Is Starting a Ph.D. After 30 Uncommon?

[copernicus1]

Hi, is there anyone here who started working on their Ph.D. after 30? I will be 31 when I start later this year, and I'm wondering how atypical this is. Any advice? Thanks!

 

[ChaseDuncan]

I'm 33 and doing my (first) undergrad in CS and math. I'm definitely quite older than every TA I've ever encountered, i.e. the PhD students at my school, so my guess is, yes, you might be a little atypical. Then again, you won't be as atypical as me so I expect you will cope just as I have : )

I was quite concerned about my age when I first started. What my experiences have taught me is that if you kick *** no one cares how old you are.

 

[andymars]

Sorry to necro post, but I'm 30 and seriously considering going to grad school 9 years later. My biggest problem right now is that I'm not really sure how to go about getting a strong application, etc. I've been going over my upper-level coursework and getting ready for the physics GRE (which I plan to take next April), but I haven't had any research experience since my last year as an undergrad and all the classes I've taken since then are education related, not anything technical. Do you think admissions might be skeptical of someone who has been away for so long? Would they want to see me do some sort of research part-time on the side? I'm currently a high school physics teacher if that helps at all.