Is Age a Barrier for Graduate Studies and Scholarships?

[manoskats]

Hello all,this is my first post here.
I am studying Physics in Greece and after 7 long years I am finally approaching graduation.
That's right,seven!
My first 3 or 4 years pretty much went to waste,as I couldn't escape the mentality of most of the students here.(7 years is actually well below the department's average)
But then I decided to focus on my studies and now I will be graduating with a decent grade of (almost) 8.Also my thesis (I think you would call it "major subject"?) is under an internationally acknowledged professor and could get published.

I would like to take the gre and apply for american universities,but I am worried that I am "too old" to get into an above-average university with a scholarship (I need it because my brother just had a terrible accident and a lot of money will be going to medical bills)...
Could you give your opinions and insight on my chances?
Thank you in advance.

 

[Choppy]

Age shouldn't have any affect on your application. In fact, in anything, it may qualify you for "mature student" status if the schools you're looking at have such a thing and this would give you a number of advantages in that more weight is placed on "life experience" in your application.

As nice as a scholarship is, if you and your family really need money, grad school is generally not a good place to look for it.

 

[manoskats]

Well,my brother escaped danger and will go on with his life,even though it will never be the same again.But the worst thing I could do would be to give up my dreams because of what happened to him,he might feel responsible for that.So I will apply for grad school and IF my family can afford it I am going,perhaps I will need to find a way to make some extra money.

Anyway,thanks for the reply and your concern.
I never considered this "mature student" status you mention before.Does someone else think my age could be a problem for some universities?

 

[loonychune]

If you were applying to do undergraduate studies in the UK you'd be old enough now to be considered a mature student. Since you're applying for grad school, i'd have thought the only real concern is that your degree took so long, but I'm pretty sure a lot of grad students are much older than 21/22 (i will have spent 5 years at undergraduate level by the time i finish and then could well take a year out before grad school (were i to apply)... that's 6 years, only 2 less than your 8, and i don't think there'd be any problems there)