betweenarock

Hi guys, Thanks for the responses; they do make me feel better. I mainly feel guilt when writing the application essays and I talk passionately about how I envision my future in a lab and field where I don't actually envision my future. I guess I will just have to accept the reality of the situation.

Hi all, I have a bit of a situation that's making me feel uneasy. I'm a 2nd year PhD student who has joined lab A within the last 2-3 months. I'm also working on an NSF proposal, as well as some other fellowship proposals. Unfortunately, I find myself really drawn to the research being done in another (topically, rather different) lab B in the department. At this point, I'm rather determined to leave lab A and join lab B possibly within the next 3-6 months. My current adviser in lab A has some inkling that I may be interested in switching groups, but does not know definitely yet of my plans. However, in all of my fellowship applications, I'm writing as if I were highly committed to the work I'm currently doing in lab A, and committed to becoming a leader in this field, as one must do in order to sell the fellowship application. In reality, I have no intention of remaining in this field or lab. To me, frankly, this is dishonest, and especially an affront to my adviser in lab A who is writing a LOR for me. At the same time, everything I'm doing is technically permissible by the rules of the fellowships (as the 2 labs are in the same department). I could pass it all off under the guise of having a change in research interests after the writing of the fellowships. Any advice?