NatsumeHeidegger

Hi all, I am currently in my first semester of my PhD program, and I am fairly certain that I do not want to complete the program, but want to take a master's degree and get a job. Now that I'm here, I enjoy academia well enough, but not enough to justify the risk, since it's so competitive. When is the appropriate time to notify my department about my decision? I want to wait a while to make sure I am certain this is what I want to do, but I don't want to wait too long, since the course requirements are different, and since it seems unethical to wait until I am close to the master's to tell them. I also am worried about letting them know right now since it's just my first semester, and I don't want to burn bridges by making it look like I just accepted to get a free MA. If I let them know at this time, is it likely that my funding for next year will be threatened, since PhD students get priority over MA students?

Hi all, I have an idea of what the answer will be, but I wanted to hear people's views on this anyways. After applying for PhD programs this year, I received my only offer of admission at the last minute. It was a "safety school" I had applied to based on advice from one my undergraduate professors, and they advised me to take the offer and transfer up to a better program after my masters. Now, though, after reading that some admissions committees are hesitant to accept students transferring from another PhD program, I am having second thoughts about whether accepting was a good idea. At the same time, I have received a few offers for non-academic jobs I had applied for several months ago (thinking I had been shut out of graduate school for the year) that I now think may be better than continuing in academia if it is going to be an uphill battle. So my question is whether there is any acceptable way, that won't keep me from ever getting into another graduate program in the future, to back out at this point. I know it seems ridiculous to want to back out before I have even started, but if there is an acceptable way to do it, I would rather quit now than spend two years getting a masters. If not, as I assume is probably the case, I will probably just stop after my masters. I appreciate your time and your responses.