Thinking about quitting the PhD (fifth year in the program)

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Hi,

I am a fifth year (currently finishing up my 3rd year) in an MD/PhD program. Long story short, I still do not have a concrete research project! My first advisor left the university after a year of me joining the lab. Then I found my current lab where I was given a project which was founded on some data that a previous researcher had generated in the lab. I worked on the project for a year and recently found out that the data was faulty and now have to restart all over!!!!

The problem is my advisor is not very competent and does not have good or concrete projects or funding. He is also absent and there is little work ethic in the lab - people are slacking off all the time. Now I do not really have a project to work on and my advisor has been avoiding me or trying to buy time for the past three weeks or so. I am getting super frustrated: I have literally done so little work over the past couple of months because there is just nothing to do....

I am thinking about quitting because I think the possibility of me getting a fulfilling and/or a successful PhD under my current mentor is very low. Every day in the lab is a drag at this point - I feel like I am just wasting my time. The downside is I will have wasted four years if I quit at this point since I cannot go back to medical school until next year. What do you guys suggest that I do?

I would start by talking to your MD/PhD program director if you haven't already. He needs to know that you're having this problem regardless, and he should also be involved with helping you resolve it by coming up with solutions. It's going to be hard to know what to do until you have all of your options laid out, so I would see about meeting with him ASAP.

If you have already spoken to the program director, and he can't or won't do anything to help, then I would look into quitting grad school with an MS so that at least you have something to show for all of the time you spent in grad school. Also, I would see if you can go back to rotations starting in January instead of having to wait until next July. If you can't, then maybe you can do some electives. Again, you really need to talk to a med school advisor who can help you figure out what your options are.

Originally Posted by skeptic85

Hi,

I am a fifth year (currently finishing up my 3rd year) in an MD/PhD program. Long story short, I still do not have a concrete research project! My first advisor left the university after a year of me joining the lab. Then I found my current lab where I was given a project which was founded on some data that a previous researcher had generated in the lab. I worked on the project for a year and recently found out that the data was faulty and now have to restart all over!!!!

The problem is my advisor is not very competent and does not have good or concrete projects or funding. He is also absent and there is little work ethic in the lab - people are slacking off all the time. Now I do not really have a project to work on and my advisor has been avoiding me or trying to buy time for the past three weeks or so. I am getting super frustrated: I have literally done so little work over the past couple of months because there is just nothing to do....

I am thinking about quitting because I think the possibility of me getting a fulfilling and/or a successful PhD under my current mentor is very low. Every day in the lab is a drag at this point - I feel like I am just wasting my time. The downside is I will have wasted four years if I quit at this point since I cannot go back to medical school until next year. What do you guys suggest that I do?

Do you have a thesis/dissertation committee yet? If yes, perhaps talking to some of the (favorable) members might help.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. Having to switch after a year lost with mentor leaving (happened to me) is bad enough. Then having bad mentorship afterwards is so demoralizing.

As bad as it is, if you can get it to somehow work and pull out with a 5-year PhD, you will feel better and stay more positive than if you have to leave right now.

Definitely talk to your program director and committee if you have one. They might have some ideas and/or options that you aren't currently thinking about. If your PI continues to avoid you they can hopefully also pressure your PI into setting up a joint meeting so you all can get some answers from your PI as well.

Have you talked to a student dean in your med school already? I considered quitting my PhD at one point in early June. At that point it was too late to register for third year normally, but my dean said that if anyone dropped their third year schedule I could have it and not have to take time off. Apparently, it is not that uncommon (at least at my school) for people to make decisions about taking a year off really late so generally a few people will drop their third year schedules in the week or two before rotations start.