beyondthestream

Hi everyone. I began my PhD program this past Fall at what is a top four ranked program in my 'general' field of study within Philosophy. I was not accepted at the other top two programs I was interested in. I thought things would go well, because the program initially showed a great deal of interest in the specific areas I am interested in, but unfortunately this has not been the case. Without going into too much detail for reasons of discretion, this program has essentially stopped offering many courses that are in my specific area as they did in the past and many of the professors who have remained in the department are very inflexible. I have just enough allies to form a dissertation committee, but so far it feels like a constant uphill battle. When I presented an idea for a final paper to a professor, I received the response "that cannot count as Philosophy," despite the fact that the idea was analogous to the paper I wrote as my writing sample and would fit easily at the other two departments I did not get into. I've had professors in other classes treat my ideas as a distraction, or inapplicable, when I know they are major themes at other departments. Furthermore, I've noticed the students here tend to re-affirm what the department imposes on them as opposed to creating their own projects. It's staggering to me how many upper year students seem to be writing dissertations that could have been written by their professors in the 50s-80s. Personally, I know what my interests are and I continue to educated myself outside of my courses and I do not plan to acquiesce to this structure where the professors essentially impose what they want students to study onto them. I know that I will write my dissertation on what I am interested in, but I am wondering if, down the road, it will be a significant liability that I have essentially had to 'self-teach' these topics to me because my institution is not displaying the interest in the topics it initially did. Would it be advisable to try transferring to one of the other two schools? I am worried about burning bridges in the process, and I am not sure they would accept me given they did not in the past, but I am trying to gauge if it would be worth a shot to do so after I finish my MA at my current program. What it comes down to for me is if it is worth it to simply 'swim against the grain' at my program for 6 years or if it would be more advisable for career reasons to try to transfer sooner rather than later. Thank you in advance for the advice.