Changing PhD programs/grad schools after Masters

[global_nomad]

Hi All,

I'm looking for advice about switching grad schools. How feasible is it and how frowned upon? My situtation may be a bit different from the norm as I am an international student in a US PhD program. I would not reapply to programs in the US, but to either my country of citizenship or to my country of residence. Would this or my reasons below make the move less frowned upon?

Reasons for leaving US/moving programs

1) My husband has a US work visa but cannot find a decent job. He has basically comitted career suicide as he had a really good career in our country of residence which he could easily re-establish if we were to return.

2) My adviser is very difficult to work with - aside from personality disorders, she is too paranoid to share data or give me a part of the project to work on, but is then unwilling for me to work on another project. She is near retirement and does not appear to care about her students anymore, she doesn't help any of us publish nor is she interested in helping us make connections in the field.

3) I am not enjoying life in the US. Despite many cool things about the country, there are just as many that being a foreigner don't sit well with me. We also really dislike the college town we live in. We're in the middle of nowhere - which has contributed to no 1.- but also seriously affects our quality of life. This might sound a stupid reason, but the thought of being stuck here for another 5-odd years is really depressing.

4) There are some family issues on my husband's side that are drawing us back to our country of citizenship.

I am in my second year and due to take my Masters exams at Christmas. I enjoy grad school overall and want to continue in academia. Oh - I know I'd need recommendations from my current school. I'd hope to get something decent from my adviser, but if not, I know the rest of the faculty would support me.

Thanks for any advice you may have.

Edited August 29, 2012 by global_nomad

[imonedaful]

On one hand you say you are in PhD program and on the other you say you are taking Masters exams? I am not really sure which program you are referring to, but it is not unreasonable to switch schools if you are unhappy. A student in my current cohort did two years in a PhD program at another University and did not like it or succeed in their structure and transferred to our program. I don't know all the circumstances surrounding it, but in their situation it was not highly frowned upon. The only downside to that is that the higher level of courses you are taking the less likely they are to transfer any place else. You may have to take some classes over again. Look at the websites of some schools you would be interested in applying and see what they take as far as transfer credits are concerned. Masters it is normally a very minimal amount and for a PhD they normally don't take transfer credits unless there is some stipulation for it.

[global_nomad]

Thanks for the advice and good to know it has been done successfully. To clarify, I'm on a "5-year" PhD program, but I entered without a masters and so I'm getting it 'on the way'. I guessed I'd have to do at least a year of courses if I switch, but I'd need to do that anyway between the Masters and Comp exams.

[ZeChocMoose]

I think your explanations for switching into a different program sound reasonable to me. Have you researched professors/programs in your home country? If not, I would suggest that first. Then I would reach out to professors that you want to work with to see whether the fit would be good and what are the requirements for the PhD if you already have a master's degree.

I know when I was looking for PhD programs with a master's in hand, different programs had different policies on how many credits that I can use in fulfillment of the required coursework for the PhD. I imagine you would want to know whether you are signing yourself up for 2-3 more years or 5-6 more years.

As how to go about it with professors in your program-- I imagine you will have to say something at some point this semester as you'll need recommendations and you want to give your professors a heads up. Besides your advisor, is there someone else on faculty that you feel comfortable talking with about this?

[Nerd_For_Life]

If you can get a proper MA degree out of the time you have spent in the US I think that puts you in a pretty good position for PhD programs. In Canada the majority of PhD programs require that you have an MA to apply in the first place. The only trick I can foresee is getting letters of reference since your current supervisor sounds apathetic.