Quit a PhD for another PhD

Question

During the last month, I applied for PhD programs in some of the top US Universities in my scientific field. At the same time, I applied also for a PhD position in a very good European University. About one month after I submitted my application to this European University, I was offered a full-time, funded PhD position, in which I was supposed to begin as soon as possible.

Admissions for the US Universities are announced in the spring. So, I currently have an offer from Europe and a very short deadline for accepting or rejecting this offer. My ultimate career goal, however, is to study and work in the US, and there are some serious reasons for this. If I reject this offer from Europe and if I won't be admitted in the US, I will have lost every chance for a PhD, since a long educational gap will have been accumulated, putting my career at risk.

So, I'm thinking to accept this offer from Europe, until next academic year, and if I have a positive answer from the US, then quit my PhD studies in Europe and begin a new PhD in the US. I would like some insight about people in Academia. I acknowledge that such a scenario might affect the whole PhD project because of my possible withdrawal. Would this considered to be immoral? Could I have any consequences? Could this choice of mine - quit a PhD for another one, in a new country - seem bad to prospective supervisors in the US?

I already know that pursuing a PhD is a serious career choice, and I have no intention to take silly decisions for no reason. I just want the best for my career. To my eyes, this would be no different from quitting a job for a better one, for a better "company", in a "market" with greater opportunities. I would appreciate every advice from you people, since I have no experience related to Academia other than my undergraduate studies.

Answer 1

Quitting a PhD because you realise afterwards that it's not the right path for you is fine. A fellow student during my PhD did so (due to homesickness, primarily), and immediately started a PhD at a university in his home country. The supervisor/group leader/etc were disappointed but didn't hold it against him.

Quitting because you only accepted the position as an insurance policy is a very different matter. If it's not for personal reasons, such as those above, leaving mid-course for another university will be seen as a very selfish act. Even more so if anybody finds out that you were hoping to do it before you even started. From your description it sounds like your field is relatively small. That means people tend to know each other, which means this could very easily hurt your reputation far more than attending MIT (or whichever other prestigious institute) would help it.

In short: you shouldn't accept a position unless you intend to stick with it. You have an offer on the table, you can either accept it or reject it. If you accept it, the right thing to do is to withdraw any other applications which haven't yet responded. If you aren't willing to commit to it, the right thing to do is to reject the offer. There is a third option, too: you can ask the European university if they'd be willing to grant you an extension to the decision deadline. How likely this request is to be accepted strongly depends on many things, including national and institutional cultures and the length of deferral you're asking for.

Answer 2

This is unfair to another PhD prospect, who might not have the options you have. Because you know now that this position would not work out long term for you, just go with the US position. When you sign up for a PhD you agree to commit n years to make a full project. When you sign up for a different job the commitment is not as clear. In both situations it's fine to quit because the ambient is toxic or your situation changed. But this is not your case, you know this beforehand.

As other people point out, this is unfair to the supervisor who accepted to commit time to work with you on a specific project and to the funding agencies that have given support. These commitments come in the form of time cycles, that's why accepting this job is not like accepting other jobs that don't have this type of requirement.

The thing is that you are trying to insure yourself against all odds and by acting according to your best interest you hurt other people (those who might get offered the EU PhD or the US PhD if you deny any offer). The fact that you can grasp that something is wrong but you still wanna do it anyway makes it clear that it's not the most honest way to act. Sure, everybody does it, and everybody marks later that their behavior was not proper/good/acceptable/... or somewhere else depending on the scale.

What we often have to do is called choosing without enough information. Nobody likes it, I guess this is your first challenge as a PhD student. Learn this lesson. And, in fact, switching is not even in your best interest! Accepting the EU PhD to quit will hurt your career. If you want insurance, you have a 100% chance with the EU position. If the university is good and you are good (as implied in your question), you will have opportunities in the US later. EU PhDs are shorter and pay better, you'll be in the US in no time.

Quitting for acceptable reasons that come after you committed to do a PhD is acceptable because you did not make a dishonest deal. Your original intentions were true, something that you could not foresee or can no longer tolerate has happened, which is a valid reason to revisit agreements that no longer work (aka, quitting a PhD).

