I don’t even have a bachelors. I’ve been thinking about going back to school and pursing higher levels of education (research masters or PhD) twitch a mostly utilitarian fields and do industrial R&D work in a domain I’ve become interested in and my biggest worry is being “old” by the time I complete any graduate education (even though old in my case, would likely be mid-30s by the end if I start in the coming years).
I might get crucified for being so jaded and cynical, but completed a PhD as part of some lifelong dream seems a bit empty to me. I think it’s fair to call him a physicist, but I just personally wouldn’t feel the dream was realized. Now, at the end of his life, he’s achieved the bare minimum and I doubt he will be able to do much more in the field or see the field develop.
How is completing a super advanced degree in a very specific field 'the bare minimum'?
I feel like taking high school physics would be the bare minimum. Or maybe even getting a bachelor's. But a PhD? That's not the pinnacle of a career, by any means, but it's 100% the pinnacle of an educational experience.
>my biggest worry is being “old” by the time I complete any graduate education
There are 'old' students everywhere in college and graduate school. If you interact with any graduate students from not your home country, 99% of the time, they are much (read: a decade or two) older than the 'regular' student.
In my field, doing a PhD at decent university means doing real-world scientific research. Despite widespread forced publication of mediocre results, I still see a PhD as a recognition of having “done science”.
Those people are just trying to gain admission to american jobs. The numbers are way different for the people with real research potential at top american schools.
That's just moving the goalposts. Not really adding anything to the argument here.
The argument is just graduate students, not subset of graduate students that is impossible to measure with any accuracy based on available data due to your completely arbitrary and nebulous definitions. Also, even if we take your new arbitrary and meaningless 'definition', we can no longer use the key word from the original discussion: ----most----.
My point stands. Non-native graduate students skew older than native students by quite a bit.
I had the same worries as someone who with some luck will graduate in his 30s.
I went back to college after dropping out when I was in my early 20s. Someone told me "You're going to be X+4 years in 4 years anyway, why not try achieving that thing you want. Time will pass either way"
Surprise: Right now I enjoy college VS before when it felt like a chore I had to go because was the "right thing to do".
It's great to share a space with people who share the same interest in a topic of science/humanities as you do.
Being an old dude in college, allows you to be less worried about late-teenage problems like drama in relationships, in my case being hot-headed, dealing with parents' expectations, or the chronic stress from failing tests thinking it's the end of the world, etc.
Plus, being the "old dude" from the class, hasn't been a problem at all, people are respectful most of the time, and if you're friendly, they will even seek you for mentorship.
As long as you're not behaving like Chevy Chase from "Community", nobody will give much importance to your age.
Yeah, there is a lot of things that are just bureaucracy to create false gatekeeping that I don't like even now.
But from time to time, I find lectures about topics I didn't know existed... and I have that feeling of being a kid again, and finding something new from 0. And that's 100% worth it. So I get why the dude, would keep searching for a PhD even in his eldery years.
I am fortunate enough to live in a country where college it's free. But if it's too expensive, you could get a lot of the value from distance Coursera, and online courses/communities.
It’s not about being old in school, in fact I’m fairly sure I could make much more of it now then had I gone at 17-18.
It’s about being old when I finish. Losing the rest of my youth being out of place (funny enough I’ve always been the young guy among older people and school would just invert that, it’s not the biggest issue in the world, but it does become very isolating at times) and losing years of earning power on what feels like a gamble. Being the oldest candidate applying for a new job, etc.
It's a gamble. Opportunity cost it's a real thing.
The risk/benefit ratio will depend on the career. In IT, in a lot of jobs, you can have a competitive salary with Bootcamps and self-taught skills.
Now ageism it's a thing... but at the same time one that plays in your favor, usually companies that only hire early-20s, tend to be exploitative or abusive (pizza instead of proper extra hours payments, etc).
I will say it's only worth it if you see your college studies more like a self-development thing rather than just a multiplier on your salary.
> Now, at the end of his life, he’s achieved the bare minimum and I doubt he will be able to do much more in the field or see the field develop.
I'm sure the fact that it would inspire others was not lost on him. Or perhaps he did it just so it would be done? There's enjoyment in the journey and the accomplishment.
I might get crucified for being so jaded and cynical, but completed a PhD as part of some lifelong dream seems a bit empty to me. I think it’s fair to call him a physicist, but I just personally wouldn’t feel the dream was realized. Now, at the end of his life, he’s achieved the bare minimum and I doubt he will be able to do much more in the field or see the field develop.