[jaykz52]

I've been thinking lately of (finally) pursuing graduate studies, and data mining is an area that I find drawn to. Obviously Stanford is doing some significant research in this area, but I've been out of academia for 4 years and I somehow doubt I'd be a competitive applicant. Does anybody have personal experience with other universities/programs that are doing extensive research that they'd like to share? It'd be greatly appreciated!

[eob]

I was out of school for 3 years before going back to pursue a PhD. It can be done, but you're going to have to put in a lot of work the first year getting back into the swing of academia, and even more if you're going back to specialize in something you don't already do.

[tocomment]

have no advice for you but i'd be very curious to hear what you end up doing. I'm 30 and have 0 idea how to get into a phd program. Drop me a line sometime.