i have completed my masters degree (m.sc.) in 1990 and had wanted to do ph.d. even then and had initiated the admission process, however due to personal reasons i had to give it up and have been working for the last 20 years in non-scientific fields... and now, i am again thinking of pursuing ph.d... i m riddled with doubts though because it has been a long time since i last was in college and would like to know what is required of me before i apply.. what preparations should i do so that i can get funded admission to the ph.d. program and how to go about it... will it even be possible to get admission in a ph.d. program at 45??? pls help!!

I did this help page for students whilst I was doing post-doc a few years ago (I pointed them to the webpage rather than be bombarded with questions) and recently did a little update.

http://www.wearthesis.talktalk.net

Hope that helps!!! :-)