Ethics of Transferring?

[anonymo]

I came out of undergrad with really excellent credentials, but, unfortunately, my experience,coursework, and research had all been in outside of the applied statisticsfield that I eventually decided to pursue for graduate school. I think it's because of this that I did very poorly in this year’s application process, and only got into my safety school.

There was one school I interviewed at where I connected very strongly with a couple of the professors on staff. There is work I could do at that departmentthat I'm afraid I can't really do most other places, including the department where I was accepted. So I'm strongly considering building up my resume bydoing a year at the school I was accepted to, and then reapplying again as an entry level PhD student.

My concern of course, is for the department I'd be transferring out of. They would essentially be paying me to take classes (In their schedule I’d dovery little research my first year) and then I'd be leaving instead of contributing back to them by working as a RA. Is this highly uncouth? Would I be making enemies in a small world? Would grad programs not want to accept a defector? It seems like the smart thing to do, but somewhat dirty. Are there better options?

Thanks very much everyone...

Edited March 14, 2011 by anonymo

[cslamsat]

I must say: I do not think this is very ethical, nor do I think you will have much luck transferring out of your school (good luck getting the faculty to write you a letter of rec).

I'm not sure what other advice there is to offer.

I'm sorry.

[anonymo]

I must say: I do not think this is very ethical, nor do I think you will have much luck transferring out of your school (good luck getting the faculty to write you a letter of rec).

I'm not sure what other advice there is to offer.

I'm sorry.

OK. A friend of mine in the industry recommended that I do this but I wanted a second opinion. It did not seem very different from transferring, or dropping out, after receiving a MA, which I thought that this was not uncommon. Right? Or am I kidding myself?

Much appreciated

[Eigen]

You don't mention your discipline, but my understanding is that a transfer in itself is somewhat of a black mark on your record. Not impossible to get around, but something you really want to avoid if you can.

It makes the new school wonder if you'll stick out the graduate program with them, or if something will make you leave/transfer again.

There's also the difficulty in getting good LORs from your current institution when you transfer.

Past the "mechanics" of a transfer, it's ethically really shaky to go one place intending to transfer out after a short period of time. In smaller fields, I would think this can hurt you down the road. The school is investing 4-6 years of funding in you, at the expense of another student that would stick around. If you leave after the first year, that doesn't mean they can easily reallocate the funding they were giving you and take on one more student the next year. You've essentially shorted them a grad student.

::edit:: To clarify: If you find yourself in a situation where you have to transfer (really can't stand your advisor, advisor left, etc) it is certainly possible- and you can often get the support of people from the school you are leaving in these situations. But you shouldn't put yourself in a position where you will need to transfer down the road.

Edited March 14, 2011 by Eigen

[stansfield]

there's nothing unethical about it, it's your life. professors would write you rec letters as long as you do well in your classes.

[Xero735]

If you are leaving after a particular junction (i.e. getting your masters) it is not looked down upon. A lot of people have problems with a variety of things. You may not enjoy the research that is going on there, you may hate the city, or the school, or there may be personal reasons for leaving. I don't think people are going to look down upon you for that. They will ask you why you are leaving and you better have a good story why you are leaving from school A to school B but other than that you should be fine.