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[quote=Anonymous]        Anyone have any experience or know of others who have gone back to graduate school after 50 or even 60?   I did go to a graduate professional-type school and have a good career, but always wanted to get another graduate degree and have the satisfaction of that deeper understanding of a number of things in a number of related social science fields, and my career really doesn't give me the time to do that in evenings while working full time -- or maybe it would but I don't think I am willing to make my entire life full time work and graduate school nights and all weekends.

Time / money didn't permit doubling up grad school degrees when I was young.  Seeing that intellectual excitement now in my own kids has rekindled this sense of how much I have missed that and also the contacts that one can make in a new field through formal education.  Of course, I realize it would be a financial drain for some time but wondering if anyone has done this? I am musing that if I got into a funded Phd program or had some other fellowship that I wouldn't pay tuition -- just have to pay for room, board, insurance, books, etc.  Not sure if my spouse and I would do this as a couple or I would do it alone - we'd have to figure that out (she doesn't have a job for income presently but could get one if we didn't do it together which would make it easier if returned to school near home, or we could rent out the house and do it together somewhere else; maybe try to get a free  apartment on campus with jobs in University Residential Life?).

Questions I ask myself  -- will I have the patience to really do the reading, write papers, debate etc. at this age?  Could I ever get a decent enough score at this age on a GRE ?   Anyone know of any well regarded universities that have accepted or welcome such very alternative type students for grad school?  Also wondering specifically about what job prospects/ age discrimination they faced on the other end?  I am not sure yet toward what career end I would pursue this -- probably something "adjacent" to my existing field which I always thought felt a bit too narrow - but academia / public policy - these are areas of interest.  Can someone near 60 years old actually get on a teaching track at a decent university or would they reject out of hand because I may only have a really active career in teaching for 15-17 years (basing that on my parents who were pretty active working into their mid-late 70s).      
 
       Probably too many questions for this forum, but welcome comments from anyone who has been down this road or looked into it.

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