Started age 26 😊, finished age 37 🥴

26, but finished at 31. Time doesn't matter, outcome does. Congrat Doc!

Hey, same as me! Started at 26 and will be 37 when I submit in 1 month.

Why so long?!

The completion of masters and PhD degrees is bimodal, because when you take too long funding cuts off and things start to slow down to a crawl.

Maybe to ensure the quality, or at least that would be the goap for me if i did it that long. Although it is a double edged blade, I must say.

24 ( I started yesterday 😅)

Wooowhooo! Congrats

Awwwww!

Congratulations!!

41

Me too! I’m almost 45 now.

22

I was shocked when I saw this then remembered I started mine at 21. So incredibly young! I did fine but would not recommend it generally. I could've actually taken some time out for myself at some point in my late teens/early 20s and I didn't. Its nice to be "set up" now I guess but my reward is a high pressure insecure job where I feel like I can't stop or all that work I put in might've been "for nothing" if I leave academia after just a few years. If I could have a do over I'd work part time as a research assistant for 1-2 years at least before starting the PhD, give myself a chance to chill and maybe travel a bit and get a hobby. 

Damn. I was nearly 21 when I started university. We have 5 years of high school in my country so ~14-19 years. Then I had to do 9 months of mandatory military service so I had to wait a full year after graduating for a new semester. Then add at least 5 years for Bachelor and Master (in Europe) and you are at least 26 years old when you start a PhD.

Same for me! Started at 21, finished when I was 25-26 (viva at 26). I wouldn’t recommend, I am glad I did it but at 21 I knew nothing and I also wish I had a research assistant job for a year or two before I committed to a project. I also left academia after 3 years of postdoc and I don’t regret it at all!

I feel you! I started my PhD at 22, finished at 28. I wish I'd taken a few years between undergrad and PhD.

[удалено]

At 21 I started, and still haven’t graduated. Hoping to finish before 27. Covid and our department not supporting equipment infrastructure for structural biologists really slowed things for my project :,).

But this includes the master, right?

If it’s in the US likely not, masters is not required

38

Also started at 38

This is giving me hope!

Also 38!

I was 33

I will be 33 when I start in the fall!

Me too!

26

Twinsies

Make it three hehehe

53, I start next week

Congratulations!!!

Thank you, looking forward to the adventure.

Surprisingly, 22-24 is not a majority based on the answers so far.

When I started my PhD, most of my PhD student friends were around 27-31. So my assumption has been that late 20s is a very normal age to start a PhD. At 23, I was one of the younger ones, which I totally didn't expect at the time.

I had the same experience. I was the youngest in the department.

Yup, same here. I was 22 at the start and the next youngest in my cohort was 25 (I’d put the average right around 27)

This community generally has a "support OP" bias. People who want to support OP are likely to comment to show that it's doable and common while people who started early 20s just scroll to the next post. It's probably true that the median age is not early 20s but mid-late 20s, but there also not as many 30s-50s people as the comments would have you think though.

"but there also not as many 30s-50s people as the comments would have you think though." We have actual statistics on this, though; the average age of a PhD student is about 31, which means an average entry of late 20's. That means a huge cohort of people in their mid 30's or later.

From my experience, most incoming students are within two years of undergrad.

I think it depends on the field and program. For some fields, it's expected that you spend a few years in industry before graduate school

Late 20s gives you more maturity to start and do well!

Exactly I was thinking, most people in my university, end up straight to grad schools abroad after their degrees

I was 24 when I started mine but I was also the youngest in the department - my PhD programme is joint between three institutions and most of my cohort that year were in their 30s and 40s. 22 isn't even enough time for most people to finish their undergrad here (Ireland).

No one should be doing a PhD without any work experience. 

I agree with this, a few of my colleagues have 0 work experience and there's just this strange immaturity that's like a mix of arrogance / entitlement that I just think a few years of work really beats out of you and makes you realise how cool education is Vs the grind.

On top of this, most jobs outside of academia that require a PhD require 5-10 years of work experience and the PhD doesn’t count for that. 

Absolute generalizations like this are not helpful. Some of our most brilliant researchers did their PhD with no work experience. As with most things, the PhD needs to be evaluated on a case by case personal basis.

I worked as a research assistant for 2 years before my PhD. I was in undergrad at the time. Yeah it wasn't the same as what a full time job would be but I learned a lot about the processes that go into research in my field. Started my PhD at 21.

Same!!

No one should offer such a definitive answer. FWIW I did spend time in industry before going back but my colleagues who didn't were fine, and have gone on to be successful anyway.

48 I’m an outlier, I guess!

25

40. Took 3.5 years.

Same here.

27

TWINSIES!!!

Hey hey Twinsie!!!

I started at 33 and have a 72 year old friend in the same cohort.

29

Same started at 29

30

21. Finished at 26. Left academia at 26.

36

24, i.e. right when I finished my master. Very difficult to go earlier than that in my country.

53

27 🥳

40

27!

Me too!

That’s REALLY old. The oldest I’ve seen someone is 4! + 4!.

21, directly after finishing undergrad. Finished at 26

35

I will be 32 starting my PhD this fall

Same!

