Hello all. I am currently in the enviable position of choosing between acceptance offers from several great PhD programs. Problem is, that list does not include the program my current PI is a part of. What's the best way to tell my boss I'm going elsewhere for my PhD without sounding ungrateful, and what's the appropriate time to break this news?
So first, some background info. My field is in the life sciences. I worked in industry for several years, and only decided to seriously pursue grad school last summer. While I had lots of work experience, some of it research-oriented, I felt I needed at least some time in academia to 1)bolster my application profile, and 2)make sure I would be compatible with the academic environment. This was particularly important to me because I had virtually no undergrad research experience and was years removed from my last academic experience in college. So last fall I signed on with my current PI as a research associate, at the local university. My work in his lab has undoubtedly filled a hole in my resume.
My PI is very supportive and nice when it comes to matters of career development. While he encouraged me specifically to apply to the PhD program at Local U, he also repeatedly emphasized that I should pick the program that's best for my career. He supplied a very nice LOR (and let me review it before sending) despite the fact I'd only worked for him 3 months at that point. When I began the application process, I picked several programs that I thought were “reaches”, one seemingly more realistic one, and the program at Local U. I went into things knowing that Local U's program wasn't really what I was looking for, but that if I liked the research I was already doing with my PI, it wouldn't really matter so much.
Unfortunately, the last few months have made me realize I don't really like the research I'm doing now. It's a departure from the subfield in which I worked for many years, and in general bores me to death. To make things worse, I've discovered that my PI is very difficult to work with when co-authoring a paper (I won't go into detail here). Add to that the fact that the program is obviously not a great fit interest-wise, and I came to the conclusion I wouldn't be attending Local U well before I heard back about an interview.
Fast forward to today, and I'm sitting on my third acceptance letter: two of my top three as well as the “realistic” fit, which turns out to compare surprisingly well to the top programs. I've also gone through the recruitment day for Local U; while all of the interviewing professors were perfectly nice and some had decently interesting research, the overall small size, lack of a cohesive core curriculum, and general disorganization of the administrative staff only further emphasized the fact that the program is not on the same level as my other choices.
I'm now debating whether to come right out and tell my PI I won't be attending Local U, even before I've heard back on a decision and before I've picked which program I do want to attend. I don't want to string him along when I've firmly made up my mind, nor do I wish to hoard an acceptance to Local U that could go to someone who wants it. However, I also feel like withdrawing now is basically saying “I don't know yet which is best, but I know you ain't it!”.
Complicating the situation further is the fact that I'm on contract with this lab until the end of August, but would really like to leave early to do an early summer rotation at whichever program I pick. I'm not sure how legally binding the contract term is, given that I live in a state with at-will employment, but I don't really want things to get to the point of legal nitpicking.
So, fellow GradCafe-ers, how would you advise I handle the situation? Lay it all on the table now? Or wait until I've decided on a program? And how do I cite a reason for declining that is both tactful and truthful?