If you get in next year, how old will you be when you start your PhD?

[kyjin]

I'll be 23 if I start Fall 2011. (Just a year off between undergrad and grad studies.)

[evolve]

I will have just turned 23 before the Fall semester begins. It took 4.5 years to finish undergrad--because I decided I wanted to add a second major, and then a minor--but it was fun . After graduating in December I just kept working in my undergrad. lab, awaiting the beginning of grad school. After reading this post, I feel like a baby! haha

[Lizzla]

I will have just turned 23 before the Fall semester begins. It took 4.5 years to finish undergrad--because I decided I wanted to add a second major, and then a minor--but it was fun

Don't worry--I'm a baby too! I'm on the four and a half year plan because I double-majored with a minor and studied abroad for a year. SO worth it. I'm graduating this December, working (knock on wood) for a few months, and starting grad school within a week or two of my 23rd birthday.

[njw]

I'll be 31/32... 29 now. Not sure if doing PhD or not but doing a terminal masters now because I have been out of school for a decade as well as completely different field. Depends if/where I get funded after the MA, and how the experience is. I am older so I am probably more discerning about future outcomes than others (i.e. where me and my partner would like to live if accepted, and where I might get an academic placing afterwards) If I do not get good funding, there is always the possibility for me of the mountain of debt which is Law School, but it will be better than what I have been doing toiling and job hopping in Corporate America while traveling the past 8 years I also do freelance work now on the side, and while the money is OK, it isn't exactly fulfilling..I will see where it takes me, and it is great to be back in school. Good to see some older folks in here as well... That is definitely one of my worries going back. I guess we took different life paths. I was done in my mind with school when I was 21 and wanted to get out of where I was, kind of funny how things come back around full circle.

Edited July 20, 2010 by njw

[Shiryatsya]

Im starting my PhD at age 20. I ... "left" high school a year early and plowed my way through undergrad.

[booktobook]

I'll be 24 and very shortly thereafter 25 if I get in in 2012 (I'm not applying this year). I have kind of a complicated story. I graduated a year early from high school and had a BA in English by 19. I moved to a new city and started a Masters in Book Publishing that fall. I finished that program in 18 months at the age of 21. That summer I married a wonderfully supportive man, but even that was part of this drive to move, move, move toward some "goal" though I couldn't quite wrap my head around what that goal was exactly. My laid back husband is 27 and still has two more years before he finishes his BS in Civil Engineering. I took a job in a field completely unrelated to my many years of education and have been forced to slow myself down while he accomplishes his goals. I've spent the last 18 months learning to be happy with what I have. I have a wonderful marriage, live in a great town, love my friends, got myself a little dog to spend time with while my husband works crazy hours between his retail job and school. I've had time to just breathe and live... and think. During that time I've come to realize that my true love is academia. My intended area of study was definitely informed by all of the marketing classes I had to take in my publishing program. I've come to terms with the fact that none of my education was a waste of time or money. I am thankful that I know I have a year plus to put together a stellar applications that can only improve my chances of getting in to a good school with a program that suits my interests (Contemporary Women's Literature). My husband is extremely supportive of my decision to pursue a PhD. He's not terribly ambitious in the "I define myself by my career" sense of the word and luckily is going into a field where as long as we're near a relatively big city, he should be able to find a decent job.

So even though I'll have been out of school for over three years, and out of my field of study for over five, I feel really good about my decision to go back at 24. I don't think that, personally, I was anywhere near ready to pursue a more academically inclined program right out of undergrad. I just hope that my schools look at my experience the same way

(Also I'm not totally sure why I just shared all that with a bunch of strangers, but it feels rather cathartic to type it all out.)

[Strangefox]

Which reminds me of the saying, whether you think you can or think you can't, you're probably right.

So true! It's the wisest saying I have heard in a long time!

I'll be 27 in fall 2011. But I already have one PhD - from my home country, not from an American university, though.

[katerific]

I'll be 22.Still a whippersnapper.

[starmaker]

If I get in somewhere for fall 2012, I'll be 27 when I start.

