Age matter in admissions for PhD?

[Ageless]

BSME, University of Kansas, 1979, GPA 3.02

MBA, Webster University, 1983, GPA 3.5

No GRE yet, but I can nail it (with study).

Tons of engineering experience: Navy, nuclear, electronics, NASA, infotech...

57 years young.

Want to integrate research across disciplines to solve some big problems, like fresh water to world regions that lack it.

Considering PhD Mechanical Eng.

Does age matter to the schools, professors, admissions? Any suggestions?

All advice highly valued. Thank you,

Ageless

[Jordan+AirForce1]

I do not know if there is any impact of the applicant's age on the PhD admission, but I do really think it's commendable for someone your age to want to go back to school for (I'm guessing) your desire to research.

Can I ask you a question though? You obviously graduated from college a long time ago, and even got the MBA degree. May I ask what you have been doing since you obtained your MBA, and the reason why you seek to go for the PhD at this stage?

If you would rather send me a PM, it's OK, and if you don't want to answer, that's fine too.

[Ageless]

Thanks for asking. I've been doing mostly engineering: built nuclear submarines for the Navy, operated the reactor plant in subs, integrated payloads for the Shuttle and Space Station in NASA, design and test satellite systems, especially power generation and distribution, some small aircraft research, about a year of superfund site environmental remediation, LOTS of computer hardware and networking, some telecom voice recognition hardware/systems work, taught some tech courses at Johns Hopkins, etc. I was self-employed through about half of that time. Now, I'm ready to move to more intense projects, especially where I can integrate research across disciplines to solve problems.

I have a long list of reasons for pursuing a new Ph.D. The chief reasons, I think, is that it will update my knowledge and lend some credibility to future endeavors. It should segue into research and application opportunities. And, a strong secondary reason is because I wasn't focused very well on college the first couple of times. Now, I can be totally dedicated.

Thanks, again.