Hi everyone, I write this on seek of helpful advises. My situation is the following: When I was applying to the grad school I did it for the Master's course. During that time between the communication with my current advisor he asked me: Do you want to pursue Masters only, or Masters and PhD combined program? My immediate answer was Master's only since the scholarship covers only Master's program;then, he answered He was NOT interested in Masters student only.However, short time after, he asked If I was interested on doing the combined program if I received economic support(scholarship). Well I said I would.. and pretty much I got enrolled to the graduate school.

My situation now is officially (Masters student), once I finish my first year (which will be in 2 months) I will have to apply to the combined program as I stated with my professor. The deal is that things are not as I expected in my study (however my GPA is very high). Not to mention that I also do not see the convenience of combined program since it does not reduce the time for graduation. And more other personal reasons.

The deal is that I want to tell to my advisor I just want to finish the Masters program and DONT want to enroll the combined one. Somehow I gave my word to him in pursuing both degrees but I have thought about it and I do not want to pursue anymore the PhD degree. I am not sure how to talk to him about this. I think maybe I can get some kind of penalty (pay or something). But what I really worry is if I can get some reprisal from my advisor. It makes me afraid if he reacts badly about this situation. Since he will still be a reference for recommendation letters in a future if I want to get a job after graduating as a Master.

This is a harsh topic. I will be waiting any advise . Thank you all for reading.

BC

Why in that case did you agree to what he wanted if you only wanted to do Masters in the first place? Under those circumstances, I'd have looked for a different Masters and not agree to a combined program I didn't want to do.

You need to talk to him diplomatically about future plans, possibly citing those personal reasons (not wanting to put marriage or kids on hold - partner is wanting to start a family, relatives that are ill, financial, wanting to retrun to work in your home country / area, etc.). You need to make it clear you only wanted to do Masters in the first place and also currently you are only enrolled as such. You have not signed on the dotted line to do PhD yet.

Tell him also that after doing the Masters, you realise that PhD is not for you. The Masters has helped you see that you do not want to follow an academic or research career. You can say that you feel a career path outside academia is more suitable for you, that you are ready for a change and you want to work in an environment where you want to see the results and goals of your work realised in the short term. You do not want to have to wait several years before your labours come to fruition.

You yourself know the situation better than anyone and therefore you know better what you need to say to him. I hope the above helps bring you clarity in that respect. Also, what is the point of starting down a path that may take a number of years if you know you are going to be unhappy doing it. A PhD is hard enough as it and you have to want to do it for the right reasons (the chance to do an original project, adding something new to you chosen field of study), not to just make someone else happy.

Ian (mackem_Beefy)