Pursuing PhD @ 50+

[Anonymous]

^^ sorry for typos. Fixed.


I don’t want to hijack the PhD thread with Masters talk but if you get the degree which takes 2-3 years you will be 53-54. If you practice until you’re 75 you have 20 years of working. Or even 65 that would be 10–12. Think of how long you’ve had other jobs. That’s a long time to do something that you love and is amazingly challenging and interesting. I say go for it!

[Anonymous]

It's a waste of time and money. Think- more life and less career. More life, less career. More life, less career.
I'm retired now, multiple degrees, and I cannot believe how much time was wasted on more career, less life.

[Anonymous]

I'm married to a STEM Ph.D. who would tell you why bother at this point. What's your bang for the buck in doing so? You can educate yourself on your own time, in your own way, through reading and exploring. If you're doing it for bragging rights, it's a waste of time. It will also take you away from your loved ones instead of having enriching experiences with them in your 50s. You've worked hard, enjoy your 50s by deepening and strengthening your existing personal relationships. Life is about relationships, OP. A Ph.D. doesn't fill all your voids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is so inspiring to hear! I have wanted to be therapist, but I wonder if I have enough years of practice to justify the cost/time. (I am 50.). That said, there is such a need and I am drawn to helping children and families.

That’s wonderful but a Master’s degree is a very different kettle of fish!

I don’t want to hijack the PhD thread with Masters talk but if you get the dress which takes 2-3 years you will be 53-54. If you practice until you’re 75 you have 20 years of working. Or even 65 that would be 10–12. Think of how long you’ve had other jobs. That’s a long time to do somehh to isn’t that you live and is amazingly interesting. I say go for it!


I would definitely go with Master’s yes, PhD no. Agree with PPs who say getting in to the latter is nearly impossible these days anyway.

[Anonymous]

PhD and ex-professor here. Yes, actual high level academia (tenure track at major universities in major fields) is unbelievably vicious, petty, and back stabbing. Believe it.

Now if you’re looking to have fun at a hobby that’s fine. I think there are also later in life academic tracks for purely professional fields where you have a lot of career experience (e.g. nursing, social work, even business). But that’s different

[Anonymous]

No, don't do it, for so many reasons. I'm a tenured professor in the social sciences. It took me 7 years to get my PhD. That's not uncommon. People have mentioned many good reasons, but one I haven't seen is that it's not really ethical to take up a space for fun, when PhDs are trained to contribute to advancing their fields. It's rare that a dissertation does that, and really, if you don't have a TT job, which you're not likely to get, what's your motivation to keep working? Very few people would be intrinsically motivated to continue research on their own, and realistically, they may not have access to the resources they would need (lab, host institution, IRB panel, grants, etc.) in order to do their research.

I'm all for being a lifelong learner. You don't need a PhD to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is so inspiring to hear! I have wanted to be therapist, but I wonder if I have enough years of practice to justify the cost/time. (I am 50.). That said, there is such a need and I am drawn to helping children and families.

That’s wonderful but a Master’s degree is a very different kettle of fish!

I don’t want to hijack the PhD thread with Masters talk but if you get the dress which takes 2-3 years you will be 53-54. If you practice until you’re 75 you have 20 years of working. Or even 65 that would be 10–12. Think of how long you’ve had other jobs. That’s a long time to do somehh to isn’t that you live and is amazingly interesting. I say go for it!

I would definitely go with Master’s yes, PhD no. Agree with PPs who say getting in to the latter is nearly impossible these days anyway.

+1 best bet is the flagship state school. If not competitive for that, will have trouble getting in elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

I concur getting an MA sure, but don’t understand the rationale for a “hobby PhD” if it’s not in a pre-professional field. Admissions committees probably won’t either, unless you have an outstanding cv that interests them in some way.

[Anonymous]

Completely different take here.

I’m 66. Ten years ago I earned a doctorate (not PhD, more on this below) and it was a great decision.

I’m a historian. I’ve presented papers at many conferences, been a consultant, been a guest speaker on cruise ships, and thoroughly enjoyed it all. Hopefully I’ll have an essay in a published volume in a year or so, and a book out in a few years.

Riffing off of many of the comments here, let me make some full disclosures.

