To want to do a PhD?

[hungryharridan]

I'm nearly 50. I'm worried I am too old and nowhere near clever enough. I have a good first degree and a Masters but it was all a very long time ago. I now have four children and a little part time job and I am going mad with boredom and frustration. I want to research and learn and write all day long. Have I left it too late?

No. And YANBU

Not at all! I'm doing one part time, just about to start my (hopefully) final year and I'm way over the typical PhD age. You really don't need to be clever to do a PhD, just willing to work at it so having a genuine interest in the topic helps. I spend very little time on mine as I don't get involved at all in uni life, teaching, supervisor side projects etc. I'd say at most I've spent one day a week on it for the past few years.

No you haven't! Go for it!

No of course it’s not too late.

It’s a big commitment- in terms of time and money. If you have a passion for a subject, and can afford to take the time out of work and pay any fees without affecting your life then I’d go for it. A friend of mine is just starting one at 40.

The only caution I’d give is if you’re relying on it to lead to a well paid job, or it’ll put you in financial difficulty. Most PhDs dont lead to well paid jobs.

Not at all. And now is the perfect time to do it as the government has just introduced Doctoral loans 👍🏻 www.gov.uk/doctoral-loan

Of course not! And too old for what exactly? Most of us will live to be at least 80 and there's no age limit on education, so why not? I'm two years into a second degree and I'm 44 (I'm doing it PT, so I'll finish when I'm 48). If want to do it, if you have the time and money to do it and it fits with your life, go for it.

Do it! You certainly aren't too old & your educational background suggests you are more than capable. You don't want to look back with regrets, so go for it, get those brain cells busy.

I don't think it's too late at all.

however, just a note on cost and what unis do for supervision - you can research and write all day without doing a PhD - it's pretty much my plan for retirement. I'd not consider the cost worth it unless it was coming back to me in career terms.

friend of mine recently applied for an MA and was shocked how little guidance there is. I appreciate self study of course - but what are you paying for? a lot of unis are charging a lot for very little tuition.

I have a PhD student who is 20 years older than you, OP. Go for It!

Do you have an area in mind? For me choosing that would be the hardest part about getting started!

YANBU if you can afford the money and time. :)

Any particular area of research that particularly draws you?

Not too late at all. We've had research students in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. Go for it!

Thank you all for being so supportive I didn't realise that doctoral loans were available - that's excellent news. I'm not expecting my studies to lead to a new career, it would just be learning for the joy of it, really. You have all given me hope. Thank you.

Not sure about subject area yet - I've got a few ideas but need to narrow things down a bit. What's the best way to get started? Should I look on findaphd?

so you'd need a loan?

I think it's one thing if you can easily afford it, but doing it when you need a loan, surely the first question is how you pay it back?

sorry, I absolutely love studying but there are so many cheaper ways to do it. I suppose if you want the kudos of a PhD it's different.

I'm a similar age and started last year, I absolutely think it's worth it. It saddens me when people only see education as a means to an end.

I think education for enjoyment is wonderful
I'm just concerned that OP needs a loan

it's not fun to get to the end of fun and think "shit, look at that bill"!

Not at all! I did my PhD in my 20s. I started at the same time as someone who was in his late 50s. I was in awe of him. He knew so much!!

There’s a site called Ethos hosted by the British Library. You need to register to use it but it’s free. You can look at PhD’s people have done to see how extensively your subject has been covered and some thesis are freely downloadable. It will give you an idea for gaps in the knowledge.

I think it's worth considering writing a book instead, just because self funded PhDs are really expensive.

You're not too old though, especially if you're doing purely to enrich your life. You wouldn't ever be to old for that as long as you were well enough, even in your 80s

Yes I do need to work out how best to fund it. I had to take out a loan to do my Masters and managed to pay that back but I know that this would be far more expensive. If I can continue to work p/t then I can cover bills at home so it would be for fees rather than anything else. I don't earn very much at the moment.

OP, please consider what you're undertaking. My experience is typical: doing a PhD took absolutely everything I had, emotionally and intellectually, for 3 1/2 years. And I had no family or other distractions, and I knew what I wanted to do.

I have to agree with EthylRed.

You could try to save up while narrowing down in your own mind exactly what you want to study. Even do some preliminary research on your own. You'll be paying annual fees so being clear in your own mind before you start will help avoid running over into additional years of study.

If you could save up £10k you could then decide with that in the bank whether to use it for PhD fees or continue studying on your own and keep/ use your savings for something else.

I agree with @Ethylred too - your age is no issue at all but a PhD is a massive commitment financially and personally. Someone upthread said they spent no more than a day a week on theirs - that was not my experience at all, nor was it of the many people I know who've done PhDs. It's nothing like a masters, it's a big jump.

If you want write/research for pleasure then a PhD may not offer you that and since you haven't studied for some time then maybe do something else first to see if you want to commit yourself to something that will take years. Would you consider seeing if you could get some work as a research assistant to see how much you enjoy it? Would put you in touch with academics in your field too so may make defining a research question and finding supervisors easier. If you're set on going for it now then look for studentships where you might at least get your fees paid and a stipend - might mean you won't define the research question though, depends how much freedom you're after.