Answer 3

If you ask me I'd say asking people for morally right decisions will never "work out", since you'll scarcely find a truely honest person to answer your question.

I do understand how you stand between the chairs and appreciate your struggles. I totally do not understand how people want to scold you for that, you show very high morality by asking.

You might consider being honest to your European supervisor about your intents. If I was a supervisor, I'd rather chose some honest guy that speaks true and follows his aims, which by the way is a great sign of ambition and emotional involvement in the topic or carrier, than some guy that just "swims in the masses" (guess at least you, having a german nickname, will get what I say by that ;D), like most do.

I don't know it that's an overall problem at German universities, but here I see that a lot of PhD-students got to work far more in their proposed freetime than they should, as the work load is chosen far to heavy for one position. Which I'd call exploitation. People still accept these positions for their rarity. There of course are lucky PhD-students which do not have that work load and can truely focus on their research, but at least at the university I am this does not seem to be the case with the PhD-students I asked or told me unasked for.

So, this is why I'd say, you can consider any PhD-position as a normal job, as long as this positions often give less money for far more time and so on. I don't see why a PhD-student should see more in it as long as so many of them get exploited so often.

If this is not true for your position, then this might change considerations significantly.

Still, you are given an 'impossible' choice. You are right, that, by declining the European offer, you might lose your chance to ever again get an offer for a PhD. This is not your fault though, and this again tells me you are in full right to see for your own wants and accept the European offer, even if that means you will cancel it later on. That's an organisational problem which is to be solved by other people.

Having worked for some years before going to some university, I do not see any difference in academical jobs vs regular jobs in economy. Why should you plan to stay somewhere for years? What makes the difference? There are lots of jobs outside academia, which are even scarcer, and where your boss wants to plan for years either, and still noone would blame persons for cancelling for lesser reasons.

Don't become one of the guys that think their supervisors and academia sacred. They are not. They are normal jobs, just that people somehow make religion of it. Asking me, as an absolute atheist even in the fields of academia (I observed that some atheists seem to find their religion in academia...), say: Follow your heart and do what is good for you (since other won't but just exploit you in most cases), I truelly believe that you are of high moral and will know better than everyone else how you want to live your life.

Answer 4

I would say it depends on in what country and with what conditions the European offer comes.

In Germany for example you're usually simply hired as an employee of the university, with a very standardised payroll. Employment contracts take a few weeks to draft, so hiring a replacement for you takes almost no time. And employers regularly hand out very short term contracts that need to be extended half way during your PhD. In this situation I wouldn't hesitate a second to quit and move to the US.

If instead the position comes with a stipend, a grant or something else that required your future supervisor to put in some work that would now be wasted, I would be more hesitant to just pack up and move.

But I think academia is quite an un-empathetic environment. If you quit because of personal issues or mental health, nobody really bats an eye. This is without question a very sad situation that's the reason for a lot of personal suffering, and that I would like see change. But don't think you are required to show some special loyalty just because somebody decided to hire you for a few years.

Answer 5

This is not immoral because you have the right to quit the PhD at any moment. However, beware of possible consequences of that like subscribed conditions at the first university or pay back. Inside academia morally questionable decisions are commonly taken, and yours is perfectly acceptable. Deception is a common practice in academia.

Answer 6

It is perfectly fine. The best option for you will be to accept an offer now. And in case you get an offer for a Ph.D. in the USA next year, decide then. You'll in great shape to make that decision. By that time you will have more information and understanding to make an optimal decision for yourself. You may really like your European group/advisor and choose to stay in Europe. You may decide to quit Ph.D. altogether. In case you are unable to get the US to offer the world remain in balance and no question of choice arise.

Edit: In case you get an offer (only in case) from USA next year. Consult your current advisor. He/She is really the correct (and the best) person that you should really listen for advice.

Rebutting @Matias_Andina: "This is unfair to another Ph.D. prospect": The person which is supposed to be hired if you leave this position is actually not capable enough to get hired. Else they'll be asking this question, not @teufel.

"you shouldn't accept a position unless you intend to stick with it...": Every hiring takes into account that things may not work due to thousands of reasons and people leave companies for their own goods all the time. This is a market place.

Accept the offer. Good Luck.