Consider leaving my PhD and reapply for masters + suggestions needed

[AliasName]

Hi everyone,

I am a domestic student currently finishing my first year at one of the TOP6 biostatistics PhD program. Although I am truly grateful to be accepted and being able to study at such a prestigious school, I have been seriously considering leaving the program and reapply to other masters programs in the US. There is nothing wrong with the program and the people there. It is more of me realizing that spending the next few years in research and more thoeretically dense studies are really not my true interests. Looking back at my own PhD application process, I realized that I made the decision of applying not because I truely want to pursue such a degree but because other people said that I should and that a PhD will give me advantage in future career. My desire to succeed and pass my courses really can't help anymore when I am not interested in what I'm learning and as the courses get more difficult. I have reached a point where I simply do not want and cannot dive deeper in the coursework and the stress is really playing a toll on my mental state. 

My initial goal with a PhD degree is also to go into the industry, so a masters is perfectly fine with me even if it means that I need to pay full tuition for 2 years (which is acceptable). I also know that the industry career trajectories for people with PhD degress is significantly better, but I think I am contend with what a masters degree can do. I know this is a decision that will make me so much happier and that is all I want.  Also, I went directly from undergraduate with GPA 3.9 (another very well-ranked school in the US and to be less specific lets say it's a approximately a TOP15 overall or a TOP5 LAC) to graduate school, so all of my application materials are reusable and require little editing. All 3 of my recommenders will be the same from my undergraduate.

Now, I have been mainly considering Data Science Masters and Biostatistics Masters. Would anyone give their perspectives on students leaving a PhD and reapply for those masters? Is this really doable, and with my profile, do I have a chance at the best DS/stat/biostat masters programs? Additionally, even if it is with my current program, I will need to reapply for the master's biostat program. I guess my biggest fear is that I spent the summers of my undergraduate doing research instead of internships, which I thought may carry less weight in the eyes of master's admissions? Will this 1-year PhD experience still look bad if I explain my realization of true interst in my application essay? Thank you so much in advance for anyone who is willing to help.

[Sigaba]

@AliasName FWIW, in the social sciences and humanities, graduate students can (but not always) qualify for a master's degree by banging out the required classes and/or preparing a thesis or a report and/or passing qualifying exams. If such options are available to you, you could earn your masters and then consider your options (stay and continue on or go elsewhere and start again).

If you get a master's where you currently are, you may have the opportunity to get LoRs from professors at your current institution. (This is to say you could have LoRs from professors who can write on your ability to do work at the graduate level.)

Who knows...a professor or two may decide to lean in and understand why you want to leave and maybe give you additional information. Examples may include opportunities to take classes at a sister school and/or have professors at that school sit on your committees.

What ever you decide to do, please consider the benefits of providing updates in this thread. Each season, newly admitted graduate students as well as first and second year graduate students ask these kinds of questions. How you navigate your dilemma may help others down the line.

[Stat Assistant Professor]

@AliasName Since you already completed one year in your current program and you are presumably fully funded as a PhD student, I am not sure how much sense it makes to jump ship and reapply to (most likely) unfunded Masters programs. Unless you can get your first-year credits in your present program to transfer over to a new program, you would need to repeat the first year sequence in another Biostatistics Masters program anyway. And even one year of paying out-of-pocket for a Masters seems like a poor financial choice when you are already currently funded. 

 If you are really certain than you do not want to do a PhD, are you able to leave with a Masters if you were to complete a second year in your current program? I would be surprised if this is not an option. FWIW, I do know people from my own PhD program who received PhD passes on their qualifying exams (so they could have remained in the PhD program), but they left with a Masters due to lack of interest. I would explore options of finishing with a Masters in your current program, since: 1) you're fully funded, and 2) if you are already in a PhD program and you haven't been dismissed, it's often a better idea to leave it with a Masters if you do decide not to finish. If that is an option, you could consider taking mostly elective classes that are more relevant to your interests rather than required PhD theoretical classes.

[bayessays]

People leave their PhD programs with an MS all the time.  I would be utterly shocked if your program did not allow this.  Talk to your advisor/the grad program chair and figure out how you can stay and leave with an MS.  Your first year of courses is probably the same, so even in the worst case that they cut off your assistantship, you'd still save money compared to starting over somewhere else.

You can re-apply and I'm sure you'll have a lot of success, but really ask if that's the best path for you.  I'd do anything I can to try to make it work at your current program to leave with an MS, which will save you lots of time and money.  And you go to a top program, so it doesn't make sense to transfer down.