Hi there, Just wanted to say - a little word of warning - from my own experience and based on my current situation. I had a top job and 10 years working in my profession. I got a sponsorship from a company I worked with to do research into my highly specialist area. I went in with the expectation that I was to be studying something I was interested in and that my real world experience would be welcomed (it could bring something new to the table and I was willing to learn new things and for interesting debates) but instead of that whatever experience I had was devalued and instead of meeting supervisors that were interested in my research I met supervisors that spent most of the time devaluing whatever existing experience and knowledge I had even though they had limited knowledge of my field. Some might think it was because I was no good but I have an MSc with distinction in my specialism from a red brick uni and a 2.1 in it aswell at undergrad level. I have personally been badly bruised by my experience as they made me feel worthless. Working in business was easy - being a phd student in a department where there are no black and white rules about anything - and no set ways of doing most things; and being frowned upon for my existing experience was really awful. My experience has put me off academia for life - I want to try and get as far as I can now and then go back to my profession where I was treated with respect and valued and not talked down to. As someone in their mid thirties formerly in management I didn't appreciate being talked to like I was a 20 yr old undergrad. If I were you I would seriosuly think carefully if you already have a good job - and also make damn sure you look into finding somewhere that have people that know you work - the department I am in do not have anyone who knows my field and that doesn't help.

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LoobieLoo, I agree with you in every word.

I've started my PhD at 31, having a B.Sc and M.Sc behind my belt. Aftter an M.Sc I got a job and felt pretty good about myself untill two years have gone by and I realized that with an M.Sc I can only get this far. I could probably live with that but I've noticed that ideas were often adapted by my PhD collegues. And when trying to stand for myself, abd was politely reminded that I was nothing but a glorified technician. This led me to a decision of going into a PhD. Having the education and experience I expected that back in school I will be treated with at least some level of respect. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. I was treated like any other 20 years old kids, being talked down to etc. It was hard to take, but my determination was strong. The rest of my story is in my post "hard work, no credit".

But as an answer to the "PhD later in life" I would definately not recommend going back into a PhD program being over 30 with an M.Sc, years of work experience, and some self confidence. And if you have kids, man that it's unbelievably hard (I have two mysefl), my wife said to me when I finished: I am glad it's over, my husband's back.

It would be like giving up the executive position to become an office assistant, for 4 years at least.

I have to say I didn't find the drop in status that hard at all. I almost never referred to my previous professional experience - I automatically assumed that it would be seen as irrelavant (although in fact it did come in useful). There were occaisions where I did not care for the tone of voice addressing me - makes you realise how young people are automatically patronised and talked to disrespectfully. But it was not a big issue at all.

The lack of MONEY has been a major issue though and I feel it most keenly now I have just submitted as I'm very unsure about getting a job now, especially as I am unable to move due to my husband's job and daughter starting school.

Well, I am 31 and I am in my first year of a part time PhD!!! I don't think that I am too old!!!!!!8-)
As far as work is concerned ... I am a full time teacher in Greece. How do I do it? I have taken a year's leave (paid) from my job, so I can attend my meetings with my supervisors and I hope that I will get a second year off!
I guess my situation is a little different, as I didn't have to give up my career. But if I couldn't do it this way, I believe that I would have given up my job, as my PhD is something I always wanted....
Good luck;-)

I'm 38 and have two small troublesome children. I have a bachelor's degree from when I was 23 and I'm hoping to start a PhD part time soon.

Status - not such a big deal. In your 30's you're doing a PhD becuase you want to do it. Status was more of an issue for me 10 years ago I think.

I'm hoping to keep working full time during the PhD so the financial side isn't such a consideration right now. I'm currently working in an academic type position anyway so I hope that I can combine both work and PhD together!

Good luck all,

Whitey

Whitey, I don't know what field you're in but in my field (biochemistry) doing a PhD part time and working full time wouldn't be possible.
It took me 4.5 yeras to do a PhD full time (and that's the average) according to math part time PhD would take me 9 years!!
Regardless of the field, you're going to be a very busy person, good luck!

