Leaving Program

[prettyuff1]

So there is another one of these" i am leaving my program" threads.

I am about 95% sure that i am leaving my program after my masters and applying to medical school I am trying to wait that long to ensure my decision is what i want to do but i am fairly certain that this is the way.

My reason for leaving is that I have always wanted to become a physician. I have shadowed a physician before in several settings( apart of a program of my masters degree) and i did enjoy it greatly. I am preparing to start volunteering in the hospital here and will begin working at a hospital. I am open to applying to Physician assistant/ MSN for non nurses programs if i am not accepted to medical school. I have kind of gone alongside medicine but after working along side it, i decided that i need to just go for what i really want. I was going to apply to medical school after i finish my PhD anyway so I am willing to just go with it now.

The issue i have with research is the everyday life of a professor is not what i want to do. Grant writing, writing papers are the bulk of the job and thats not what i want. The interaction with people and the public is what i want. The life of academia is not what i thought it would be. My naivety' about research stem from coming to a major research institute from a smaller liberal arts school. At the liberal arts college while we did conduct research, the main focus was student development and teaching. That is not the focus here and frankly those teaching positions aren't opening up.

With that said. I want to know how people broke it to their advisor/ mentor that they were leaving? And how did they do it administratively?

Thanks

[Shelley Burian]

Have you investigated transferring into an MD/PhD program at your current institution? Sounds like you want to leave academic research but thought I would bring it up. Many MD/PhDs do research and see patients so you could do both, and could study for both programs at the same time. Regarding telling your adviser, I would simply lay out your reasons for leaving and since it is obviously not due to a bad experience with them or with the school I don't think that they would blame you. Not sure about the administrative part though.

[prettyuff1]

i have considered this but I dont think it is somethng i can transfer into.. I am going to ask admissions department on monday regarding this

[juilletmercredi]

I eventually changed my mind and continued in the program, but I was just straightforward with my advisor. I would be with yours, too. "As I've gone through this program, I've realized that my heart is not in full-time academic research. I've decided that it's best for me to leave this program." I would thank them for all their support, but don't apologize. You have nothing to apologize for. If you want, you can tell them why you're switching.

As for transferring into the MD/PhD program at your school - if you don't like research, you won't like the PhD component. Also, those programs tend to be fiercely competitive, so your school might not just let you transfer in easily. It might be best for you to leave altogether and apply to medical school, especially if you haven't taken the MCAT yet.