Ephiphiny, there are plenty of science PhD students who are older, too - I know a number of them. If you are in science, have you thought about applying for a 4-year program, which has either an MSc or laboratory rotations incorporated into the first year? This might be an ideal way for you to refresh/update your knowledge and explore potential areas for research.

Just a suggestion - you say you are sure of what you want to do so maybe you wouldn't be keen on this?

You aren't too old but you may have to take sideways step to achieve what you want to do.  I have just started my PhD (my proposal went to the university research committee this afternoon) and I am 44. I did my BA in Economics straight form school, then qualified as an accountant whiel working.  At 29 I decided to do an MA in American Studies for fun part time (at Birkbeck in the evenings while working full time). I had my son three weeks after handing in my dissertation.  At 38 I had the opportunity to take redundancy and so went back to uni to do an MSc in Tourism Management after which I started hourly lecturing before getting a permanent job. It has taken me a few years to decide on a subject area for my PhD, and as I am doing it part-time I have set a target of completing it before i am 50.  You aren't too old but it may be harder to just apply and get a position (I tried to get research assistant jobs and was not even short listed as I was not in academia).
Can you get a foot in a door at the university? Doing my MSc got me some contacts which resulted in a job - a guy on teh course who was in hs 50s did a similar thing.
Good Luck

I have tried applying for research assistant postions as well but have never got an interview which is why I have gone to directly applying for PhD projects.

This does seem to be a lot harder to do the longer you are out of education. Also I now have a job and mortgage to manage whilst trying to even get an interview for a PhD nevermind actually get accepted on one!!!!!

:-)

Yes I considered RA positions as well, but it does seem very difficult to get into once you're outside academia and not doing relevant work, especially if you don't already have a PhD/Masters.

The four year PhDs or integrated Masters+Phd are a good idea for people in our situation, I agree - thank you to whoever suggested that. I've applied for a couple of those. Otherwise I might just have to go for the MSc/MRes on its own and hope that gets me somewhere next time around.

I was thinking a little more about the difficulties of being an older applicant - it occurs to me that a major one is that we're usually less flexible in terms of being able to move around the country (or beyond) in search of a suitable place. All very well when you're 21 and single, but if you're a little older, with a mortgage and a partner with a job who you can't very well ask to abandon his career prospects and trail after you...it's harder. We don't have any children (yet - that's a whole other issue when it comes to me going back to academia) which makes things a little easier I guess, but still I can't easily just pick up and move to another city.

I'm also a bit surprised at how hard it seems to be to get a PhD now, and how incredibly competitive it is. I've known so many people in the past who've just strolled into one after their undergrad (with often only a 2:1) and it was a really simple, informal process. I had the impression that it was pretty much the case that if you wanted to do a PhD, and you had a reasonable academic background, e.g. 2:1, you would get to do one. Now it seems at least as hard as getting a prestigious graduate job in industry (which to be fair I did manage to do successfully :)) - the recruitment process isn't just an informal chat with the potential supervisor, it's full recruitment days with presentations and several panel and supervisor interviews, and for every studentship you're competing against a significant number of other applicants for the funding - and almost everyone is well-qualified, so you have to really stand out to get it. Has it got harder, or did I just not realise how difficult it's always been?

I know this thread is quite old now, but I saw the title and it made me remember: there was a 75-year-old lady in one of my undergraduate classes in the science department! Think she did a BSc. in Environmental Science.

Something to think about.

I sincerely hope 75 isn't too old to start a PhD.

In 2010, aged 70, I returned to uni part-time (I still work full time as a freelance linguist) to take a Graduate Certificate in History of Art and Architecture, which would serve as a conversion course which, if passed at a suitable level, would enable me to enrol on a part-time MA. I still work full-time as a freelance linguist, a profession in which people continue to thrive well into their 80s and beyond.

Having enjoyed the Grad Cert course far more than my first degree (started at 36 and completed at 39) I did well and today received an unconditional offer and will be starting the MA this autumn at age 72. I suppose I am lucky to be studying at Birkbeck where they are well accustomed to (very) mature under- and post-grads and, apart from on application forms, age has never been mentioned. All being well, I would love to go and do to a PhD, by which time I would be 74. I'm not sure how the powers that be at Birkbeck would regard such an application, but I sense that it would be treated on its merits and I wouldn't be turned down merely on grounds of age.

JillW. I think there are definately advantages in doing a PhD as a more mature student. Us oldies tend to have a better appreciation of time, more stamina over longer projects and a better understanding of our personal strengths and weaknesses. I am having lots of fun in my studies -much more so than when I did my undergraduate degree 30 years ago.

I would not have had the confidence to take it on had I not done well with a MSc first though.

JillW. I think there are definately advantages in doing a PhD as a more mature student. Us oldies tend to have a better appreciation of time, more stamina over longer projects and a better understanding of our personal strengths and weaknesses. I am having lots of fun in my studies -much more so than when I did my undergraduate degree 30 years ago.

I would not have had the confidence to take it on had I not done well with a MSc first though.

Hi Lugna,

Thank you for your kind words. I should point out that I was not always dedicated to study. I was a sixth-form drop-out and. having had enough of hearing my parents use the excuse "you are only a schoolgirl" as a reason for barring me from perfectly innocent activities (no sex and drugs and rock-'n'-roll - that came later!) and of the snobbish, elitist attitudes of my (admittedly very good) girls' grammar school, I went and got myself a job at Foyles, the famous bookshop on Charing Cross Road.

I think it's much more fun to study when you are getting on a bit, there's less pressure, no one asks you what you are going to do with your BA.BSc, MA or whatever.  It doesn't matter a damn - it's certainly a better alternative than tottering down to the day centre for a nice game of bingo and a singalong to Vera Lynn, that some people believe to be approriate activities. for people of my cohort.

JillW,

Assuming you did your undergraduate degree at the normal 18 years of age and emerged when you were 21 / 22, that would make you 30/31 now.

That's how old I was when I started my PhD. I feel going back as an older candidate helped me approach the PhD in a far more mature manner. I got through quite a long time back with only minor corrections.

If I'd gone in at the youngest I could (23 / 24), I don't know if I'd been mature enough to handle the pressures a PhD puts upon you.

For general help on this, take a look at my blog.

http://www.wearthesis.talktalk.net

All the best,

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)

======= Date Modified 31 Jan 2012 16:02:53 =======
(pssst - guys, JillW's query was posted two years ago)

Welcome to the forum hermajtomomi. :)

Thanks for the welcome, hazyjane. This looks like a useful place to be.:-)

Hi everyone,
For anyone who is still interested, I successfully completed my Graduate Certificate in History of Art in 2011. Then I took a "gap year" , doing my day job, mugging up on my German and travelling to the USA. A Merit in the Grad Cert gave me automatic admission to the MA which I'm now doing part-time over two years. I'm about a third of the way through. It's good fun and not quite as scary as I feared, although there's a lot to do. All being well, I'll be 74 on completion and, because of the way things operate at the Uni of London, 75 when it comes to the graduation ceremony. So my message is to anyone of any age, give it a go! That is of course if you are able to find the ridiculously high fees. Fortunately, post grad fees for London are just about doable if, like me, you are working full time. Not sure now about a PhD, I might start over by doing a first degree in something completely new - again if I can find the dosh.