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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Most of these responses are looking at it from the student's perspective.  But a PhD is a two-way street.  Taking on a new student is a big commitment for a Professor, both in terms of funding and time.  TBH, they may be reluctant to take on a student who is simply doing the work for personal reward.    [/quote]

This. They will be very reluctant to take on a student who will essentially be a dilettante.[/quote]

Does anyone know of a 50+ PhD who has gotten a tenure-line position in academia? Institutions invest a lot of money in TL faculty, no incentive to invest in an older candidate who will be retirement age if they get through the ~6 year long tenure process. It makes sense that this could be different in industry.[/quote]

I have known multiple people, mostly female, who got their first tenure track job in their 50s.

Remember, tenure is for life so schools view, rightly or wrongly, older candidates as a safer bet--they figure for sure they'll retire by 70, so that's a salary of 20 years, vs a possible 50 year commitment for a 30 year old asst prof.

There is another benefit, schools in undesirable locations have a lot of turn-over as younger faculty do not want to live in a podunk, whereas a 55 year old whose husband is retired and has golf as his main hobby, is unlikely to leave for greener pastures.

And this sounds terrible, but a 50 year old is unlikely to ask for multiple paternity/maternity leaves, so that's appealing to them, too.

Certain fields, like nursing, engineering, journalism, being old with real life job experience is a plus.
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