<p>Do top universities (ivies+Stanford, MIT, Chicago, Caltech, Berkeley) have anything against applicants older than 35?
It is interesting to know that in the USA I, at 36, would be older even in the so-called "mature" groups.</p>
<p>Just fot the record, I have just been accepted by Cambridge (UK), but still waiting (with not so much hope) for the answers to my US applications.</p>
<p>I don't think age places a factor in regards to getting into graduate school. It has to do more with your experiences. whta have you been doing since you graduated college? I graduate college when I was 23. After graduating I traveled and lived abroad, and decided that after nearly four years now is the right time to go to grad school.</p>
<p>Of course, in a field like math, age definitely does matter: the vast majority of important results are proved by those between 16 and 30 years old.</p>
<p>Wow drbott that's an interesting observation. Nowadays most mathematicians don't even get a tenure-track position before 30.</p>
<p>drbott's just stating the generally accepted observation among mathematicians (I date one who attends a very top-notch math program). Kinda sad though. It's not that older mathematicians don't do stuff, but the breakthrough type proofs are produced by the young ones. And the ones who produce breakthroughs do get tenure younger (even as young as 24 or 26!)...</p>
<p>Anyway, for bio, this past weekend I met a 4th year grad student at a pretty decent (not Ivy or similar but still pretty good... NYU-ish) school who was 36.</p>
<p>I've heard that law schools here somewhat prefer older applicants, but I'm not sure what they mean by older.
I'm curious what will be the outcome for you; if you care to share it when it's all done. No fun to post rejections but acceptances would let us know an interesting new angle on grad schools. It sounds like you're looking for a high calibre programme (did I spell that correctly :)</p>
<p>Have studies been done on the topic of age and grad school admissions?</p>
<p>In teaching, they are trendily inviting people in to get a masters degree in order to encourage this profession as a second career. There's also a new initiative called "Troops To Teachers" which presumes that retired military might make great teachers. Ihave my doubts on that one...</p>
<p>Best wishes.</p>
<p>Oh, how could I forget my own cousin?
He's Israeli, so they all do 3 yrs. of fulltime military service (boys 3 years, girls 2) prior to starting their B.A. degrees in Israel. Then he travelled and worked some years, so started his American PhD. program around age 30. </p>
<p>He was accepted readily, worked brilliantly, but was mentored poorly to secure his first teaching post. At that juncture, he wondered if age played a role. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, after several years without appropriate work for his degree, he found college teaching work that he now enjoys greatly, along with his two young children. So it worked out just fine.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Wow drbott that's an interesting observation. Nowadays most mathematicians don't even get a tenure-track position before 30.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>A couple of anecdotes: I was reading Gregory Chaitin's "Conversations with a Mathematician", and he was saying that math students often get worried when they get close to 21, if they don't feel that they've contributed as much as possible --- this is because Evariste Galois, effective inventor of modern algebra, died in a duel at that age. Also, I remember reading that Einstein thought that if a scientist hadn't contributed meaningful results before the age of 30, he would never do so. Gauss is said to have believed that if a student couldn't immediately recognize the truth of the statement exp(pi*I) = -1, he would never be a first-class mathematician.</p>
<p>the Field's medal, the proverbial "nobel prize" in mathematics, is given to those only under the age of 40.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the replies. I would like to know more on this age issue in fields like law and humanities.</p>
<p>Anyway, I already suspected that age is a negative factor in the application process. In the fields I am most interested, it is extremely rare to see a first-year grad student older than 30, let alone 35. Though I am proud of my acceptance by the University of Cambridge, I know that, besides my good credentials, the very low competition for the program I applied counted in my favor a lot, i.e., despite my age.</p>
<p>If the most likely happens (a rejection from all US schools I applied to) I will do my best to raise the money to take the MPhil courses in Cambridge (since I have no financial aid offer so far), and will prepare for law schools in America. Unfortunately, law schools websites do not show their students</p>
<p>MY LAST MESSAGE IS NOT PUBLISHED COMPLETE. THIS IS ITS CONTINUATION:
Unfortuantely, law schools do not show their students</p>
<p>...websites as frequently as other fields</p>
<p>What is happening? Can</p>
<p>perhaps your "login" is expiring right in front of your eyes as you are trying to compose and send your post.
I'm also not sure how to fix that when it happens to me.</p>
<p>I go to Tufts and in the chemistry department there is one guy who started this year who is 55 years old and another who is definitely over 60.</p>
<p>What have they been doing in the intervening years?</p>
<p>One guy worked in industry for a while and I'm not sure about the other one. I'll try and figure it out though.</p>
<p>I googled up this link to all the law schools in the USA, using searchwords: mature student law school</p>
<p>It includes mention of "American College of Law" that began in the l970's specifically to meet the needs of mature students, including part-time. </p>
<p>But the link had such nice descriptions of ALL law schools that I'm posting it here:
<a href="http://www.hg.org/lawschools.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.hg.org/lawschools.html</a></p>
<p>because I wouldn't limit my search to one school.</p>
<p>LOL, one link from my search described all the mature trees on the law school campus. Hm.</p>
<p>This is NOT a new idea in the US. My mother had a friend who returned to law school in her 40's, waaay back in the l960's. My brother-in-law had a first career as a jazz percussionist, but upon reaching age 30 decided he needed a steady profession to feed his wife and son. (undergrad Music major, and grad school in Law, both at Temple U near Philadelphia).
He truly enjoys his law practice now near Philadelphia with a corporate firm; makes time to do some pro bono (free public service) work to advocate for the rights of disabled children within the public schools, and still plays in a jazz group weekly. He just doesn't have to live in old motels, as he did when he was trying to make it as a professional musician.</p>
<p>Side story here about older undergraduates:
Another brother-in-law is at this moment working on his first B.A. at age 50. He and his daughter study and commiserate together, but we all look forward to a double graduation soon. Here are his funny stories and laments:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Took awhile to socialize his fellow students not to call him "sir"</p></li>
<li><p>His history professor is younger than he is, so when she teaches events in American history that he lived through, he notices her errors which are few but curious. He doesn't embarass her in front of the class, however.</p></li>
<li><p>At exam time, he went to the library because he loves the smell and feeling of books in hand; found it empty b/c the other students all use computers in their rooms.</p></li>
<li><p>Upon mentioning that "tomorrow I won't be in class b/c I have to take my mother to the doctor," the classmates cordially asked him how old his mother was. They practically fell over when he answered "88." Their moms are around 40-45. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>But he loves the learning. Missed out on it as a young man, in part due to undiagnosed dyslexia. What an inspiration to his 2 college-age daughters!!</p>