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up vote 8 down vote favorite

I just entered a MS in Computer Science in a mid tier state school. I'm interested in taking things to the next level, but I just turned 30. By the time I do the math and everything, I'll probably be 34 before applying. Is that too old? Does that essentially eliminate me from top programs?

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In Canada (and I guess US) it is illegal to take the age of applicants into account. Also this other question might be of interest – Zenon Oct 31 '12 at 22:29
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in practice, however, business schools do it all the time for their phds. It's very difficult to prove that it was age that caused the rejection, but I've heard from people in business that it is a common problem. – rsteckly Oct 31 '12 at 22:31
that is really sad, in my experience all older PhD candidates I know are really interesting with their experience and are in no way worse than younger ones. (CS/Math) – Zenon Oct 31 '12 at 22:40
Why will your masters degree take 4 years? – Aaron Nov 3 '12 at 0:03
It should take less...but I'm taking 2 courses a term while working so I'm trying to create an upper bound. – rsteckly Nov 3 '12 at 0:26

4 Answers

up vote 9 down vote

Age is simply not a factor in PhD admissions in computer science, at least in North America. As Zenon says, age discrimination is illegal here.

However, being out from school for a significant period of time (say, more than five years) is a potential hurdle for PhD admissions, at least in my department. We typically recommend that those students pursue a MS degree first, to refresh their academic background. But since you're in an MS program now, that shouldn't be a issue for you.

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This is it. Age isn't a disqualifying factor—time away from school is the problem. Fields can advance a lot in a few years. – aeismail♦ Nov 3 '12 at 20:59
up vote 1 down vote

Age is not a PhD admission facor in the continental Europe, too.

The selection is based on titles, publications, curriculum vitae and generally on what you've done.

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up vote 1 down vote

In my field, which is not computer science, we get a number of clinicians who are a few years away from retirement applying for PhDs. NIH institutional training grants track students for a number of years post graduation so accepting people who will retire soon after graduation is bad. Of course these older applicants are never rejected based on age.

The problem arises more for applicants that are nearer 50 than 30 years old.

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up vote 1 down vote

Apart from admission (which normally should not be related to age), there is something that's related to your question. I'm going to generalize and say that the older one is, the more that person will have financial restraints tied to lifestyle. One tends to be married, to have children, to have a mortgage, to have debts, etc. You may not agree with this generalization, but many students seeking PhDs at my university fall into this category.

In such cases, the problem is more about funding requirements related to lifestyle. Funding opportunities are always limited (regardless of one's age), but it might be harder for someone who has financial obligations to manage with the limited funding for a PhD. I know of several cases of PhD candidates who never started, or (worse) didn't finish because the funding was too limited for them as spouses, parents, homeowners, etc.

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