I just got my law degree, but I don’t want to be a lawyer. I understand that this is not unusual: for law grads to enter grad school to pursue a PhD.
Personally, I always viewed law school as a continuation of a broad humanities education and approached it with an open mind about eventually practicing law for a career. However, I took a year abroad at a law school in France and earned an advanced law degree there – but more than anything it rekindled my passion for French lit. and culture (I minored in French as an undergrad). I’ve got the chops to do a 5-year PhD program in French, but from the research I’ve done of the student profiles at my target schools, it appears the vast majority of them started around 24-26 years old.
So I’m wondering if there is anyone out there who has anecdotal experience or knows about old farts like me in the humanities and/or social sciences having success getting into similar PhD programs. Thanks in advance to any takers.
To be brief, the whole cliché of ‘ you’re never too late’ still applies here. My friend who is 38 is doing a PhD in Physics after all those years of being away from university!
My wife, who already had a J.D. and an LL.M., entered a Ph.D. program in the social sciences when she was over fifty and she received her doctorate. With her academic and legal career background and very high intelligence (Mensa) she had no problem being admitted. However, the degree did not lead to employment. Humanities and social sciences Ph.D.s earned by people in their twenties and thirties do not usually lead to employment either.