transferring with mentor

[kudzukudzu]

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a

 

[Gfunk6]

Depends, it can be either-or and I've personally seen both. However, a mentor moving invariably delays one's graduation date significantly. Looking back @ people I know who've dropped the MSTP, a mentor changing institutions is a frequently cited reason.

Personally, if I were in your shoes (still very early in the research component of my training) I would seriously think about relocating labs. Your research will very likely be disrupted for several months while your boss moves.

 

[mjs]

I've heard this more than once:

"Moving a laboratory takes at least a year out of the life of every single person involved."

 

[kudzukudzu]

b

 

[QofQuimica]

The only problem I can see with your plan is that there might be some med school things you have to do while you're in the lab (ex. go to clinics one afternoon a week or attend a seminar) that you won't be able to do if you're off campus. I think that finding out what your program's policy is for students doing off-campus research should be your first step. I'm sure you're not the first student to have done your research work off-campus, and they probably have a policy in place already for this kind of situation.

 

[solitude]

My understanding is that once you have taken your prelim, you are bound by the requirements and will receive your degree from the university where you took the prelim, even if you complete your thesis work elsewhere. But if you are transferring this early (i.e. before the prelim) then there might be a bunch of new requirements that you'll have to deal with. Sounds like a tough call.

 

[Vader]

Thanks for both of your replies. I have considered joining another lab, but I'm staying for several reasons. Most importantly, I feel like my lab/mentor are a perfect fit for my personality and interests. My project is seriously that cool. I never thought I could be this passionate about my research. There are other mitigating factors as well. One, I'll be using human blood samples for my research. I don't have to worry about mice or cell-lines (some long-term delays associated with re-establishing knock-out colonies will be an issue for others in the lab). Luckily, the human research involves no controversial treatments (which could cause some IRB problems) or long-term follow-up. Overall, I can't see myself getting sidetracked by more than three months, and this is a trade-off I'm willing to make.

Make sure you get IRB approval for your work at the new location (your PI should take care of this) so you can get up and running quickly.

 

[hawkeey]

If you like the lab and have enough time invested in it, I would take the opportunity and move - you'll lose some time but it will be worth it. Good labs are hard to fine.

I'm not sure where you mean as in West as in West Coast or Mid-West like UChicago or southwest like UT Southwestern, but you will also probably get the opportunity to meet more academics at a different school, which always helps. Anyways, the likelihood is that the school is probably newer than your current school and I've found there to be a certain youthful energy with some of the newer programs.

 

[GraC_undr_PrsR]

Isn't it possible for you to transfer from one MSTP to another?
1) Contact the MSTP director of the new institution and pose the question in perhaps more detail than you can provide here. Unless the new institution is not an MSTP institution, you should be able to complete your clinical training there and removing the possibility that you'll have to travel back and forth to the other medical school. This will depend on the new institution's willingness to accept you into their program (you'll need your mentor's support so perhaps his/her's formal letter would be a good place to start for making this happen).
Transferring from one MSTP institution to another because a mentor is changing institutions is not unprecidented.

 

[gbwillner]

Do yourself a favor and switch labs.

As a 7th year MSTP, you don't know how many times I've seen this sort of thing happen. Its always the same..."but I really like the research I'm doing/ my PI is awesome..." etc.

You are there to get a PhD, not cure cancer. Save that for your actual research carrer or post-doc.

You will inevitably get burned out and regret your decision. First year grad students always make the mistake of looking at the lab's research focus instead what's really important: the lab environment (how well you interact with labmates/PI), the quality of your project, and funding. You PhD length depends on many factors, one of which is luck. It IS good that you're doing human studies... but in many (good) institutions you will get you PhD when you have a good, hypothesis driven, successful project and not a series of case reports.

You WILL get frustrated in a lab that has 0 output for about a year, and your PI may get frustrated too and take it out on you. I don't know who your mentor is, but if you're the only person moving with him/her, they will put a lot of pressure on you.

BTW in general you stay a student at your original institution and have to come back to finish med school/have committee meetings, etc. It can be a major pain, although a transfer is possible.