Is it good to join PhD at the age of 30?
Update by Thinking Boxx Team
October 22/2021| 10:45 AM | IST
Definitely not! Remember, a PhD is simply the start of a different, very niche, career path. I'm going to go anecdotal here.
After completing her undergrad (in English), my mother became a full time Secondary School teacher. She took a break when my brother and I were born, but essentially continued with this line of work until she was 37, when she did her Masters in Research. She went on to do her PhD in Communications and New Media after that, finishing when she 46 (she was a TA and a university instructor in between).
Doing a Masters and PhD as soon she graduated would have probably meant that she would have limited herself to a lifelong career in academia, rather than gaining valuable experience in teaching. And who knows what she might have focused her research on? After years of teaching teenagers, she became aware of her academic interest: youth engagement with new media (roughly; I'm still not sure of her exact research question!).
So, basically, what I'm saying is:
Not everyone is ready to do a PhD before they're 34.
Most jobs don't need a PhD.
You need time to know what you want to specialise in.
This “age doesn’t matter” stuff is nonsense. No, 34 is by no means too old, but you’re going to be 40 when you’re done (roughly), having lost 5–6 years of prime earning. Oh, and the personal cost; there’s always a personal cost. You are now 40 and Dr. Question Asker! Congrats. If you’re in the sciences and want a treasured position at a research university, you’ll spend the next 4–10 years as a postdoc. In some fields, like computer science, the opportunities are high, but that’s not most fields. It’s not completely unreasonable to start as an associate professor in, say, biology, at the age of 50, but then you have six years to prove yourself (tougher at some places than others) and warrant tenure. But you’re awesome and tenure is granted. Great! Now you’re 57 (the tenure evaluation process alone takes a year), so you have maybe a decade before you start to think about retiring. And that’s not the worst-case scenario. The odds are not far from 1:2 that you’ll finish. Most people leave of their own accord, but often after completing 2+ years of coursework and 1+ years of research and deciding they don’t like research and can’t do it anymore. And while things could go better, there’s no guarantee of tenure at a research university (single digit percentages of PhDs get tenure-track jobs at research universities and get tenure).
You could potentially go to a teaching school. I think I will be forever grateful that I did. If all works out, I might have tenure and still be in my 40s. I don’t make a ton, but I’m also nowhere near poverty.
If you’re in the humanities… well, you’ll go back to whatever you were doing before the PhD, or possibly try to eke out a living as an adjunct.
Am I discouraging you from going? No! Well, sorta… I did not get good advice. Most people don’t. I don’t per se regret my decision and I love my career, but I wish I had known more. I wish the system treated people better. And I’m thankful I’m in computing, where jobs are plentiful. I know some people who make good livings helping fellow PhDs find jobs/careers outside of academia, and trust me, these people are earning their keep.
Make sure you have long talks with people who’ve been through the process, didn’t start within 5 years of undergrad, and are in your discipline. This needs to include people who didn’t finish, or else you’ll have selection bias (you’ll only get one side). There are plentiful discussion boards to find people and info. Make the decision, but make the decision from an informed perspective. If this is right for you, it can be wonderful (and horrible, sometimes).
If you are 50 and starting a PhD full-time with the intent of changing careers? I can’t say that I think that’s a good idea. So go forth and decide within the next decade.
Why do you want to do a Ph.D.?
Is it because you have a deep interest in a subject?
Is it because you need that degree to further advance in your career?
Is it because you just really want the “Dr.” title?
How is your financial situation? Would you be okay living on just a small stipend for the next 3–5 years? Or maybe with no stipend?
Will the stipend money be enough for you to support yourself (and your family if needed)?
If it’s a paid Ph.D., do your finances support that kind of expenditure?
If you take a loan for a paid Ph.D., do you think you’ll earn enough from that degree to re-pay the debt?
Are you okay taking a pay cut (assuming you had been working till 30)?
If married, do you think your partner will be supportive of this change? Ph.D. is extremely taxing emotionally and mentally and I’ve seen quite a few students quit because of unsupportive spouses.
Will you have regret because of the opportunity cost (your peer moving ahead in their career while you're in school)?
Think about all of these questions and make the decision that’s best for you.I earned my doctorate in 2021 at the age of 29.
I don’t believe that age matters in this context. What matters are your personal conditions in terms of money, family situation, and goals.
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