I agree Gawel - it seems to vary a lot, but there is no way I could have worked while doing my PhD (apart from a littel dept teaching) - there just aren't enough hours in the day.

Hi Gawel and Smilodion,

Although I'm meant to know this sort of stuff, I really have no idea exactly how much time committment I'm talking about to do a PhD. I read on here 10-15 hours part time per week. That sounds like a lot to me (small children being a particular problem!). I suppose it depends where the 10-15 hours comes from. I'm not in a position to ignore the family for 5+ years, so I accept it's going to be interesting...

I've spent the last couple months disentangling myself from other professional commitments (committees etc) so I can focus on the academic side of life for a while.

My proposed field is (medical) education. I'm doing some work in the field anyway, so I'm hoping for synergy between my day job and my PhD life. I love my job and don't really consider it work, and am hoping that the PhD will bascially be a spur to do what I should be doing anyway - learning about my field thorugh reading journals and studying the effectiveness of the teaching I do through research.

So I've got this idea in my head of a PhD actually being (kind of) fun, which obviously doesn't match with everything I read on this board! I may just be completely deluded, but I'm hoping that if you can find a PhD topic that you genuinely enjoy reading about then it might not be too much like work - at least some of the time :)

If your job can feed your PhD then that is a better situation. 10-15 hours/week even for pert-time sounds a minimum to me. I went unofficially part-time which meant doing 15-20 hours/week for one year then 25-35/hours/week for another 18 months. But some projects just taker longer than others -and perhaps you can plan for that and not risk a project that might easily need more time.

It also depends how good your are at working nights. I am just too old and decrepid for too much of that so i could not work FT and do a PhD even PT. I guess you have to know your own limits and I know my stamina can be limited if I stat burning the candle at both ends. After all - little kids don't lie in in the morning....

I'm interested in the replies from Hydi and LoobieLoo. I'm in a similar situation in that I'm leaving a 9 year professional career in engineering to take a science PhD.

Has anyone made a positive transition from highly successful career to PhD? My motivations are mainly personal interest, I'm very interested in the PhD subject and no longer very interested in my career subject area. My career is also unavoidably becoming more about management and less about engineering/research.

There is limited overlap between my professional career in PhD subject so I'm not expected to bring much relevant industrial experience to the area. Just strong quantitative, analytical skills and a professional attitude!

I am in the same situation. I have also found the transition difficult. I will be successful I think in terms of completing.

I think you need to bear in mind that you might find the culture a lot different, you will not be valued in the same way, and you will be treated as a 'student'. It can be hard to just accept certain ways of doing things which are counter to your own views of good practice.

I also started a PhD out of personal interest, but felt pressured to conform to established methods, theories etc. I stuck to my guns, but it didn't make me popular. Universities want you to complete and want you to conform and this can be annoying if it doesn't match with what you want.

Research it well before you start!

It all depends on the people and the situation. I had a career for 10 years prior to leaving to do my PhD. I don't get treated like I'm the greatest, as in a research environment I'm not and wouldn't expect to be treated as such, but I do get treated with respect. I don't get treated like a student, I get treated perhaps like a junior member of staff (although they don't distinguish much). I can join in staff stuff, or not as suits what I want to get out of it really. They do seem to have the impression I am much younger than I am, which is fine as it makes me feel young. :)

But, the unavoidable for me is that it's massively different to the more tangible work environment. So I think it would be easy to develop crises of status, purpose etc. And that would make it easy to feel that you are not respected.

I think a key difference for me is that I am pretty much the only PhD in my section, so it would be difficult to isolate me without totally isolating me. So I don't sit in some PhD area, I don't have other PhDs to hang around with, therefore I don't get lumped in with the other PhDs. So they pretty much have to treat me like staff, or totally isolate me.