Should I stay or should I take a year off and reapply? (Ph.D.)

Graduate School
1

<p>I have finished my first year of an engineering Ph.D. program, as well a masters degree at my current institution. I am currently in the Ph.D. portion of an MS/Ph.D. program and have become quite established in the school. My school is small, and my interest in my current research is not strong, but something I think I could finish a Ph.D. in.</p>

<p>The grad school I am currently attending was the only one I was accepted in three years ago(Ranked in the top 50 or so in my program, but with a strong undergrad focus). I had just above a 3.0 gpa when I applied, although I had lots of research experience and good letters of recommendation. I have found that I am doing quite well in the coursework, and finished with > 3.5 gpa in my third year of graduate school, and have made some progress on research(gave a conference talk). Most of the faculty seem to like me, I am a very popular TA, I have made lots of friends here, and I like the overall area.</p>

<p>I am however wondering if I should reapply to a stronger school where I can work on research that I truly want to do. This has been bugging me for really the last year. I am the oddball in my research group as far as my topic, and it looks as though my adviser is not at all interested in funding me (a first year got funded for his project this summer over me for example, so I would have had to TA if I had not gotten an industry internship). I'm afraid my advisor and I are just two nice people who aren't going to push each other and we'll just slog along being nice to each other without any real push to do great work.</p>

<p>At this point if I leave my Ph.D. program (say this summer) and reapply in the Fall(December '14) would that be a terrible thing to do? Should I stick it out for another 3-4 years and try to finish my Ph.D. here? I have enough money saved that I could take a year off or otherwise work on some projects I've always wanted to, and thus making me a stronger student. I'm looking for advice, keeping in the background I really do want to finish a Ph.D. and become a professor or lecturer. </p>

<p>Thanks for your comments</p>

2

<p>This is a difficult situation. Being at a good but not “top” school should not be a problem if you have a good advisor who can support you in the future for finding post-doc positions. If your advisor is marginally interested in the research you are doing, it becomes harder. My question would be why re you working on a project that your advisor does not care about? The Ph.D. is certainly about your project but it is likely that you will change direction for your post-doc and any eventual faculty position you might obtain. Therefore, the Ph.D. is really more about learning to do research and take a project from beginning to end. I started my Ph.D. with a specific project but had to change it abruptly when my advisor died. Over the years, I have moved into a completely different area. What I did for my Ph.D. project is ancient history and not relevant.</p>

<p>I would say that it is in your best interest to shift your research to a fundable project with your current advisor or just take a masters and look for another school that has the exact research you are interested in. Of course, the latter course, will result in further time spent in graduate school.</p>

<p>Bottom line, no one can really give you advice on this. What I would do is not necessarily what is best for you.</p>