
Ask HN: Is 34 too old to start grad school? - terrykohla
I'm 34 y/o and considering going back to school for masters and ideally phD. I've been wanting to do this forever but didn't have the money. Now I'm financially healthy enough to take the hit of becoming a full time student again.<p>Field would be Math/Economics
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handsomeransoms
Jim Kent famously wrote GigAssembler, the breakthrough program that allowed
the publicly funded Human Genome Project to successfully assemble the full
human genome just 1 day ahead of their corporate competitor Celera, in 2000
while pursuing his PhD in Biology at USC Santa Cruz. He was 40 years old at
the time. Without his incredible programming effort, it is very likely that
Celera would have attempted to make the human genome data proprietary, and we
would be looking at a dramatically different landscape in genetics and
medicine today.

I am putting off grad school indefinitely, and this story always inspires me
that I should go back one day when I'm ready.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Kent> [2]
[http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/13/science/reading-the-
book-o...](http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/13/science/reading-the-book-of-life-
grad-student-becomes-gene-effort-s-unlikely-hero.html)

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hoffsam
2 questions:

1) Why wouldn't you go to grad school now?

2) In 30 years, would you regret taking a break in your career for a few
years, or would you regret not going?

IMHO, it all depends on your goals really. It doesn't matter if you are
unemployed, working at a restaurant, an engineer, or a millionaire CEO, the
sun still rises each day and it is up to you to build the experiences,
relationships, and, ultimately, memories that will make you the happiest you
can be.

~~~
der3k
#2. This. Would you regret not going? If so, go. Now.

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throwaway1979
I have to warn you ... be very very careful about your expectations when it
comes to getting a PhD. It defies logic when one considers the simultaneous
push to graduate more PhD students when there are very very few faculty jobs
available. Are you okay if you get a PhD but then never get a chance to use it
in your work? Think hard about this ...

Doing it when you are older doesn't stack the deck against you in my opinion.
I've known a few older PhD students in CS and I think they have some
advantages over the under-30 bunch. Specifically, I've heard of some under 30
PhDs sometimes being said to "look" non-professorial. I guess some people
expect professors and researchers to look a certain way (I think those people
are idiots btw).

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kghose
The only criterion is if you want this. Age does not matter. You will be in
classes/labs with much younger people. If you don't care about that (or if you
like that) then go for it.

What field are you considering?

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dtopalovic
No, it's never too late. If you are motivated and hungry for knowledge, that
is. I started my undergrad comp-sci degree at 26 and it changed my life
completely. If you don't do it, assuming you wanted it forever, you will be
regretting it forever.

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bossfo
Not too late. My only advice would be to have a very clear (and realistic)
vision of what you want to do with it while, at the same time, being open to
opportunities that you're not presently aware of.

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squozzer
If you want to do something where such a degree is an entrance criterion, then
sure.

If you want to hang out at the uni and the topic interests you, then why not?

Otherwise, I'd suggest self-study.

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jamesjguthrie
No, age doesn't matter. We have a few guys in their late 40's doing their
PHD's and teaching some engineering classes at our Uni.

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PeterWhittaker
Geez, I hope not: If my current plans work out, I'll be 50 when I start.

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hwestmoreland
No.

