<p>I'm currently in a grad program at a "prestigious" school. However, I'm currently considering the option of dropping out because 1) lack of interest in the labs available at this institution 2) competitive individualistic attitudes of my fellow classmates.</p>
<p>Long story short, I'm currently struggling to find a lab i want to join because the PIs I was initially interested in, have now become unavailable (either to lack of space/funds or poor "personality fit" I consider honesty to be very important).</p>
<p>The other big problem i have with this institution pertains to the students. Perhaps i'm simply naive since I've never experienced an academic environment such as this, but the students here are competitive. Very competitive. In my experience (which granted is a small sample size), I was surprised how often i'd hear my fellow classmates would wish other students in the class will do poorly or fail just so the class average will be low enough for them to get their A or B. I was also surprised how "guarded" students here become after simply asking how their rotations are going (something i consider small talk). Its almost as if they are trying hard to dissuade others from joining their favorite lab in fear of competition. </p>
<p>I guess what i've looking for is...Is this a normal grad school experience? I understand that the world is competitive, but i guess i'm surprised that competition would be so intense even among classmates. Its almost as if people are simply using grad school as a means to validate themselves, instead of pursing something they love in order to help people. </p>
<p>I don't know. Sorry for rambling. Any comments/feedback/perspectives are greatly appreciated</p>
<p>Do you have the option of transferring? Dropping out seems like an extreme measure. Not sure if you want to go through the admissions process again.</p>
<p>Graduate schools do not do transfers as we understand them in undergraduate programs. One must apply completely anew, though some credits may (emphasis on may) be allowed to transfer once admitted.</p>
<p>Yes, graduate school is a competitive environment.</p>
<p>Ti’s both- validating themselves while enjoying what they love to do. It’s kind of hard to be competitive and go through the grad school experience if you don’t love what you do.</p>
<p>Yes, it is competitive and do your best to make judgments of when it’s appropriate to help others and to keep things to yourself. However, you should/can/do pay it forward to students following you in the years coming. So you will have opportunities to help others, maybe not necessarily your classmates at the moment.</p>
<p>It 100% depends on your program and the attitude of the people in it. For instance, my program is very small but in a much larger university, so we have the resources of a big school with the feeling of a small program. There’s zero competition for labs among students, because there are so many labs and so few of us.
Our classes are also very small, usually 4-8ish, so there’s no such thing as a curve and we all help each other. We study together and help each other out when someone is having trouble. We did have a series of courses for all biomedical 1st years which was ~40, and things were slightly more competitive there, but again, no one was trying to sabotage anyone else or anything. </p>
<p>This is one of the hard parts about grad school - Everyone is so worried about just getting into school in the first place that it’s hard to adequately assess the fit of the program. I originally came from an enormous school which worked really well for me, and I came here in SPITE of the small program size because it had so many labs in my odd interest area, but I completely lucked out and really enjoy it. It could have easily gone the way yours has. </p>
<p>If you are really, genuinely unhappy there and think that it will interfere with your ability to learn and get a proper phd level education, then you should cut your losses and get out with an MS (since you’ve already missed this year’s cycle). Last year I was roomed with another applicant who was leaving her school after her first year because she was so unhappy. She ended up in another perfectly fine program and seems much better. Sometimes you really do just have to leave a bad situation, even if you feel like you’ve wasted time.</p>