Starting a PhD with an eye to reapplying?

[janeaude]

Any thoughts about starting a PhD with an eye to reapplying in a year or two (after getting the MA) to another PhD program?

I've heard that transferring from one department to another happens but usually only under special circumstances (for example, the only person working in your AOI leaves your current department). There's also the awkwardness of telling faculty members at your current department you wish to transfer and asking them for references. 

Thoughts?

 

Edit: To provide more context, the reason I wish to eventually reapply is that my interests have changed since I prepared and submitted my application. I also foresee them changing even more in grad school. (I've gotten way more interested in epistemology and logic) While the schools I got into are perfect for my original interests, they aren't the best given the direction I'm moving towards.

Edited March 5, 2016 by janeaude

[759]

I would recommend trying to pursue logic and epistemology at the school you're currently planning on going to. These topics are broad enough that someone in the department must study them. If you find that there just isn't enough of that going on to satisfy your research-needs, then talk about transferring. If your professors see that you've earnestly taken a huge interest in subjects they can't accommodate, then, assuming they also want what's best for you, they'll be more than happy to support your application to more relevant programs. Just so long as they don't interpret the move as you trying to get into a more prestigious school or something.

 

(full disclosure: this advice is sort of biased; as someone who has only been waitlisted at PhD programs thus far, it's hard for me to imagine turning an acceptance down...) 

 

Anyway, if you foresee your interests changing even more, then in two years you may want to do something completely different. In that case, you may even feel content staying at your original school.    

[NathanKellen]

NB: while I haven't transferred programs or tried to, I know multiple people who have.

Transferring programs can be tough. Very good students (at least in my eyes) who attempt to transfer often do much worse than one would expect. There are a number of reasons this may be, but none of them really matter to the advice that I'm giving, which is to avoid transferring if possible. You may not get in anywhere, you may burn bridges, etc. Ideally, none of this would be the case, but philosophy is no more above departmental politics than any other field.

[GeoDUDE!]

If your interests have chanced in the time you apply... how do you know your interests wont change while in graduate school?  Mine sure have. If your research interests don't change, you probably aren't doing graduate school right. Pick a department that you really like, and work around that.  Don't go to a school thinking you will transfer: Those are much less successful than you think. 

[\lozenge]

I'm currently in this situation, PM me and I can give you some advice. 

On 3/5/2016 at 4:08 AM, janeaude said:

Any thoughts about starting a PhD with an eye to reapplying in a year or two (after getting the MA) to another PhD program?

I've heard that transferring from one department to another happens but usually only under special circumstances (for example, the only person working in your AOI leaves your current department). There's also the awkwardness of telling faculty members at your current department you wish to transfer and asking them for references. 

Thoughts?

 

Edit: To provide more context, the reason I wish to eventually reapply is that my interests have changed since I prepared and submitted my application. I also foresee them changing even more in grad school. (I've gotten way more interested in epistemology and logic) While the schools I got into are perfect for my original interests, they aren't the best given the direction I'm moving towards.

 

[machineghost]

For what it's worth, a professor advised me to do this very thing yesterday and claimed that professors will typically understand if you have a good reason, such as department fit or so that you can increase the likelihood that you'll get a job after the PhD, etc.