kgbfan

Thank you for all your replies. The clear answer is to leave with a degree, even if it is somewhat redundant. It's interesting you bring up the points regarding the difficulty securing a full-time position. In fact, this is one of the reasons I decided to enroll in a PhD program in the first place. If I'm being realistic, all of this boils down to two choices: finish the program in order to have a decent shot at my dream job or leave the program with a second masters and settle for part-time adjunct positions and/or an office job. Kinda depressing.

Thank you for the response, AMTS. The points you make make a lot of sense. I haven't completely ruled out staying, but I already know if I do, it'll be not just a struggle, but a drawn-out torturous process. I'm still debating whether I want to go through with it. And yes, talking to a counselor is a good idea. I'll be making an appointment today.

I'm currently enrolled in an applied math PhD program (I already have an MS in biostatistics). With the exception of a one-unit special topics seminar, I've fulfilled all the course and qualifying exam requirements. Now that I'm in the research phase of my program, I'm realizing more and more that research isn't my forte, nor is it something I enjoy doing. Without the structure of coursework and preparing for exams, I've just been flailing. If I'm being honest with myself, becoming a instructor/community college professor is what I would enjoy doing most, and TA'ing for the last three years has helped confirm that. Let's say, hypothetically, I were to leave the program and apply for teaching/instructor positions. What would be my best course of action? If I go the MS route, I stay an extra semester to write a scholarly paper (basically a short literature review of a specific topic) and apply for teaching positions. Funding isn't an issue since I have a TA-ship. If I just quit without a 2nd MS, I basically save myself a semester's worth of time and get to solely focus on applying for jobs. I guess my main question is, which path do you think makes me more desirable to prospective community college hiring committees if there's any difference at all? Below are some other pros and cons I would also take into consideration. 2nd MS Pros: 1) Makes last three years feel less like they were a waste of time (i.e. less cognitive dissonance) and 2) adds another degree to my CV 2nd MS Cons: 1) Ignores fact that I was in a PhD program and completed all but dissertation essentially 2) has a lot of overlap with my first MS Any help or insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Btw, I hope this is the appropriate forum for posting; if not, I would greatly appreciate if you moved it accordingly.

I'm currently enrolled in an applied math PhD program (I already have an MS in biostatistics). With the exception of a one-unit special topics seminar, I've fulfilled all the course and qualifying exam requirements. Now that I'm in the research phase of my program, I'm realizing more and more that research isn't my forte, nor is it something I enjoy doing. Without the structure of coursework and preparing for exams, I've just been flailing. If I'm being honest with myself, becoming a instructor/community college professor is what I would enjoy doing most, and TA'ing for the last three years has helped confirm that. Let's say, hypothetically, I were to leave the program and apply for teaching/instructor positions. What would be my best course of action? If I go the MS route, I stay an extra semester to write a scholarly paper (basically a short literature review of a specific topic) and apply for teaching positions. Funding isn't an issue since I have a TA-ship. If I just quit without a 2nd MS, I basically save myself a semester's worth of time and get to solely focus on applying for jobs. I guess my main question is, which path do you think makes me more desirable to prospective community college hiring committees if there's any difference at all? Below are some other pros and cons I would also take into consideration. 2nd MS Pros: 1) Makes last three years feel less like they were a waste of time (i.e. less cognitive dissonance) and 2) adds another degree to my CV 2nd MS Cons: 1) Ignores fact that I was in a PhD program and completed all but dissertation essentially 2) has a lot of overlap with my first MS Any help or insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Btw, I hope this is the appropriate forum for posting; if not, I would greatly appreciate if you moved it accordingly.

Were you offered funding? I remember you mentioned that you were on the waitlist for funding and was considering going even if it wasn't offered. Either way, congratulations!!!

This seems sensible and is what I'll most likely do. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question.

Well here's the thing: I only started in January. My partner and I moved across the country at the end of the year so he could be closer to family, so I applied to jobs in order to support myself. At the time, I did not know if I was 100% certain that I was ready to do PhD, let alone that I would get into any of the 3 programs to which I applied. Needless to say, it turns out I was accepted somewhere and I couldn't be more excited about starting. During the application process, I purposely did not disclose that I had applied to three PhD programs knowing that if I had, I probably wouldn't have been offered the job (I did mention I was interested about doing a PhD sometime in the future, but still). I could see how they might feel burned by me not having disclosed that.

I am dependent on my income up until the very end, so I am inclined to tell my employer that I am quitting later rather than sooner. Question is, which explanation is less likely to burn bridges--saying I'm leaving for a PhD or saying I'm leaving for personal reasons?

Are you trolling?

Accepted to 7 Phd programs...not too shabby! Congratulations! Thank you so much for taking the time to respond! I've decided to I'm going to Maryland after all.

I can't emphasize enough how grateful I am to all of you for taking the time to provide your take on the situation. 8 people said UMD and 2 said GW, so UMD it is! But in all seriousness, after sleeping on it and having an in-depth discussion with my partner about which program was more conducive to my long-term career goals, I have decided to go with UMD! My intuition tells me I would be downright miserable taking night classes while working full time. Some people are equipped to handle that, but I feel like I'm not, at least not without becoming burned out in the process. Besides, I just can't pass up a guaranteed 5 year funding package over a position that is less certain. Having the peace of mind is worth the smaller stipend to me. In fact, the more I ruminate on the issue, the more I realize I don't want to go down the path that a biostatistics degree would lead me down. It turns out that I am finding myself more excited about the research I could potentially be doing at UMD than at GW. With all this in mind, UMD seems like the best choice for me. I will be accepting their offer first thing tomorrow.

Congratulations! As braindump said, there wasn't really a wrong decision.

