I accepted an (amazing) offer into a Statistics PhD program about a year ago into what (up until last November) I believed to be my “dream” school. Basically, everything is paid for, and I’m in a great location.
The program which was described to me upon my acceptance in the program sounded wonderful. The only problem is that between the time I accepted my offer and orientation week (the week before classes), the department decided to dramatically change the program into something I NEVER would have applied for in the first place. They have condensed all the coursework to the extent that last semester they actually required everyone to take two courses: one which was the prerequisite for the other. I have a bachelor’s in mathematics, not statistics, so I struggled with the material in the “higher” course, as did many others in my year. If I had known about the change I would have studied some of the material over the summer. However, we were not informed of this change until a week before classes began, so I felt as if there was nothing I could have done except kill myself for the sake of my grades, which, by the way, definitely did not work. The coursework is so rushed that I do not feel like I am actually learning anything and that I am simply working for a letter grade. I feel like I am wasting my time.
Additionally, in their letter to all accepted students, the department promised everyone that we would have funding of a certain monetary amount for the first summer. Once I got my summer contract, however, this value was much lower than their promised amount; this was the case with all first-year students. Someone mentioned this to the department, but we have yet to see any changes to this amount.
I want to go into industry (neither academia nor research), yet many of my undergraduate professors encouraged me to apply for PhD programs because I could work towards my masters and still have the option of continuing on with a PhD, if I decided to do that down the road. Now all I want is to get my Masters in Statistics (preferably at a different institution) and get a job.
Does anyone have any experience with switching graduate schools? How would/should I go about doing this, in the hypothetical scenario that I actually decide to leave my program? Also, would an online program be good for me?
I have to say that I strongly dislike when professors encourage people to get PhDs for the thinnest of reasons. If you want to go into industry and don’t want to do academia or research, there’s no reason for you to get a PhD. Most working statisticians have an MS. Why spend 5 or 6 years when you could spend 1 year full-time getting an MS in statistics and go straight to work making money? It’s not like graduate school will disappear forever if you don’t go right now - you will always have the option of continuing into a PhD if you want. Ugh, that irritates me.
Anyway, you wouldn’t really be switching. It’s not quite like trying to “transfer” from one PhD program to another; you’d be applying to a new master’s program, and most likely you’ll be treated just like any other new applicant (although they might accept some of your current credits). What you will want to have is a recommendation letter from someone in your current department. That is assuring that you aren’t leaving in bad standing or because you’re a terrible person - simply because you changed your mind. (Although it is worth investigating whether, since you’ve already spent a year in your PhD program, whether if you stayed one more year you’d get a free consolation master’s.)
An online program could be good for you, although it would probably be better for you to go to a brick and mortar program if you could swing it. If you wanted to go straight to work with your BS and the little graduate coursework you have, an online program could be fit in around your busy schedule. But a lot of statistics master’s programs are very flexible and designed for part-time students who are working full time, so you could still go in person if you wanted to.
At this point in the year, you would have to apply very quickly to get into a Masters program and some of them might already have closed their applications. A better option might be to work for a while and then go for the Masters later on, part time while you work or full time, it taht works better for you.
At this point in the year, you would have to apply very quickly to get into a Masters program and some of them might already have closed their applications. A better option might be to work for a while and then go for the Masters later on, part time while you work or full time, it taht works better for you.