why should it matter when someone gets their MArch?  it's a matter of personal finances, family commitments, amount of previous experience, and what they want to do with that degree.  If you're young you have less ties and more time to build up an income to pay off that debt - if you are older you are more likely to be looking for something very specific out of that degree - but also more likely to be able to pay out of pocket.

are you saying that grad school should be age restricted?

are you saying that grad school should be age restricted?

Sorry, but you sort of missed the point.  No.  I am not saying that at all.  The adviser I had when in school talked about the dynamics of the program and mentioned that age became a harder variable to deal with as students got further away from the critical mass, age wise, of the student population in the a-school.  The other thing is that it could impact employment.  Some would rather hire someone younger and more malleable.  Others might appreciate one who is more seasoned.  It all depends on the firm/office. Lastly, I mentioned distance.  I think that bringing back a run of the mill, not so highly ranked school might impact one's ability to tap a certain job market.  I'm not asking one question, but several.

observant,

      Are you planning to return to school?

i initially started my academic career in high school w/ 3years mech. drafting, and 1yr arch. drafting. (would have been 2yr.s but they cut the program before my senior year) i spent 2 years out of high school chasing girls around the city; then went to a juco for 1.5yrs, got a job, got married, realized this isn't enough $$$$ for my dreams to become reality went back to juco for a semester transferred into university i was 26 first day of classes.33 when i  finished the university w/ $45k debt, stressed out brain, wife who wonders why we seem worse off than before, 7 years of crappy embarrassing barely min. wage jobs, knowing that s=r(theta), M.Arch, and making almost the same pay i was making before i entered the university

^^

No.  BTDT.  Stayed out 5 years after bachelors and before 3 year M.Arch.  I don't recommend more than 2 or 3 years.  Also, you can't hide the maturity (not age-wise, but world-wise) and some employers don't want to deal with paying you an intern's wage to move an AutoCAD mouse around.  Gets better after you license, but still ...

... and we had one person in our class that started at about 40, had a fine arts degree, and never went into the field.  Good artist (from what I could tell), struggled with the program, and didn't check issues at the (studio or classroom) door.

I would actually say opposite to you, observant. Personally, I think the both the profession and the Masters education environment right now is overly, "young." I am actually surprised by this post, because I find that the pool of applicants to grad school is actually less mature/less professionally minted in any form (whether it'd be in the architecture profession or not); this is, of course a backlash result of the economy...so many insecure BS or Barch grads are going straight into grad school. This I find to be a problem.

xxxxxx - agreed.

IMO - your advisor was basically saying they don't know how to teach people with experience because they have very different expectations of what one should be getting out of a professional program - i.e. how to actually become a professional architect.  Not how to further prolong one's kindergarten play-time make-believe studio projects.

the program at UT mixes grad and undergrad and although a large percentage of the M.Archs were in their mid to late 20's many of them were way past that age. The oldest I can remember was nearing 60 with a few in their 40's & 50's. 

At some point it becomes less about the title and more about expanding your knowledge. Having earned a B.Arch I've been advised many times to put off grad school until I've worked in the field for a number of years. I guess the intention is to open your mind during undergrad, gain practical experience in the real world then find yourself later on in grad school? 

If what you're looking for is a larger income then you may end up putting yourself in an even deeper whole. Grad programs aren't cheap, especially those that would leave you in the best position afterwards, if any. 

Thanks for the input, Manuel.  And UT-Austin would be a good "case study" since they have the B.Arch., M.Arch 3.5, and M.Arch. advanced standing (+2).  Good school, too.  Like I said, for the person changing careers, I think 2 to 3 years is the optimal "break."  As for the people in their 40s and 50s, I could imagine the parts of the program where they would have been mixed in with the undergrads could have been hellish.  You need not give specifics.  I'm sure the undergrads either found them real interesting or very odd, depending on their mindsets.  I know that some of the more mature grad students in my program were NOT well received by some of the undergrads in mixed classes, based on the comments they would make to me about them, or which I would overhear.   It would be hard for late law and med school students, too.  Let's not kid ourselves.  Lawyers and doctors told me that older students have even more hurdles than those who went shortly after their undergraduate studies who also encounter a tremendous amount of stress in those curricula, without the extra stress that would come from a long delay.  Decisions, decisions.

^^ As for the kindergarten like studio, the only one like that was the very first one.  After working in the real world, I thought "This is a joke, right?"  However, from the second studio onward, all of the projects were very practical, true to life, and had very fleshed out programs, that we were either given or had to construct on our own off of a skeletal baseline.  But, wow, if there were more studios like the first one, I would have been real disappointed with my education.

I'm 32 and don't plan on starting grad school for another year or two or three depending on my finances.  Since I see myself doing architecture for the long run, I see no rush in grad school since I was a little late with undergrad anyway.  I'm however doing some project/business on the side, not related to architecture, that will compensate for the poor pay in architecture and times when jobs are tough to come by.