Will older age factor affect my ability to get tenured?

[diligence]

Hey all,

I'm a non-traditional student. I won't even begin graduate school until I'm 32 or 33. As of now, my plan is to become a mathematics professor (yes i know the slim statistics and no i don't want to dwell on that), and I'm wondering, will being ~10 years older than my peers affect my ability to gain tenure?

 

[ParticleGrl]

My friends in math have always told me there is a strong bias towards people in their mid to late 30s. Not just getting tenure- finding a university position anywhere might be tough.

 

[Vanadium 50]

It is illegal to discriminate by age in the US.

It is tough to get a faculty job anywhere. You age is the least of your problems.

 

[Vanadium 50]

It is illegal to discriminate by age in the US.

It is tough to get a faculty job anywhere. You age is the least of your problems.

 

[twofish-quant]

It is illegal to discriminate by age in the US.

Only if you are over 40. See 29 U.S.C. § 631(a)) http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/29/631%28a%29.html

And public universities are exempt from the ADEA under state sovereign immunity. Google for Kimel v. Florida Bd. Of Regents

42 USC 6103 prohibits age discrimination in education receiving federal funding, but subsection (b)(1)(A) allows a program to take into account age if it is necessary to the normal operation of any statutory objective or if you can find some reasonable factor other than age.

 

[twofish-quant]

I won't even begin graduate school until I'm 32 or 33. As of now, my plan is to become a mathematics professor (yes i know the slim statistics and no i don't want to dwell on that), and I'm wondering, will being ~10 years older than my peers affect my ability to gain tenure?

I think you are going to be doing spectacularly well if you get to the point where this even becomes an issue.

 

[Phrak]

Are we all daft? Age is always a discriminating factor for job interviewers. We are discriminating creatures. Those discriminating individuals who are job interviewers are among the set of individuals who are 'we', the dscriminating individuals. Is this clear?

The rule of law has nothing to do with hiring beyond imparatives from the managers of hirees and who tell them "we have to have more women", or more blacks or hispanics to fill quota expections. Pro-women, pro-black, pro-hispanic, or pro-youth discrimination has been institutionalized in the name of anti-discrimination--go figure. It's all double-speak rubbish for the consumption of the socially insane who constitute the majority of us.

I don't think 30-ish is a problem for most job interviewers who might expect those in their twenties. Act 20-ish and less wise then you are. Walk different and act stupid--really.

 

[mege]

I'm in a similar boat age-wise with a goal towards Physics academia. My plan (and hopes) are to focus on my experiences that I had between my first University experience and now. Don't think about it as a 10 year gap where you did nothing (unless you really did nothing...), just think about it as getting some of your 'real world' experience before your degrees ;)