Joy929292 Posted June 13, 2015 Posted June 13, 2015 (edited) Hello. I'm coming from abroad so sorry for any mistakes throughout the text. I've just finished my first semester in PS program and I'm very disappointed in my field, and in Political Science as a subject (on PHD level only). First of all, my undergrad degree is not in Political Science, though it is relatively close to it. I applied for PolSci phd programs all around America with the idea that this is my thing and this is what I want to do. But after my 1st semester I realized that what I want to do and what they study here is 2 completely different things, though my program is considered very good. Not from top-10, but very, very good. There are a lot of things I disagree with, I will put several for just to get an idea why I want to change the field completely. Though the point of this text is not to show flaws and disadvantages of PolSci on phd level, but instead to ask an advice about switching the field. You can skip this part if you want. 1. International relations. Especially the part where a lot of scholars study war causes (almost every aspect of this course). After passing this course I feel like IR is really, really dumb field to study and to do a research in. What has been done in this field for the last 20-40 years? Rational models of war causes, i.e. if costs < benefits from war = a leader goes to war. And that's it. All other models / theories were either rejected or were not match with reality completely. Scholars try to understand what underlying reasons cause wars when in fact there are a group of people who get direct benefits from wars and this is very, very obvious. But still, scholars try to pretend like "we don't know what exactly causes wars, let's do a ton of useless research". So hypocrite. And even if someone will assemble a complete model which will predict wars - will the world leaders listen to this person and stop doing wars? No way. They don't even care. 2. Professors don't even expect you to know what is going on around the world, the dates, the events, etc. (remember, I am in a good-rated school). Professors themselves sometimes don't even know that, for example, during Soviet era all other parties were banned. I'm not even talking about students who have very narrow scope. All we do is study theories, models, and other theoretical stuff which in 99% don't match the reality. Now you see why I disappointed in PolSci. I expected PHD program to be closer to real things, to events which are going on right now, to current world processes. I wanted to have hot discussions between professors and my peers during classes. But all I got is a bunch of theories which are produced by crazy people and we learning them and trying to find anything useful in them. I still respect PolSci and I love it, but I disrespect the way they teach us. Now the main part. I want to reapply to Computer Science. The reason for that is CS department in my university does real stuff. They do research which benefits people, they really produce things. Furthermore, I have a good background in CS, though I've never taken any classes. Their website says that anybody who want to switch his graduate program to their one have to take several mandatory classes. Even if I take 2 classes every semester it will take 1-1.5 year. Now the question. Given that I hold an assistantship outside of my department, is it ok to take 2 classes in my dept (to stay inside the program) and 2 classes in CS every semester? What others will think? Will I have any problems, i,e., Director of Graduate studies will try to "fail" me to kick me out of the program because I decided to chose another program? Please, give any advice. I feel very nervous about it. Edited June 13, 2015 by Joy929292
xolo Posted June 13, 2015 Posted June 13, 2015 If you are in a PhD program in the US you need to discuss this with your adviser or trusted mentor. I don't see any reason not to change fields. My god, you have a good idea what you want to do with your life, you are better off than many of us. You just need to transition as efficiently as possible. My only caveat is that you need to be damn sure that is really what you want to do.
Joy929292 Posted June 13, 2015 Author Posted June 13, 2015 (edited) If you are in a PhD program in the US you need to discuss this with your adviser or trusted mentor. I don't see any reason not to change fields. My god, you have a good idea what you want to do with your life, you are better off than many of us. You just need to transition as efficiently as possible. My only caveat is that you need to be damn sure that is really what you want to do. Thank you for encouragement. I heard about a guy who did the same, but from Food Science. To CS too. My friend transitioned to Economics from PolSci to another university, though our university admitted him to Economics with financial aid too. If other people could do it, then I can do it. But I'm a bit nervous about ethical side of this... What professors will think, what others will think, what if I won't make it and everybody will know about my attempt, etc. Edited June 13, 2015 by Joy929292
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