About to begin my Masters, and now thinking of dropping out (would it be worth it?)...advice would be great.

[HYHY02]

Any recommendations for wanting to switch when already committed to a masters program? I applied only to two schools this year (stupid me), one being a top school, and the other being my average undergraduate uni, both in Canada. I ended up speaking for with one professor for over 8 months, about how I could potentially work in his lab if he had room. We kept the discussion going, until in late June, he finally found out that he would not have the available funding to take me on (he warned me the entire time that he may not have the available funds).My thought process was that if I didn't get into the Neuroscience labs I wanted to at the better university, I would just commit to a professor I worked with for over 2 years, who I've had a great relationship with, for my masters, pick up some essential skills, and then move on for my PhD.

 

Having said that, with my masters about to begin in a couple of weeks, I feel anxious and depressed over my work in the masters, knowing it isn't the work I would like to see myself doing (just for specifics, my current position is neuroimaging work with fMRI and DTI, but I wanted to work with cortical plasticity and electrophys). I'm thus contemplating about dropping out of the masters, taking a year off, and reapplying for next year for labs where I feel I'd be much happier with in regards to the type of work done. I just can't see this sort of abandonment going well over with my current professor. I would imagine a potential reference from him when reapplying (if I go down this route) would not be worth getting, that's if he was even willing to give one. I'm simply not as engaged into the research topic. However, I'm also debating about taking a year off for when it's a masters. If it was a PhD, where I'd be looking at least 4 years, I would have no problem waiting out another year. Some people have told me just to commit to finishing the masters in 2 years, and work my tail off to have a good CV afterwards for when applying to PhD programs, where then I could apply to a lab more aligned with the work I was hoping to be a part off.  At the same time, I don't know how easy/hard it is to be able to move around to a different field from a masters to a PhD? If it's more than possible, I'm thinking of just stopping the whining and go in head first into the masters, but I can't shake off this feeling of anxiety....

 

I just don't know at this point if it's even worth it to quit the program I'm in now. Any advice would be great.

 

[Lisa44201]

I'm afraid you'd essentially be shooting yourself in the foot as an applicant; not only are you withdrawing from a position, you stand the chance of losing that letter. Additionally, there's no guarantee of getting in somewhere next year, so you could be really out of luck. Certainly, it's possible to go from specific avenue of research in your Master's degree to a different one for your PhD; you'll be picking up additional skills, research experience, and publications along the way.

[itsmi]

If you think you would have the motivation for doing the master well, then go for it. What I've learnt from my PhD applications: It is more than easy to go into a new field. In my case, that is for example Nanotechnology with a Mechanical Engineering background. Even if you don't do a PhD - nothing is really determined just with your degree subject. And, as it seems, your master would still be in the same field, so it's even better. It helps of course if you have a relation to the new field to express your motivation.

[HYHY02]

If you think you would have the motivation for doing the master well, then go for it. What I've learnt from my PhD applications: It is more than easy to go into a new field. In my case, that is for example Nanotechnology with a Mechanical Engineering background. Even if you don't do a PhD - nothing is really determined just with your degree subject. And, as it seems, your master would still be in the same field, so it's even better. It helps of course if you have a relation to the new field to express your motivation.

 

That's also one thing I've been told from another professor, something along the lines that switching up your research from your masters to your PhD is more than acceptable if it's in the relatively same area. Not to get all cliche, but between the masters I have now and what I was hoping for, the question and techniques are different, but there's some overlap in regards to the topic, but I'm also hoping that it wouldn't hurt in the process of a PhD application, since hey, at least it's somewhat similar. The topic of my current masters though is what really bothers me.  At this point, I'm thinking that I just need to somehow find motivation in my work in the lab I'm already in.

 

I'm afraid you'd essentially be shooting yourself in the foot as an applicant; not only are you withdrawing from a position, you stand the chance of losing that letter. Additionally, there's no guarantee of getting in somewhere next year, so you could be really out of luck. Certainly, it's possible to go from specific avenue of research in your Master's degree to a different one for your PhD; you'll be picking up additional skills, research experience, and publications along the way.

I was afraid of that, along with what you mentioned that there's no guarantee the school/lab of my choice would take me in next year, which would lead to a year wasted and just more sulking.

 

Thanks for the great advice.

Edited August 30, 2013 by HYHY02

[juilletmercredi]

I think it's pretty common for students to not be 100% happy with what they're working on as a student, especially in natural and physical science fields where you basically have to do what your advisor is doing because doing your own work is expensive and time-consuming.  You kind of have to get as close as you can.

In this case, I think that staying for the 2 years, working your tail off and applying for PhD programs is the best option.  You'll be surprised how very quickly 2 years will go by.  And it's very possible to switch research interests from master's to PhD.

[HYHY02]

I think it's pretty common for students to not be 100% happy with what they're working on as a student, especially in natural and physical science fields where you basically have to do what your advisor is doing because doing your own work is expensive and time-consuming.  You kind of have to get as close as you can.

In this case, I think that staying for the 2 years, working your tail off and applying for PhD programs is the best option.  You'll be surprised how very quickly 2 years will go by.  And it's very possible to switch research interests from master's to PhD.

 

Thanks a lot for the response.

 

I just feel like I have two things going against me for my masters: I'm returning to my average undergrad uni (only applied to 2 in total...), I was really hoping to go to the prestigious school, but I was set on working with only one professor whose type of work was something I really wanted to do (and still do). Unfortunately, he didn't get the funding to support a new student. Not to mention I'm not a big fan of my supervisor's work. There is some overlap of interest, but not something I'm in love with.

 

However, I think I took for granted some of things mentioned here in these posts in regards to my professor. The man already did a lot to get me into his lab, he's easy to talk to, gives leeway in regards to the work that you can do, great enthusiasm, but I think one of the more important things that can end up helping me is how he sets up his students to suceed in the field beyond the masters, things like helping secure national funding (Canada), and just making you participate or learn things that will help, such as certain programming languages. Maybe I'm just trying to sugercoat something I've been seeing as a bad situation, but I'm just trying to take some positives from my situation now.

 

Like I said, I became depressed over the fact I was returning to the same average school with the same supervisor whose work I wasn't keen on, but I guess it's more about what I put into it now, so I can get the most in return, which can help with my PhD options.