First – I didn’t go into debt, and had no expectation of earning any money. This was all about learning and enjoying it.

Secondly – I found the right program: Georgetown’s “Liberal Studies” program. They offer (or did when I went) both MA and doctoral degrees. But the doctoral degree is “doctor in liberal studies” and not PhD. That was because the “real” scholars at Georgetown couldn’t wrap their heads around it. But it hasn’t made any difference to me. I tell people I have “a doctorate,” but every single time I am introduced to an audience, I get described as having “a PhD.” Whatever.

Thirdly – the people I went through the program with were all my age-ish – meaning in their 40s-50s-60s. I’d say that more than half were recovering lawyers or MBAs. They wanted to exercise other muscles. And – this is important – the learning really started when they realized they had to let go of their old “tools” and start learning new ones. When you can do this in adulthood you are onto something.

Bottom line – go for it! And enjoy.

[Anonymous]

If you're open to fields how about a masters of fine arts in theater, like set design or acting? I had a friend who did one and it seemed like lots of fun and a lot of interesting colleagues.

[Anonymous]

I had a family member who did this- many states have free tuition for retirees over a certain age.

In Maryland, it’s free tuition for retirees age 60+ at state funded colleges. If the grad student has funding through one of these types of programs, then the faculty advisor will not need to use precious grant funds to support them.

https://www.registrar.umd.edu/current/registration/golden-id.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think a pHD in some fields like education might be different. You’re not going to get the academia backstabbing in what is essentially a professional degree. Seems like some teachers will do it as a late career move to increase pay before retirement or to move to admin. I have a sibling that got the masters in his 50s for this reason and thought seriously about the PhD but then was promoted to HS principal without it and was too busy to go back.

+1 This! These 2 options are pretty commonly seen in the education field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Completely different take here.

I’m 66. Ten years ago I earned a doctorate (not PhD, more on this below) and it was a great decision.

I’m a historian. I’ve presented papers at many conferences, been a consultant, been a guest speaker on cruise ships, and thoroughly enjoyed it all. Hopefully I’ll have an essay in a published volume in a year or so, and a book out in a few years.

Riffing off of many of the comments here, let me make some full disclosures.

First – I didn’t go into debt, and had no expectation of earning any money. This was all about learning and enjoying it.

Secondly – I found the right program: Georgetown’s “Liberal Studies” program. They offer (or did when I went) both MA and doctoral degrees. But the doctoral degree is “doctor in liberal studies” and not PhD. That was because the “real” scholars at Georgetown couldn’t wrap their heads around it. But it hasn’t made any difference to me. I tell people I have “a doctorate,” but every single time I am introduced to an audience, I get described as having “a PhD.” Whatever.

Thirdly – the people I went through the program with were all my age-ish – meaning in their 40s-50s-60s. I’d say that more than half were recovering lawyers or MBAs. They wanted to exercise other muscles. And – this is important – the learning really started when they realized they had to let go of their old “tools” and start learning new ones. When you can do this in adulthood you are onto something.

Bottom line – go for it! And enjoy.

Recovering lawyers or MBAs? In that club. Earned an MS at 60 and now do things with user experience design and research. Well worth it. Use the degree every day. Education isn't only about ROI. Not everything can be measured.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Student loan payments on federal loans are income based, so you needn’t worry so much about the debt. Obviously consider your overall financial burden and whether you’ve got kids to support and for how long. But if it fits your situation, then why not?

This is your one life. There are plenty of worse ways to spend your time and money than pursuing intellectual growth. I’m 52 and I’d go back to school for a PhD in a heartbeat if I could afford to. I lament that I pursued a JD instead of a PhD way back when.

I’m guessing your question might be more about what the dynamic is DC area PhD programs for older students? I haven’t experienced it myself, but I would venture a guess that especially in the DC area there are plenty of midlife folks taking graduate level courses at the various universities.

Stupidest statement ever. Cleary written by someone who has never had to pay back a student loan.

[Anonymous]

I have a PhD. It took 7 years, and was a torturous process that involved a lot of petty politics, backstabbing, jealousy, and general torment. If you want a hobby, take up golf or painting. Painting especially - you can even start with classes on a college campus, if you're so inclined.