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Going to grad school 12 years after getting a BS Grad Life
By Eris
Posted Sun Feb 26, 2006 at 01:17:08 PM PDT

The previous poster was worried that he was too old to go grad school because he was 26. Well guy, don't worry. I am _36_ and I want a Ph.D. If I'm not too old, then you certainly are not.

But how do I go about it?

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You see, I got my BS in math in 1993, but went into the computer field afterwards because I needed money for some health problems (which are thankfully behind me now). Since it's been so long and I was quite the social phobic back then, none of my old professors remember me. How do I deal with letters of recommendation?

In part, of course, I know the answer to that: take refresher classes and get to know some professors! I am doing that, although since I also have to work full time, I am afraid that my school work is not up to the level I'd like it to be. (The material is not hard, for me - I seem to understand it better than the other students in my classes - but I have difficulty finding time to study and do homework.) I am wondering what I can do to maximize my chances of getting good recommendations. What do professors look for when deciding whether or not someone would be a good candidate for grad school?

Another issue I have to think about is this: because of the timing of things, I probably won't be able to get into grad school until fall of 2007. (At least for my preferred school, U of Oregon.) What can I do in the meantime? As I mentioned, I am alredy taking some advanced undergraduate classes right now at the school I got my BS from (U of Houston), and if I stay in Houston over the next year I suppose I could try to take a graduate course or two next fall and spring, but for health reasons my spouse and I really need to leave this city as soon as we can. (The air pollution exacerbates asthma.) Besides trying to take more classes in preparation, what can I do between now and grad school to maximize my chance of being accepted, and to make myself the best prepared that I can be?

And in general, what kind of advice do people have for older students like myself? I am afraid that some admissions comittees might give preference to younger candidates, but I am really serious about wanting to get Ph.D.! I know the job market for college professors is really bad, but that's what I want to do. It's really what I always wanted to do, but medical and financial issues sidetracked me for a long time. So it's time for me to push ahead with my life - every moment is precious to me and I really want to maximize my chances.

Are there any professional or informal groups I could get involved in to help me network with others? I recently joined AMS, but what else is out there that I should know about? Are there any really good mailing lists you'd recommend?

This is getting long, now, so I'll end it here. In general I guess that all my questions can be summed up as "If you were in my position, what would you do?"

Thanks in advance for your advice!

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Going to grad school 12 years after getting a BS | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
[new] Focus on improving coursework (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by halewis on Mon Feb 27, 2006 at 03:43:24 AM PDT

My honest advice would be to take either graduate or undergraduate classes, but to make the time to study and do your homework, and really WOW the teacher. And I know that that is very difficult with a job, but I think that recommendations are important, and it would be hard for me to write as strong a letter for someone who didn't appear to be working to their full potential (because what would be different in graduate school, where the work is even harder?).

There are exceptions, of course. If you've had some good conversations with your professors where you're able to apply the material to different circumstances, or something else that would cause you to stand out, then if you ask your teachers if they feel comfortable writing a letter of recommendation they might be able to write a really good one.

And certainly good luck with this! I don't think 36 is too late by any means, it's just perhaps more complicated because there are often more things (like jobs) to work around.



[new] Another Recommendation (none / 0) (#2)
by Vanes63 on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 07:03:58 AM PDT

Letters of Recommendation, I've heard, are VERY important but since you have a plan for that, I would recommend sticking to your plan and working on making it excellent.

About your prospective university, sometimes it is best to send an e-mail to the graduate advisor or recruiter in the department or some professor and ask them what they look for in students. I do not know much about the University of Oregon, for example - do they focus on teaching or research? Depending on which one they focus on, your efforts spent tutoring college students or trying to find a research grant that is looking for students could be better decided upon.

I also want to be a professor. Being a professor requires one to multitask many different things at once: teaching classes, researching, faculty meetings (this part I do not know if I look forward to so much lol), and other things. Keeping up in your particular area is important, are you reading the journals, are you keeping up with new trends? Do you have enough base-knowledge to keep up with the journals or at least know where to look? You could use this time to explore yourself mathematically. Pick up math books and go through the exercises, go through the American Mathematical Monthly's and look for problems to work on.

Besides YMN and AMS, you could also join MAA (Mathematical Association of America), they often have regional meetings that allow you not to have to travel too far to go to them (and the Texas MAA meetings are enjoyable, fyi). Sometimes those meetings have graduate and undergraduate talks and posters, so you can see what other students are doing.

If you send professors at your prospective school at e-mail, ask them what they are looking for and work really hard at getting your name known there and really making a great application (have you looked at what their application entails? personal statement? GRE Subject?), have really good scores and grades, then your worries should subside. Also, looking into multiple programs may help make your application even more competitive by giving you an idea of what other schools are also looking at.

I would also like to point out that there is a difference between their "ideal" student and their "average" student, you may find that you fit the average much better than the ideal. I know a school that I asked the graduate advisor what GRE subject scores they were looking for, around 80-90th percentile he told me. When I talked to graduate students one quoted the average at 20-30th percentile or so. That shocked me. So talk to people, talk to a lot of people and look at other answers to the same question around the YMN website, I know they are around here somewhere.

Good luck and keep us updated.


[new] varies (none / 0) (#3)
by vizioneer on Tue Aug 08, 2006 at 01:50:38 PM PDT

You may want to take some core courses in math- algebra, analysis, topology, etc. and do well and get recommendations. If you want to do applied math, you may want to take analysis, numberical analysis, etc. You may want to play off your strong background in computers and study for a PhD that uses that strength and math. As far as age goes, well there are some dept.'s that I've seen that have only grad students who've gotten their bachelors very recently, and some have a mix of ages. If you look at Rice e.g. all of their pure math grad students have gotten their bachelors recently (a couple of exceptions maybe), and from where I'm from, CU Boulder, there's a decent range of ages, and esp. applied math has a range, and there seems to be mostly guys in their 30s in that program. I wouldn't worry about it- just apply to a bunch of places, play on your strengths, get some core courses down with strong recommendations, apply, and see what happens. Nothing else you can do really. That's the nature of academia. Good luck.



Going to grad school 12 years after getting a BS | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
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