Courted into a crappy program post MA. Too late to get out?

[pcoj]

I finished my MA in poli sci at a masters institution, and applied broadly to doctoral programs. I was accepted into two top-30 departments, but accepted placement at a much lower ranked program due to a multi-year fellowship offer.

I am now one year into the program here, and I want out. This school does not place its candidates well, and the only two faculty members who do work in either my substantive or methodological areas are leaving the department. I have a completed a dissertation prospectus under the advice of one of these two, but because he no longer holds a faculty appointment in the department, I am left with no suitable candidates for chair, or even for readers.

I plan to apply to the same two programs that accepted me for 2011 admission, as well as several others. Will the fact that I chose to accept an offer from a school that is so poorly regarded be counted against me? Do top departments generally reject applicants who have done post-MA work? If not, will these schools be looking for letters from my MA institution (where I conducted research with professors and wrote and defended my thesis) or from my current Ph.D. program (where I have only taken classes).

I appreciate any advice you may be able to provide.

[kaykaykay]

short answer is : no. I was in a very similar situation as you and managed to transfer. Your reasons are very legit. Maybe you can get recommendations from the leaving faculty if they leave for good reasons because they can explain the exact situation in your department, as well as you can get into touch with some of your old recommenders if you update them about your problems. Of course you will compete with all new applicants though and may or may not get into the same departments as the last time so apply widely with new places in the mix.

[comp12]

I agree that your reasons are legit and that it would be an acceptable idea to try to transfer. If you wanted out just because "you don't like it" then you may potentially burn a bunch of bridges in the field, as they say. However, your circumstances seem valid and like the exact situation that faces people who switch programs.

[Penelope Higgins]

Most places will require at least some coursework and that you take qualifying exams in their department, so prepare yourself for spending some extra time in the classroom if you do get accepted somewhere. Of course, you can use the opportunity to take coursework on topic X as a justification for why the department to which you are applying fits your interests better than the one you're currently attending.

[pcoj]

Thank you all for your advice. I fully expect that I will need to do coursework in residence and take comps again. It will be worth it because no faculty member at my current institution is able to speak to my work. I have actually gotten more informed / more useful feedback on my work in 3 minutes from panel discussants than I was ever able to get from faculty who are still in my department.

Regarding the professor who supervised my dissertation proposal, I'm not entirely sure that he's leaving "for good reasons." He was just tenured last year, but word around the department is that he has decided to leave academia. (I can't imagine why someone would do that after just having gone through the tenure review process and coming out an assoc., so I'm sure there's more to the story.)

Any further insights will be appreciated.