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Hi everyone, This thread has been incredibly insightful, thank you @hotpotato for asking and thank you to everyone for answering. I'm in the same boat, but things are a little more complicated as the PhD/PI I'm having issues of fit with is actually the place I did my undergrad in. I've been considering the same thing due to a lack of fit as I mentioned, and this lack of fit is mainly a result of a slight change in research interests (and career interests) over the past 6 months. A lot can change even in the time between applying to schools back in November and now. Some of you mentioned that you did a MA before reapplying to PhD programs, and others of you took a gap year. I was wondering if there's any insight on the pros and cons of each option in terms of bettering yourself for reapplication. I've heard that admissions look more favorably on work done during a gap year than a MA, but it seems that this is directed towards MA that aren't research focused/paid out-of-pocket, or towards people who didn't necessarily do much themselves during their MA program (other than simply finishing it). To give you more background information, I'm deciding between doing a funded research MA for 2 years or taking a gap year (and trying to get volunteer research assistant positions) to improve myself for reapplication. Thanks in advance! And I know this decision is tough-- I've already gotten some flack for even considering the idea of turning down this PhD offer, mostly by friends/people I know in the department though. I really emphasize that I'm not trying to reapply simply because I'm unsatisfied with the ranking or prestige of the program-- I love the school and believe in its work. I mean, I chose to go to undergrad here! The fit simply isn't great and I don't think it's fair for me or the PI to embark on this journey with half of my heart still unsure about how happy I'll be with the research I can reasonably do with them (given our differences in interest). Basically, this is a long winded way for me to say that I totally feel you and I hope we can both do what's best for ourselves-- whatever that may be.

Hey WhyTry, thank you for the advice and reassuring words! I was hoping I was overthinking things so I'm relieved to hear everyone's responses haha. And thanks for sharing your application journey, it really helps a lot to know that other people also went through periods of changing interests. You're right, I realized I have to stick to what I want and do what's best for myself. I'll definitely be sure to write thank you cards. Again, thanks for all the advice and encouragement!

Hello, thank you for your reply! I really appreciate the advice. If I don't hear back from other programs in the next few weeks I'll probably go ahead and talk to my adviser about everything as you both suggested. I can't change how I feel/what I want, my only regret is that I didn't come to this conclusion sooner for my adviser's sake. Thank you for the encouragement, especially on the part about good advisers wanting their students to succeed. My partner was telling me the same thing and it's definitely a valuable point.

Thank you for your response! I agree, being straightforward would be the best course of action. I'm going to mull it over for a bit longer before I decide, but if I do plan on reapplying next cycle, I plan on having an honest conversation about my interdisciplinary interests. I see that there's no way around it if I were to not get accepted anywhere else, anyway. I'm not set on this gap year thing as I do have interest in this adviser's research, so I still have some thinking to do. I just wish there were opportunities to do research (and later do applied/career related work) on the secondary concentration of that discipline. I didn't mention this earlier, but the profession I might want to go into requires a graduate degree with the secondary concentration, so that's also a limitation of doing purely this first concentration. And like earlier... I kind of only realized that I wanted to do this profession around now. (I was planning on going the academia/professorship route previously). This all probably sounds incredibly flaky on paper lol, but I genuinely tried to figure out my interests before applying. Anyway, thanks again.

Hello everyone,This is my first post on gradcafe. I'm trying to omit as much identifying details as I can, so I apologize in advance if this is confusing or lengthy. I got admission into the PhD program at the same university I attended for undergraduate. This was originally my "safety" option, and the mentor/adviser is someone I've worked closely with during my undegrad research years. I haven't gotten any interview offers for any of the other schools I applied to, and I'm starting to worry that I won't get in anywhere else. I could just take this admission, but I'm struggling to feel confident about this decision... for 2 reasons: 1. I'm not completely sure that I want to do this JUST this specific concentration of my discipline anymore. Basically, I've been trying to choose between 2 concentrations of my major, and my school only offers an official program for one of them. Which means there's no possibility for me to pursue the secondary interest in any capacity, whether it's through a second mentor or through applied work (as there is no dedicated department for it). The other schools I applied to have both of these concentrations as many people study an intersection of both. I was hoping to study in this intersection, or at least leave room for myself to do collaborative work that touches on both subjects.2. I feel that I wasn't well prepared to apply to grad school this cycle. I spread myself thin across many applications, and across several disciplines of my major. I think I ultimately didn't know what I wanted to research, and only realized it when I found myself in a circumstance where I couldn't have certain research topics as an option for my PhD. I feel that if I spent more time researching the programs and PIs early on, I would have been able to craft a much better application to the schools that I really wanted to go to. That, and taking the next year to do more research and applied work. I didn't contact PIs early and do the homework months ahead as many successful applicants have. I should've just narrowed down what I wanted to research and worked really hard on a handful of applications.These apprehensions are pretty fundamental to my career trajectory so I feel that I should turn it down and reapply to my dream programs next year. However, I'm concerned about turning down my adviser as I will need their recommendation letter again next year when I go through the application cycle again. Like I mentioned, I have worked with them intimately for the past years and they wrote my strongest recommendation letter. I'm sure they'll use a similar letter again, but I would still have to go through the motions of asking them whether they'd be willing to be my letter writer again. I feel like I have justified reasons for turning down the admission, but I'm scared that it will be awkward between me and them if I turn it down considering I'm not doing for another immediate acceptance. Should I be concerned, or am I worrying unnecessarily? I'm racking my brain trying to figure out what to do because I am genuinely interested in this PI's research and this concentration of my major in general. I thought I would be okay with doing this program if I had been rejected by programs with more interdisciplinary emphasis, but I guess I was wrong. I also don't want to burn any bridges or hurt any feelings. Thanks in advance, and sorry about the super long post.