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This has been great. Thank you everyone so much for your advice.

Thank you everyone for your advice. Ghanada, you are correct, I am only in the MS program, not the PhD program, so I suppose it should be acceptable that I apply to other institutions while I finish my intended Masters. Though I guess I would also need to take the qualifying exam here at UMD in case I do not get accepted anywhere else I apply. I think I am going to try to meet with an aero professor at MIT over the summer to discuss my options, and also to get a better sense of my chances of acceptance. The two things that worry me the most about switching schools are: - Disappointing/pissing off my advisor - Adding a year or so to my overall time spent in school (since I would likely be switching research projects)

Thank you for the input. My program isn't technically a combined MS/PhD but it seems most students make the transition from being a masters student to a doctoral student pretty seamlessly. Does anyone have any experience with this in engineering or the physical sciences?

Hi, I am a first year aerospace engineering grad student at UMD (University of Maryland), and as of now, I am only on track to get a Masters. I recently applied for a couple of fellowships, but am currently unfunded. I mentioned to my advisor that I was considering doing a PhD, and now he seems to assume that I am set on staying on for a PhD at UMD. He gave me a research project on the PhD timescale, and he's also mentioned the qualifying exams to me. If I do decide to get a PhD, is it generally looked down upon to try to switch schools without a good reason? I would most likely want to apply to MIT and Princeton. At the end of this semester I expect to have a 3.7 GPA, and my GRE scores are (revised test, I took it recently): Quantitative: 168, Verbal: 165, Analytical: 5.5 (all three are 96th percentile). Now I assume Princeton and MIT are both difficult to get in to, does anyone know how competitive it is for aerospace grad students who already have a Masters? My reasons for considering a switch would be: - Living in a more interesting location (College Park kinda sucks. Also I went to undergrad in Massachusetts so I have friends up there. I also grew up in Maryland and I find Maryland to be a bit boring. I would love to live in Boston, however.) - Going to a more prestigious school (UMD's aerospace is ranked high, but MIT is #1) - I'd be interested in a different research project (my project is interesting, but I don't think the end concept is all too viable. Seems a bit far-fetched) My reasons against transferring would be: - If I start another research project, it could add a year or so overall to the time I spend in school - My advisor might get pissed (though he himself is an MIT grad) - MIT might be much more difficult than UMD (but I don't know) - There's nothing really wrong with staying at UMD (besides my boredom for the state of Maryland)