Relocating during PhD program

[clinicalpsyapp]

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I apologize if this has been discussed elsewhere, I tried to search but wasn't coming up with anything...

I am finishing up my 3rd year in a Community Psychology PhD program. After this semester, I will be ABD except for one class (which I'll probably take over the summer). I came in with a masters, so I will already be proposing my dissertation within the next month. After living in the city that my school is in for three years, I have become incredibly homesick (my family and my husband's family live about 6 hours away). I started out my program being interested in an academic research career, and over my time in the program have become rather disgusted with academia and have shifted my career focus to be more interested in program planning, implementation, and evaluation (I share that piece because it definitely influences my decision). I just applied for a pre-doc fellowship in my home state that is an excellent fit for the training/career goals I just mentioned (and pays 3 times as much as my RA stipend), but would obviously require me leaving the city my school/advisor is located in and attempting to finish from a distance. My advisor has been relatively non-existent over the course of my program due to health issues that started my first year, so I am quite used to working completely independently as it is, and I definitely don't need to be in this city to complete my dissertation, as my collaborators are in other cities and I primarily work from home anyway.

So, I was just wondering what people's thoughts were about leaving residency at your institution before completing your PhD. What are some of the challenges/hurdles? Is there any reason that I should be reconsidering this decision even though it's a great fit for me in other ways? Any suggestions for how to broach the subject with my advisor (who can be very sensitive/fussy)?

Thanks!!

 

[CheetahGirl]

My gut response: Don't ask, TELL your advisor what you're plans are. Then, propose how it can work with his/her suggestions. I've seen plenty of people successfully work on their dissertations from elsewhere. One of my comrades ran dissertation subjects in Europe because of the decision to study a war-torn area.

Maintain your internal locus of control here and be proactive, not reactive.

Good luck!

 

[clinicalpsyapp]

Thanks, CheetahGirl! That is extremely helpful advice 🙂

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I know two people who moved back to their original states after they finished their classes and clinical work. They were both applying to internship and trying to get as much of their analysis and writing done before moving again for internship. They e-mailed w. their mentors and it seemed to work okay. I also e-mailed with my advisor for the last half of my revisions because he traveled quite a bit and I got more done off campus (less distractions). The only issue is making sure to stick with deadlines, goals, etc.

 

[bmedclinic]

My gut response: Don't ask, TELL your advisor what you're plans are. Then, propose how it can work with his/her suggestions. I've seen plenty of people successfully work on their dissertations from elsewhere. One of my comrades ran dissertation subjects in Europe because of the decision to study a war-torn area.

Maintain your internal locus of control here and be proactive, not reactive.

Good luck!

I'd agree with this. I'm working on finishing the diss and back in May I told my advisor my plans, wrote it up, got him and the DCT to sign off on it, and my life is (relatively) easy now. I mean, I'm worried about not matching and I have a full time job, but compared to the academic nonsense, it's easy. I work during the day as a full time masters level therapist and work at night on other stuff-- previously it was applying to internship, and now it's finishing the diss. Not a bad deal.

Also of note, recently our program had our "annual feedback" and all faculty members were very complimentry of my choice and how it was carried out and worked out for others in the program ("quitting" my GA meant I opened up extra funding for others students).

Though I'm close to my dissertation advisor in geographic distance (an hr or so), we havent met in months. I doubt I'll see him before my defense, unless very necessary.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I know two people who moved back to their original states after they finished their classes and clinical work. They were both applying to internship and trying to get as much of their analysis and writing done before moving again for internship. They e-mailed w. their mentors and it seemed to work okay. I also e-mailed with my advisor for the last half of my revisions because he traveled quite a bit and I got more done off campus (less distractions). The only issue is making sure to stick with deadlines, goals, etc.

Agreed. I completed a significant chunk of my dissertation while on internship (and thus a few states away from my grad program), and the most difficult parts were:

1) Making sure I maintained a solid work ethic, and consistently set aside time to finish what needed to get done.

2) Getting some of the more administrative-type questions figured out; some of those issues are just harder to explain and/or respond to via email rather than just being able to head to campus and spend some time meeting with the department secretary.

3) Getting input in general on various aspects of the dissertation; ultimately, I completed pretty much everything post-proposal on my own, as it just would've been too burdensome to frequently contact my advisor or other students in the program to get their thoughts. I was fortunate enough to get some stats input from a trusted former supervisor, but even with that, it involved a bit more elbow grease than might've been needed had I actually been physically on campus. I was also lucky in that my advisor generally wasn't very tough to get a hold of, and also didn't require much in the way of revisions.

4) Setting up the actual meeting. This was probably the most difficult aspect of the entire process, at least in terms of the distance aspect. I sent quite a few emails and made many calls to square up schedules, get the room booked, have the grad school's paperwork filled out and submitted, etc. And I had to call in a few favors with friends still on campus to pick up the hard copies I'd submitted for printing and distribute them to my committee members.