I’m a senior at a top-20 college in the US, GPA 3.72, International Relations major with honors. I want to go right to grad school for (optimally) a dual degree in International Affairs and Public Policy. I’m also looking at dual MA International Affairs/ JD programs. I’m taking the LSAT and the GRE next month, shooting for 160s in both.
Basically, I think I have a strong application but for my age. I’ll be 19 when I enter grad school, should I get in. Some of my profs think I should take a year off to intern or research, but I would have to wait until spring to apply to internships and miss my window to apply to grad school. Plus, I don’t want to spend a year in limbo, on my own,when I really want to be learning. Will my lack of work experience compared to my older colleagues be decisively bad? Or will admissions people find out my age and discriminate purely because I’m young?
If you have the credentials, the age won’t be a problem.
“Age discrimination” isn’t the word I’d use for it.
You can always get older. You can never get younger.
Sorry but what do you mean?
I don’t necessarily think your age will hurt you, but remember you will be competing with people who have not only the same grades/scores as you but experience too, which is huge. Also, I truly think that internships and working before going to professional/grad school are a great way to make sure that you are making the right choice. Wouldn’t you rather intern/work in your field for a year or so and realize that you truly LOVE what you’ll be doing than waste 3 years and lots of money in law school to discover you actually don’t like it as much as you thought you would? They time off of school would also give you time to study for the LSAT and make meaningful connections with people in your field who can write you excellent letters of recommendation.
I think what @GMTplus7 means is that age discrimination is usually the province of the older, not the younger. Younger people can always get older to “overcome” age discrimination - you can acquire more experience or wait a few years. But older people can’t go back and time and get younger, so the discrimination impacts them. Furthermore, legally, age discrimination only applies to people 40 and over.
That said, when you apply to grad school nobody is going to know how old you are. They will likely assume from your record that you are 21 or 22, since that’s the usual age of college graduates.
However, as @mademoiselle2308 says, what you may actually face is competition from people who are more experienced than you. IA and public policy programs are both professional programs that tend to prefer applicants with experience; the top IA and PP schools/programs (like SIPA, SAIS, SFS, Kennedy, etc.) have average student ages that are in the mid-20s. Unless you are an exceptionally competitive undergraduate candidate - I mean with lots of internships, international experience, a foreign language or two - you’ll be at a disadvantage. (High GRE scores and SAT scores alone don’t do that for you; most of your competition will have those plus some.)
So consider taking 2-3 years to get some experience. It doesn’t put you in “limbo.” It allows you to approach the academic work of international affairs and public policy from a professional standpoint, using your experience to enhance your educational experience. It will also improve your post-grad school employment options; PP and IA employers like MA holders who have some prior experience.
sign up for the Peace Corps. Apply for a state dept internship at an Embassy.
Your age is not as much a factor as lack of international experience (assuming that you are a regular 19 year old American, and not an international already).
Top international programs/firms/jobs require related experience and that is hard to get without some overseas living. Get some, and you will be much more interesting to law school admissions.