I am honored that you chose to write your first post in my thread. Thank you for your input, though, really. At first I thought it was kind of a no brainer, but you and footballman2399's post prove otherwise. I have a lot of ruminating to do tonight. So GW's deadline is May 1st and UMD's is April 17, and no, GW doesn't know about the time crunch. Based on what was said during the interview, I got the impression that the hiring process couldn't really be expedited. I suppose I could ask UMD for an extension, but, I don't know...do I really want to be in limbo for a few more weeks? Besides I think it's highly unlikely they'd give me that long.

So after today's interview, I found out that the earliest I could be offered the position at GW is long after May 1st. I know that it's likely I'll be offered the position, but the lack of a guarantee would make it hard for me to pass up guaranteed funding at Maryland.

That's exactly what I'm worried about. I can already see myself feeling overwhelmed with having to work that much. Thank you for your response. I find that the flexibility and collaborative opportunities are especially appealing considering I haven't narrowed down my research focus quite yet. That's a very good point Now that I think of it, I only know of one student who was offered a TAship at GW and nobody else who was offered a full-time position like I was, so I wouldn't be surprised if my cohort were no larger than 2. I was told UMD's cohort is 10 students. Those are all very good points. If I were more confident that I could handle such a grueling schedule, I would probably opt for GW for those reasons. And yes most of their stat courses are offered at night, which is convenient, but also a little depressing. I've always preferred morning/afternoon courses over night courses.

Thank you for responding! That is what I'm thinking as well. I figured I should get some outside input before being too hasty in making my decision, so thank you for that.

Thank you! I'm actually not 100% sure. I actually give the details delineating the pros and cons in this thread: What would you do in my situation?

I'm having trouble coming to a decision between these two as I am in a somewhat unique situation. Any input/insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated. I was accepted into GW's PhD program in Biostatistics in February without any formal funding package, however, it was suggested that I get in touch with the school's Biostatistics Center to talk about obtaining full-time employment (35 hours a week, 9-4 M-F) in exchange for 90% tuition remission for two courses per semester (half-time status, which comes out to about $1000 per semester not including fees/books) and about 60K a year as my annual salary. The courses are at night, so there wouldn't be any time conflicts. I was told by their HR dept. that they were definitely interested and that they would contact me soon. I also recently came to find out that 24 of my units from my Master's program would be transferrable, which would decrease my time to completion by 1-2 years. The graduate director also mentioned many students end up tying their work at the Center into their dissertation. This is all great and dandy except I have gone weeks without hearing from them, that is, until today. I've yet to call them back, and there is no guarantee I'll be offered a job by the end of this week, if at all. Now here is where things get interesting. Early this morning, I came to find out I've been taken off the waitlist for the University of Maryland's AMSC PhD program with guaranteed funding for 5 or 6 years, which includes 100% tuition remission, 20K TAship, and 10K fellowship (5K X 2 years). Pretty neat, right? I have until this Friday to notify them of my decision. Here are the pros and cons I've come up with: George Washington Pros: 1) High yearly salary as compared to UMD's stipend 2) More course options that are related to what I studied during my Master's (Biostats, but I'm definitely open to branching out) 3) Research fit is slightly better than University of Maryland's 4) Entire department is dedicated to Biostatistics Cons: 1) More course requirements, but transferred credits from Master's helps mitigates this 2) Huge time commitment commuting and working at the Biostatistics Center 5 days a week, which might affect my quality of life (this one is a BIG con for me) 3) Not a big fan of being tied to one particular job in order to finance my education (Also a BIG con) 4) Only 90% remission, but salary mitigates this 5) Funding not yet secured, but will interview over the phone today 5) Program is unranked, although its Stats program is ranked at #53 4) Less prestigious overall University of Maryland Pros: 1) More variety in course offerings and research topics outside of statistics (I only have a vague idea as to what I want to research, to be perfectly honest) 2) Fewer course requirements 3) I get to be a full-time student and work part-time instead of the other way around 4)100% tuition remission and guaranteed funding 5) More prestigious overall (Ranked #10 in Applied Math) Cons: 1) Department emphasizes applied math more than statistics (but like I said, I am open to branching out) 2) Fewer statistics course offerings 3) Significantly smaller annual income 4) Few if any of my credits are transferable I should add that I am still unsure whether I want a career in academia or industry. So given all of this, where should I go, assuming I am offered a position by this Friday?

I've been taken off the waitlist today and given till the 17th to decide! Woohoo!

Scratch that...I found the acceptance letter in my inbox this morning ! This goes to show that it is possible to be taken off the waitlist this late in the game. The deadline to let them know is this Friday.

April 15th and no word from Maryland.

So which programs are everybody attending afterall?

It sounds like Berkeley offers more breadth, while Stanford offers more depth in your research area. Some questions you need to ask yourself are: 1) How important is it that my degree say "Mathematics" versus "Statistics"? 2) Am I willing to compromise having to take a few applied statistics courses and forgo the flexibility of being allowed to take variety of electives in order to have more opportunities to delve deeper into research area? 3) Which program is more conducive to my career goals? 4) Am I willing to give up working with an excellent advisor to work with a new advisor in a new environment? Am I OK with staying at Berkeley for an additional 5 years? 5) What does your heart tell you?

Sounds promising if they're contacting you to see if you're still interested. There's no guarantee you'll get accepted, but I'd say hearing from them is better than not hearing anything at all.

$10,000 isn't much in the long run, and it sounds like you'd be significantly happier in Cambridge/Boston. Plus, having MIT listed on on your resume will give you a considerable edge over almost everybody else (all else being equal) during job interviews. I would go with MIT, but what does your heart tell you? Either way, you can't really go wrong with either.