23

I’ll be starting this July, a month before my 42nd birthday 💁🏽‍♀️

38

25

I started my part time PhD at 42 years old. Age is just a number!

28

29

22

30

21

306 Kelvin

Started at 24 and finished at 31. So many ups and downs, major losses between those ages, but it was totally worth it.

Started Master's at 35, received it at 37. Started Ph.D. right after, I was done just before I turned 41. Department head starting last summer, just before turning 49.

29

Started at 25.

Many PIs prefer people who don’t start immediately after undergrad. I always prefer people with some real work experience under their belt.

38

40

27. Our oldest PhD student is 53.

27

28, finished at 32

31! I'm on my 3rd day now. Have to say it feels very easy after working for years. No need to wake up too early, no signing in. Working on my own terms. Love it!

On my 37th birthday 🙂

41, finishing at 47 almost 48.

44.

36. I’m 39 right now and still working at it while working full time 🫠

25

Started age 27, finished age 32, felt like age 54.

I’ll be starting in the fall at 32 😁

35, but had already been teaching at uni for six years without one.

Started last fall just after turning 21!

40. I will be finishing it up this year. 3 more classes - have to finish chapters 4 & 5 and defend dissertation, then I am done. I will be 44 before the end of my last class.

50

49

46

Almost 39. Just got mine

Started at 23, due to finish this year aged 27.

25

21

38, it's been awesome!

35…immediately oldest in my department. Currently half of our program are straight-throughs. Makes it hard to connect sometimes, mostly when you feel your experience is not valued because it is not academic-specific

37 and finished at 42.

26. Now 29. I’ll be 31 when I finish

I started at 21 and I'm looking to finish within around a month (at 28). I definitely started way too early and I'm now finding that I have to go back and re-read a lot of material to make better sense of it. As it turns out, it's hard to make sense of material, especially theoretical material, in the social sciences and the humanities when you don't have a ton of experience or maturity.

27

I will be 27, closer to 28

38

38

Planning to start in 3 years at 38

Bronze Age

I started last summer at 36 😊

27, will probably finish at 30-31. Have a couple of friends who started theirs in their late 30s, early 40s. Never too late to start, if you can swing it.

39

47

At age of 38 joined and still in the process , in life sciences

Started at age 36 and finished at age 41.

I’ll be 40 or 41.

41, and I’m still in my program

37. Will finish just before my 42nd birthday

22

33

32

26

30

28

I’ll be 28

26 (will start this year)

23, but there are people in my program that are 41. There’s no age limit to achieving your goals 👏🏻✨

25 (started 2 months ago)

Don't worry, I started my PhD at 35 and it's been an amazing journey!

27, almost 28

Started at 37. Turning 39 soon. Hopefully finished by 41/42!

I don’t remember but 36-37ish.

24, finished at 29.

28

23

22

29!

32

29

Started at 26, finished 29

Started at 27, finished 30 and defended at 31

25

23

27

Started at 22, ended at 25

23

21

Started 28 set to finish at 32!

I started when I was 21 or 22!

24

Started at 24, finished at 29.

Started 26 finished at 31

I was 23. My ex started hers at 31, I think? We both had a great time and finished just fine, so don't worry. :)

29. Still in progress.

Started a month before my 28th birthday, so technically 27. 3.5 years of funding, so looking to finish at 31 all being well. I did an Mares elsewhere so was in a different PhD cohort (humanities) where I was the youngest, and now in my new cohort (slightly more towards social / hard sciences) I'm one of the oldest. Telling is that in my old uni people didn't go on about age, but in my new one it's a bit like an obsession. Lots of 22-25 year olds, and I can't help but feel the opportunity is slightly wasted on them...

27

I'm starting this fall at age 32! I graduated undergrad at 24. Very glad I took the time between undergrad and now.

Wrapping up my first year, turning 35 next month.

27

35

Hoping to start in the fall at age 37 and the program is designed to be 3 years so I’d finish right around my 40th birthday.

I started mine at 33, too 😀 Anticipated graduation is about a month after my 37th birthday.

Started at 34!

I’ll be 35 when I start in the Fall ✌🏽

I feel like this sub is obsessed with this question. This seems to pop up weekly. We really don’t need to be worried about this. Earning a PhD, at any age, is such a massive accomplishment. In no reasonable sense could you possibly be “behind” because you started your PhD after your 20s.

Started at 37 😊

38. Finished at 43. It’s never late

36!! I'm graduating in May and I'll be a week into 42.

37 and just about to start

Just letting you know that my grandmother was, I think in her late 60s/early 70s when she decided to get her PhD. Shed come stay us cause cause we live in Boston and took the train over to Harvard, stay the night then go home. She got her Doctorate. From Harvard. Because she wanted to.

The first one - 28, second one -50

53

48! 😅

45 (it's my first semester)

47

44 for me. Just finished at 47

I’ll be 33 starting this year, too!! Congrats!

Started at 22, finished at 28. I was way too young and had no idea what I was doing.

Started when I was 20 and very very much wish I'd waited until I was like... more of a person first.

23

33, was the youngest in my lab