Changing programs after the MA

[phiwheat]

I am in my second year at a Sociology program and wanted some input about the possibility of changing programs. I am wondering how common this is, what recommendations people might have for doing it in the best & most respectful way possible, and if there might be people out there who have done this and strongly recommend it or strongly advise against it.

 

A little background on my situation: I applied to ten programs in 2012 and got accepted into one. Admittedly, my process then was ill-informed, as I applied to top-name schools without consideration of the research areas each program excelled at. When I got into only one school, my choice became go to this specific graduate school or continue down my dead-end career path. While I am extremely appreciative of the opportunity I received to attend the institution I am currently at, my substantive areas of interest leave me feeling isolated at times. I am torn as to whether remaining for the full six years will be advantageous for me come job market time. 

 

Ultimately I am wondering what option will provide me the best chances of being a competitive faculty applicant:

(1) Staying put and supplementing my foundational training with external networking, fellowships and joint research projects-- more the "what you know" approach?

(2) Applying to other programs that are well-known for having faculty with expertise in my substantive areas--more the "who you know" (and have worked with) approach?

 

I would appreciate any feedback from individuals with experience on this topic...especially if you are a faculty member and have undergone the job talk process. As of right now, I am wary of hitting the market and fielding a question in which I am asked why I am marketing myself as a "X" scholar and what faculty I have worked with in that area. Is it simply a matter of "spin" and could I be as competitive with option 1 in comparison with an applicant who has the more traditional option 2 under their belt?

 

 

[faculty]

You bring up so many issues in your post, phiwheat, that it is difficult to know where to begin. I will start by saying, though, that I sympathize. It is stressful to be uncertain about the decisions that you've made and your future. 

 

To address some of your more specific questions: Rest assured that many students change programs after the MA (or even before). To have a compelling reason like you do - that your specific interests are better served elsewhere - is a very good rationale for doing so. Your current department will understand and so will the places that you are applying to if you articulate clearly that this is your motivation for leaving. I would also acknowledge, to both your current department and to the programs that you're applying to, that you appreciate the solid foundation that you acquired in your current department but that you have realized that working with faculty members who are specialists in your area will significantly enhance your work and potential to contribute to the discipline. That said, you can certainly stay put and enhance your training with networking. Don't underestimate the benefits of being at a top-ranked school when it comes time to be on the job market, in part because of wide networks and reputation. However, don't sell a lower-ranked department short when it comes to specialty areas that they are strong in. The key players in those departments know the people who will be doing the hiring in those areas.

 

I recommend having a conversation with your advisor or DGS about their thoughts on the matter. They know more specifics to your situation. They will certainly know more about the networking possibilities, and the past history of students like you whose interests might have not been closely aligned with department strengths, and can guide you in making a decision. Trust me when I say what I did at the outset, you have a good reason for considering leaving and the people in your department should understand that. If they don't, they don't have your best interests in mind and perhaps that will just make it easier for you to justify leaving to yourself. They might surprise you, though, and have a creative way to connect you to a specialist.

 

As an aside, you will probably be limited in the number of credits you can transfer, etc., so moving will likely tack on addition time to degree. That's something to consider as well.

 

Good luck to you. 

[jacib]

I'm in a relatively niche subfield (sociology of religion) which has only a limited number of people training students at top programs so I couldn't just apply to top programs that had a lot of sociology of religion people, I had to look for other things.  I'm in my fourth year now and while there aren't many professors who explicitly work on religion or nationalism at my program, I have found people who are willing to support my work from related subfields (political sociology, historical/comparative, culture, globalization) plus some people from other departments (poli sci, religion) and some sociologists who just like cool, creative work and a few people who can help me methodologically.  I definitely have enough for a committee and, in fact, I have people who I kinda wish I could have on my committee but don't have room for.  I've definitely had to teach myself sociology of religion, but Arizona and a few other places have their comps reading lists online so it wasn't too bad.  I've started a little networking at conferences, etc., though in the end I found myself falling in with a more historical-comparative crowd at conferences anyway, rather than a straight soc of religion crowd (who tend to like straight, single-sited ethnographies and vanilla regressions).  My point is, I feel like there are a lot of resources and support available to me and the rest I could teach myself.  That said, there aren't really other places I could transfer to (Wuthnow's at Princeton and Kurzman's at UNC but there aren't really a ton of others).  I have a good relationship with my adviser, I have found two groups of peers to read my work (one a religion and politics interdepartment group, one a comparative sociology workshop that I got a little money for), and I feel like other faculty support my ideas and even if they aren't necessarily experts in them, they do know good sociology and interesting questions.

 

As far as

 

I would appreciate any feedback from individuals with experience on this topic...especially if you are a faculty member and have undergone the job talk process. As of right now, I am wary of hitting the market and fielding a question in which I am asked why I am marketing myself as a "X" scholar and what faculty I have worked with in that area. Is it simply a matter of "spin" and could I be as competitive with option 1 in comparison with an applicant who has the more traditional option 2 under their belt?

 

I have a relationship with a sociologist of religion in another department (and my university demands you have an outside person on your committee anyway--I bet yours does too), but I can sell myself a sociologist of religion because that's what I do.  I know the literature.  I know who is important.  My CV lists conferences with "religion" in the title.  I've emailed with (some) of the big names at other schools.  Ultimately, though, I think what's important is that my work just is sociology of religion.  I'll never take a comp on it, but I will publish papers in Sociology of Religion or Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.  Often, the job market sub-headings have a lot to do with whether or not you could teach the intro class in the subject.  My sociology of religion class would likely be very different from the one taught at, say, Baylor or Notre Dame (which would almost certainly be entirely America focused and much more conventional), but it'd still be undeniably a sociology of religion class.

 

As an aside, you will probably be limited in the number of credits you can transfer, etc., so moving will likely tack on addition time to degree. That's something to consider as well.

 

I've met several people who already worked on or completed Ph.D.'s in Europe who basically started over in America.  They could institutionally get one year off of classes, but no more.  They obviously can move through quicker because of the ideas and experience (and in some cases data) they bring with them, but they don't get much institutional credit for it.  People who transfer with their adviser, it seems, don't lose too much time, but these students are usually already dissertating anyway. 

 

Without knowing specifics of your situation, it's hard to say whether you should transfer or stay, but I do feel like you should talk with your adviser/DGS about your worries about finding enough support.  Also, though, find the older odd ducks in your program--if you're in a top ten program, there are probably enough people in every cohort to have one or two other odd ducks--and see what they do to get by in the program, and also how they do on the market.  My program has had both successful and unsuccessful odd ducks and I like to think I learned the necessary lessons from both.