<p>how hard would it be to gain acceptance to a highly rated PhD program(top 15 in respective field) long after youve graduated college.</p>
<p>obviously i dont think youd be able to get any recs and the PhD program will assume youre rusty etc etc etc… </p>
<p>but is it at least possible to gain acceptance?</p>
<p>i guess the most common way to do this would be to get a masters degree first and go for PhD after that? but then you have to waste all that money and time for a degree you didn’t REALLY want in the first place… doesnt sound like a very appealing route.</p>
<p>is there any other alternative way to look (much) more appealing to programs long after youve graduated? would a GRE subject test be enough? what about lab work in a college for a few months? anything?</p>
<p>I believe in Europe most PhD students are older than typical in the US … checking into European admissions might give you some hints about what to do here.</p>
<p>It depends how long, what you’ve been doing since graduation, and how much of the subject you remember. If you stay out of school more than 5 years then you’ll have to retake your GREs.</p>
<p>I know a grad student here that did a stint in the army then worked for 5 years before coming back to school. Grad schools like students that take some time off because they have a different perspective on things and have more “life experience” making them more mature. </p>
<p>Once you go into the real world and get a job it’s much much harder to bring yourself back to school. Bills pile up then you get a family then blah blah blah and so forth and before you know it you’re 37, have a mortgage and two car payments, and have a kid and wife to feed.</p>
<p>I think getting accepted to a Ph.D. program is possible…
A pastor at my former church got her undergrad degree at I think the typical age, then didn’t go on for a Ph.D. until she was in her fifties! But it worked out really well for her, and it doesn’t seem to be that unusual.</p>
<p>How old are you? Generally top schools do not want to invest in people in their late 30s or 40s because it already takes long enough to finish your phD. Most grad students in my department are in their 20s or 30s.</p>
<p>From what I understand, an MA is the first 2 years of a Ph.D program, and I’ve heard from doctorate candidates that it’s much easier to get into a Ph.D program after having completed a MA degree.</p>
<p>not true at all. most of the top PhD programs prefer to take students who have BA/BS degrees… you get the MA/MS on the way to your PhD.
Having a MA/MS does NOT make it easier to get into a PhD program.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you had some deficiencies in your undergrad record, you could improve your chances at a top PhD program if you first enroll in a MA/MS program and do really well… but as I said, most top programs will take students right after the BA/BS.</p>
<p>Exception: engineering. For some schools (eg. Stanford), its MUCH easier to get into a MS program… but they offer no financial aid to MS only students… Stanford uses it as a cash cow… if your good, but not great, you could “buy” a Stanford MS degree… but the PhD programs are much, much more selective and competitive and they fully support you financially.</p>
<p>It is certainly true that most PhDs in Europe are older than in the US. But at most European schools it’s equally more rare to get accepted to a PhD program without holding a prior master’s degree.</p>
<p>Btw, why can’t you get recs from your former professors any more? Don’t they like you any more?</p>
<p>Having a MA may or may not make it easier to get into graduate school depending upon the discipline and the university. Some very specialized Ph.D. programs such as international education favor students who already have a master’s in international relations. In psychology, having a MA would help in some schools (and may even be required) and be a detriment in others. Back to the OP, getting a Ph.D. more than 10 years out of undergraduate will probably require some additional academic prep either at the undergrad level or at the MA level to demonstrate some contemporary interest and ability.</p>