dad that I was applying to PhD programs. He told me my eggs were getting old. That really bothered me, and it's been bothering me more and more lately. I've thought about the possibility of having a kid towards the end of my PhD program, but I don't know how feasible that would be with me in grad school and my husband working full time. If I wasn't 3000 miles away from my parents and siblings, they would help me out. My sister also took a long time to get her B.S. After she got divorced when her daughter was very young, she decided to go to school, and my parents and I played a huge role in helping to raise my niece while my sister got her nursing degree. Considering that my parents are retiring soon and my sister doesn't work anymore, they are in the perfect position to help me. But they're too far away. 

So yeah, I feel like starting a PhD at 30 is awkward, but here I am.

Oh boy, can I relate.  I kind of feel like I'm in a super awkward place.  A bunch of us went out to dinner and I'm about 15 years older than everyone I was eating with.  They were shocked, and they couldn't tell - and there's nothing that I could have said to make it less awkward for them.

More than anything I'm frustrated by the lack of thinking by some of the people I've run into who think very simplistically - 'why can't we return to a time before Facebook'.  Really, really bizarrely naive.

 

[Racecarmon]

I would like to say how awesome this thread is and to all of you who have decided to go back to school! I know for some it is an easy decision and a difficult one for others.  I am 29 (but look 18) and have been debating about applying to graduate school for some time.  I have been in college pretty much my whole life which doesn't bother me since I like school.  I switched majors many times while in college (nursing, business management, teaching, radiology, etc).  I finally received my BA in Psychology 1 year ago (took me 2/12 years of part time schooling due to having children).  I know I want to go to graduate school, but the question is for what.  I was dead set on getting a masters in Industrial/organizational psychology and even began applying to school, but then started second guessing that idea.  I have done this a couple of times throughout my years in school.  Although I have my BA, I am still in a receptionist type role.  I have 2 kids (4 and 8 months), work full time, and my only option is to do online schooling.  I wish I could decide what exactly I want to do when I "grow up".  All of you are an inspiration in knowing that you can go back at anytime and finish school at any age.  The thought of trying to figure out what loans to take out for the $40000 it will cost to go back is daunting.  Congratulations to all of you though and I am glad I found this thread!

[bhr]

Many members of my current program (at the MA and PhD level) are full time parents, so it is possible

[justanotherlostgrrl]

On 12/17/2015 at 4:51 PM, Racecarmon said:

I would like to say how awesome this thread is and to all of you who have decided to go back to school! I know for some it is an easy decision and a difficult one for others.  I am 29 (but look 18) and have been debating about applying to graduate school for some time.  I have been in college pretty much my whole life which doesn't bother me since I like school.  I switched majors many times while in college (nursing, business management, teaching, radiology, etc).  I finally received my BA in Psychology 1 year ago (took me 2/12 years of part time schooling due to having children).  I know I want to go to graduate school, but the question is for what.  I was dead set on getting a masters in Industrial/organizational psychology and even began applying to school, but then started second guessing that idea.  I have done this a couple of times throughout my years in school.  Although I have my BA, I am still in a receptionist type role.  I have 2 kids (4 and 8 months), work full time, and my only option is to do online schooling.  I wish I could decide what exactly I want to do when I "grow up".  All of you are an inspiration in knowing that you can go back at anytime and finish school at any age.  The thought of trying to figure out what loans to take out for the $40000 it will cost to go back is daunting.  Congratulations to all of you though and I am glad I found this thread!

Welcome! See if you can speak to people at the programs - they'll try and sell you on the program, but it can't hurt to speak with people.  Don't second guess yourself - ever.  Also think about combining online and real world classes and seeing how flexible your program is.  It's definitely a tough road - going back as an older student hasn't been easy.  I had a professor email me and mention 'as a mature student' and I was sad that I'm the Token Old Fogey - at the same time, though, the experience really can be worth it, and for some fields, like organizational psychology I would imagine it's really a classroom thing to be able to study it well.  The loans are daunting, but at a certain point go for it and believe in yourself.  What made you second guess the degree you're interested in? Is it the topic, or believing in yourself? Because you can do it.  Have faith you can, and you will.

Edited January 2, 2016 by justanotherlostgrrl

[NavyMom]

On 12/4/2015 at 10:29 AM, Crucial BBQ said:

Thought I participated in this thread a few times....  now I realize I never actually posted any of my comments...

Well, count me in as one of the older students. 

As for the OP; I am from Sacramento, CA.  To me, it will always be CSUS or simply "Sac", not Sac State.  

I am not originally from Sacramento.  I am from Florida... only been here 6 years, so it's always been Sac State to me because they refer to themselves as such. 

Edited January 11, 2016 by NavyMom

[emmm]

I guess I have to chime in here on this thread. I am re-starting again (applied to biology PhD programs a number of years ago, got in, leaving this year with a master's). I never quite fit in -- not because the program wasn't accepting, but because I think I still needed to discover where I did actually fit. So I reapplied in a different field (CS) and couldn't be happier or more excited to start. In the past 4 years, I've taken a number of CS classes, so I am familiar with the program and know some of the faculty. I learned a lot over the past several years and feel that I have finally found my niche -- in my late 40s.

[radhikapc]

Hi All,

I am 35 and a mother. I have applied to the MS program in HCI at CMU and am awaiting for the result. Do you think age is a negative factor in getting an admit ? I have around 12 years experience in Technical Writing. I scored a 317 in GRE.

What is the possibility of getting an admit at CMU ?

 

Thank you

 

[sjoh197]

I am only 22, but my mother (almost 41) and I are applying to do PhD work at the same time. (Totally different fields... and she is a professor. already, so she doesn't really have to "apply" apply) But she does have to go back and take regular college calculus first and I keep getting questions from her lol. My brother is still in high school and is on the football team, so she is definitely feeling the semi-struggle of taking classes and still having to parent and drive him to all his practices.