I got my bachelor's at 22, went to work in industry, have been getting my master's part-time while working and building my credentials. In addition to boosting my GPA, understanding of my own research interests, resume, and CV, this approach has done wonders for my bank account.

[newms]

I'll be 29. I finished my undergraduate at 20 and looking back, I probably wasn't ready then to do my PhD. It's taken longer than I wanted to go back to school and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't take any longer!

[Ludwig von Dracula]

28. I did a 5-year teaching degree, taught high school for two years to get out of debt, got married and bought a house and got into enormous debt, and went back for my 2-year M.A.

[Zouzax]

if i get in for Fall 2011, Ill be 28. Got my bachelors at 21, got a business postbacc at 22, worked full-time for 3 years (not in a relevant field, what a shame), started my Masters at 26... hopefully will be done this summer!

i completely agree with other posters who stated they would have NO idea what study if they went for their Ph.D at a young age. When i first entered college, I wanted to be a neuroscientist. Then i switched to psychologist. (left with a psych degree). then i switched to business, & wanted my MBA (even took the GMAT --got a halfway decent score --), then thought about law (studied for the LSAT). Then i was convinced I wanted to be a doctor (didn't last long). Wasn't until my mid-20s that I seriously sat down, thought about what I wanted, did some research & applied for/entered a graduate program. Who knows what kind of Ph.D I'd have right now if I had applied when I was younger!

Edited December 19, 2010 by Zouzax

[shepardn7]

If I get in, I'll be starting at 27. I already have a master's degree.

[Golden Monkey]

44. Tried to go to grad school at 22, tried again in my late 20s. Finally went to a master's program at 40.

[Alyanumbers]

22; I'm applying straight out of undergrad.

[drumms9980]

25. Worked in industry for 3 years (well 2.5 as of now)

[cogscipixie]

I will have just turned 25. I've been working as full-time research staff at a university learning research center which was the best preparation for opening me up to more cross-disciplinary studies in the learning sciences. I could not have had the same experiences had I jumped directly into a PhD from undergrad when I was turning 23. I feel much more prepared now.

[eklavya]

i'll have barely turned 25 as well. because i have a masters, i plan to get done with my phd within 3-3.5 years.

[Hicks]

I'll be 38. I already have two masters including an MFA. I've been teaching the last four years at a small liberal arts college but have gotten more interested in art history and want to also transition to more significant institutions.

[TheDude]

24

[Bukharan]

If I get in and start in Fall 2011, I will be 23.

[EricaMarie]

I'll be 26. I started my undergrad at UConn and wasted two years doing something I didn't want to do. Ended up at my current university to finish my undergrad, which took four years.

When I graduated in May 2008, I wasn't ready for a Ph.D. program, so I stayed at my current university for a masters in history.

Three (grueling!) years later, I'm ready to graduate and move on with my education so I can join the wonderful world of academia!

[rmcclymo]

If I get in to a program starting in the fall of 2011, I will be 33 years young.

Started my current academic track (History) at age 27, earned a BA at age 30, and should have my MA by 32 :-)

In a previous life, I received my BSc in Marine Engineering and worked on ships for several years.

[Designated]

I'm 25 now. If I get in and start school next Fall semester, I'll be 26.

At first, I felt old and kinda wished I had started earlier, but looking at my other friends who went straight to grad school after graduating from undergrad at age 22, I feel that I'm more mature, focused, and committed than my friends were when they entered grad school. My friends went to grad school for the wrong reasons and many applied to only one program at the very last minute and ended up unhappy with their program and are now in debt. I thought about it for the past 3 years and I am more confident about my abilities and what I want out of grad school. Plus, I have time to apply to top programs and fellowships so I won't be in dept like my other friends.

[natsteel]

I'm applying straight out of undergrad... however, I didn't start my undergrad until I was 32. So I'm graduating this spring at 35 and will be 36 when I start grad school in the fall. Seeing all these people in the early-to-mid 20s would make me jealous if I could've done it at that age. However, like a number of the older students, I would not have been able to do the level of work then that I do now. Besides, I've met a number of professors in the CUNY system and beyond that got their PhDs late and ended up with tenure-track jobs...