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Grad program transfer thread

In the comments section of last month's "how can we help you?" post, one reader suggested it might be helpful to have a thread on transferring between grad programs. A reader in this thread then asked if I could say a little bit about how I transferred to Arizona. Because transferring programs involves unique challenges, I agree that it might indeed be a good idea to have a thread on this. So, why don't those of us who transferred programs share our stories?

As I explained here, I transferred from Syracuse's PhD program to Arizona after two years. My two years at Syracuse were wonderful. I did well in my courses, made great friends, and had good relationships with my professors. Alas, three of our professors were hired away by Rutgers. Because I was afraid of what this meant for my professional and philosophical prospects (all three of the professors hired away were people I had worked with and hoped to do a dissertation with – on vagueness of all things!), I looked for programs to transfer to. Alas, most of the application deadlines had passed, and there were only two programs still accepting applications: Arizona and MIT. The application process was easy enough. I got together a couple of writing samples quickly (a paper on epistemic contextualism that I'd written for a class with William Alston, as well as a paper on vagueness I'd written for another class), and my professors at Syracuse were happy to write recommendation letters. Ultimately, I got into Arizona but not MIT, so I went to Arizona. 

Technically speaking, the actual process of transferring–namely, getting together application materials and such–was easy. The hard part was leaving my life in Syracuse. I truly loved it there. I loved my friends. A lot of us lived in the same building by campus, and we often stayed up all night after seminars chatting about philosophy and music. I also loved my courses: I took some killer classes on modality, epistemology, consciousness, logic, and philosophy and language (I was a big 'M&E' guy at the time, believe it or not). I was also playing in a band in Boston at the time (on weekends), and had a 'significant other' at UPenn (who I also visited on weekends) who I had been dating since my undergraduate days. In short, leaving Syracuse involved leaving a lot behind. It was really tough to leave. When I got to Arizona, I missed my Syracuse friends and professors, I missed my bandmates in Boston…and my long-term relationship ended because of the move as well. 

In other words, while the academic process of transferring programs was easy enough, the personal process was far more difficult than I expected. Transferring programs uprooted my life…and as I explained before, I didn't adapt to the changes as well as I'd hoped. So, I guess, if there's one lesson to take away from my case, it's that transferring programs can be really difficult, in ways one might not (fully) expect heading in. Fortunately, although it took me some time to find my feet at Arizona, things ultimately turned out well in the end. I discovered an unexpected passion for moral and political philosophy there, was lucky to have been mentored by some great philosophers who helped me find my way, made some life-long friends, and met my future spouse. In other words, while transferring came with unexpected difficulties, I wouldn't take it back for the world!

Anyway, that's my transfer story. What's yours? Do you have any tips on the transfer process itself, or experiences about the transition from one program to another you think might be helpful sharing?

 

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4 responses to “Grad program transfer thread”

  1. Sara L. Uckelman

    My husband and I transferred from a US to an overseas programme when we were 4 and 3 years in (respectively). We left because a series of events resulted in us no longer having an advisor or any prospect of an advisor, and we took the opportunity to take a gamble — one that has paid off tremendously.
    We basically started over in our new programme, our previous years not being relevant other than for what they taught us, since non-US PhDs rarely have any coursework. In the end, both of us pretty radically changed our dissertation topics, and I am grateful for having had the full four years in the programme I switched to.

    Reply
  2. PhD Student

    Thank you, Sara, for sharing your experience! I think many students have the intention of doing their PhD overseas. But I have heard many times that obtaining funding in overseas programs is very difficult. I wonder if that is true?

    Reply
  3. tenured

    Dear PhD Student,
    In some European countries, PhD students are supported by external funding that faculty members have secured for very specific research projects. So if I get a huge grant for a project on X, then I can only support a PhD student who is contributing to that project (and the support for such a student has to be written into the grant). That is why funding is tricky in many European countries.
    But in some countries, like Canada, students can get federal grants/awards for graduate study overseas (SSHRCs). But most often a student who gets such a grant will aim to go to an elite USA or UK school (Oxford, Cambridge, LSE in the UK; and U. Chicago, MIT, or higher in the USA).

    Reply
  4. lategrad

    I transferred several years into my PhD, because my advisor left without taking any of her advisees with her. She was the only professor that worked in my area, and I was too far in to switch (I was already developing dissertation proposals).
    I ended up transferring to a better program that I liked much more. I was only required to “make up” a year’s worth of coursework, which is comparatively light, from what I understand (I’ve had friends that transferred and had to start from scratch). I noticed immediate changes for the better in my philosophical work. I think that this was mostly due to the mere change of philosophical environment–such changes are often very stimulating. For me, this was partly because I got to start clean: I had made immature mistakes early on in my first program that, at least in my mind, tainted others’ evaluations of me. Moving to a new program allowed me to take everything I had learned and turn over a new leaf.
    I was given full funding–6 years’ worth–at the new institution, but had no interest in using it all. I wasn’t fixing to spend 6 more years in grad school, when my dissertation was already almost half-finished. Because of this (artificially) shortened schedule, I was at a disadvantage in terms of getting to know (and impress) the professors that would ultimately write me letters of recommendation. But since I knew this going in, I just hit the ground running: I made a list of the professors I could work with before I ever got on campus. Then I scheduled as many meetings as politeness allowed during my first year, and I took every seminar from the professors on that list, regardless of whether I cared about it. (My list was also long, so that I could afford to decide not to work with someone if I ended up just not clicking with them.)
    Overall it was a great thing for me. I just can’t think of any respect in which I suffered–especially since I got to move to a part of the country I like much more, and my wife and I ended up much closer to our families. It even balanced out, time-wise: I did have to add a year of coursework, but I ended up working much faster at my new school, just because of the stimulation of the new environment. I ended up only spending 6 years total in my PhD.

    Reply

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