
Ask HN: Is 25 too old for Masters? - throwawayms
Hi HNers,<p>I am 23 yr old indian CS under grad working in Finland. I have plans to do MS(in NLP/ML) in one of the top universities in US this fall. However, I got an opportunity to work in a company in text analytics field last fall. I am really enjoying the work and all the new technologies I am learning in process. The team and work environment is great and they even requested me to extend my stay here. My only gripe is that if I stay for 1 more year, I will start my MS at the age of 25 and I may have plans for Phd, even it will be postponed.<p>I have thought a lot about it and deep down I want to stay for one more year and enjoy the work, learn more awesome things, experience finland and of course visit a lot of places in Europe but, on the other hand, I am a bit worried that I may be too old for MS.<p>I don't even know if it is a valid fear. So, I am asking the learned ones of HN to help me out if my fear is really valid? Does completing Masters as early as possible give me an advantage?<p>Thanks for your time.
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AN447
No its not too late far from it.

I finished grad school in 2010 (I'm 23 y/o) and most of my classmates were
25-38 range. Grad school really is alot better for mature students far far
better. I felt I learnt alot more not from the subject matter/university but
from the peers I was around who were all very mature even at my age.

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msluyter
I think it might depend on whether you're aiming for a career in academia,
where there's a certain amount of (de facto, not necessarily conscious) age
discrimination.

If not, I doubt it matters, but either way, 2 yrs seems fairly trivial. I
finished my master's around 30, and I'm doing fine (in a non-academic job).

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aDemoUzer
There is no age limitation for education. You can do Bachelors when you are in
50s... so doing MS in your 20s is fine. From what I have seen, at my college,
most people are in the range of 23-35 doing their MS (I am 23, myself), so you
would be comparably young @ 25.

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haribilalic
I know plenty of professionals who started their master's anywhere from 3 to 5
years after finishing their bachelor's. There are some programmes, including
many MBAs, that require this.

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rcfox
It's never too late to start a new degree.
[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/100-year-
ol...](http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/100-year-old-freedom-
fighter-pursues-PhD/articleshow/6764127.cms)

