Age for grad school

Can I be too old for grad school? I'll be 28 this month. I'm a chemist and thinking of applying for my Ph.D. I worked for industry as an analyst out of school.

Would I be too old to still be a grad student and do all the chores as an RA/TA or whatever?

No. Now imagine you manage to hit 100. Imagine life expectancy can be increased within your lifetime by a few decades.What else are you going to do with your life?

Sounds like a great question to ask your school. Who's your PhD supervisor going to be?

Idk. I literally just thought of going back today.

Honestly grad school is better for older learners anyways. Just remember grad school is about doing your own research. You come up with your own ideas, investigate your own theories, formulate personal criticisms of existing new research. This is best accommodated by a mature mindset (although it also requires a bit of naivete so as not to be too discouraged at the start).

As a grad student you are closer to what your mentors (the professors) are doing. The closer in age you are to them, I believe makes you feel a closer bond with them. You'll have more in common.

Anyways enough of the bullshit, I've currently returned to school to do med school pre-reqs and I'm 29. I did a grad degree in a social science right out of undergrad and have spent a few years working. There's a lot of older, non-traditional students in universities nowadays (more state schools I imagine than expensive private unis).

You're not too old. A couple of the folks in my microbiology program got started in their 30s. A lot of graduate programs seem to be more interested in more experienced applicants.

Make sure that grad school is what you really want. There's a whole lot of embracing the suck.

>Just remember grad school is about doing your own research. You come up with your own ideas, investigate your own theories,
lol

You have to ask yourself what a phd will do for you.

At this point you have a nice industry job. Something most phds never get.

Are you willing to make at most 25k while in school and then at most 40k while you do 2-3 postdocs? then maybe get a shit job somewhere?

If your already making bank stay the fuck away from grad school.

OK. Thanks. That's encouraging.

>If your already making bank stay the fuck away from grad school.

I'm not so it's not a hard choice for me. I do analysis for mainly water samples but I've pretty much reached the end of the line for my company, promotion-wise.

It was fun and I learned a lot of things. I did a lot of growing up, I think but now I'm ready to move on to research.

i know people that age or greater in good phd programs

Who to believe, the person who is clearly knowledgeable about grad school, or the one word reply? Hmm...

If you want advice regarding college/university or your career path, go to /adv/ - Advice.

>At this point you have a nice industry job. Something most phds never get.

I see we're just blatantly making shit up again.

In my experience the younger reseachers are usually given the TAships though people usually want it for the extra money+experience your the first person I met who seems to think it's a chore forced on to you.

>RA
A PhD candidate by definition is not a RA.

8113913
Too old? Obviously not, there are people in their 50s who are doing their PhDs (though usually at non-academic labs in collaborative projects). You might be late if you wanted an academic career unless you have some high impact publications out already. It might be a good career move, but really depends where/what you do your PhD /on and how good the department's/your network is since the job market for Chemistry PhDs is really shot at the moment.

>Maturity only comes with age
Maybe if you're 12.

I'm sure you'll do great. On the other end of things, I'm 20 and will be going into grad school. This has me nervous.

thats the age most people finish their 4 year bachelor's degrees in my country , and my relativity professor only started his at like 25.

anyways who gives a shit , you wanna go to grad school go to grad school.

>A PhD candidate by definition is not a RA.
You can be both.

Source: I am both. I'm a full-time Research Assistant and a part-time PhD student.

The nice thing is that even though the PhD is "part-time" I can still finish it in three years, mostly because the bulk of the work I do in my RA job overlaps with my thesis. Most of the added work is in writing-up and committee-pleasing. Plus Research Assistant salaries are much better than PhD studentships and people tend to treat you like a postdoc instead of a student.

CAVEATS: I've had an MSc and a few papers out before I started and the Research Assistantship (itself extraordinarily long - 42 months on a big project) that made it all possible was quite hard to get, with proper postdocs in the running for the position.

I'm in the UK so the situation may be different in other countries.

Dumb question probably, but for older students who finished their undergrad a while ago, do they go back to professors for letters? Or employer? Or someone else?

>A PhD candidate by definition is not a RA.
How's that work? I know a lot of later year students in my program have RAs and coming in they talked about how RAs could be obtained in place of TAs.

>mfw 20 next year
>mfw still waiting on my mech program
How much of a retard am I, Veeky Forums?

So just found out I have a pretty good chance at getting a phd spot. Any other phds here? any tips on how to not be a shitter?

Pretty fucking retarded.

Take your pedophile cartoons back to .