Help!!! Advice Needed Asap

[JETER]

Thank you for reading this thread. I find myself in one helluva pickle now. Briefly, I am a graduate student (Masters) in chemical engineering. This is my second year, and I was planning on defending my thesis this May.

My advisor and I have had some issues last year, but I had assumed that they were resolved. However, I presented my progress reports for the two projects that I have worked on for the past 6 months, and he totally trashed them. In fact, he sent the email to everyone on my project, as well as the faculty. He was highly insulting, and I am devestated. Basically, I will have to restart my entire project, and I have only a year left.

I applied this cycle to 25 MSTP schools. My stats are ok: Dual major in chemE and physics (3.6) and I have a 4.0 grad gpa with 32 mcat. I have spoken with the PI on both projects, who has worked as a moderator between me and my adivsor several times. His advice until now has been to resolve the issues. But he spoke to my adivsor today, and the PI's advice is now to change my program (i.e., join another research group in ChemE, or join another department). But I want to be done by august so I can leave for medical school (IF I can get in). I don't think that I can enter another research group and complete a new thesis in 10 months. Also, my adivisor has made it clear that he will not accept my current work. It is so frustrating how he has never presented these issues during our weekly meetings and chats. One year of research down the f*%&ing drain.

I guess here is my question: Should I join another group, and try to finish in 10 months (near impossible??). Or can I just quit the graduate program? I know that this is a horrible thing to do, academic suicide maybe, but the nonprofessionalism of my advisor has left me with very little in terms of other options. In addition, I am a part time scrub tech at a hospital. If I quit the graduate program (at a somewhat small state school), I could work at the hospital full time and conduct clinical research with several physicians. HOW BAD WOULD IT BE TO QUIT THE GRAD PROGRAM, GIVEN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES?

I guess another avenue would be to change departments. I could obtain positions in either physics or bme, but I could not finish in one year. I would have to take an additional year, and defer any acceptances, If I get any. I would rather not do this.

Please, I have only a few days to make a decision. Any advice would be great. I am hoping to hear, that given the conditions, that quiting the program would not be a negative mark. However, I have my doubts. I appreciate your help with this, and I hope that I get some feedback. Thanks.


~ Jake

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[pseudoknot]

I posted links to six older threads on this topic, kind of, in the following post:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=1598486#post1598486

 

[phosphorylation]

jake, if I were you, I would switch departments or start over again. can you finish it in a year? maybe, most likely not. keep your apps for med school. if you get accepted, perfect, try to defer! most likely you will be able to. Atleast you would be finishing your grad work KNOWING your starting med school right after that. You don't get into med school like your hoping? well, thats also good, it gives you an excuse to finish your grad work (i doubt you won't get acccepted though). Maybe, just maybe you'll get accepted to med school and you'll be like screw this, I'm going for med school, and I dont give a crap about my grad degree anymore. you never know what could happen. but initially, focus on the defer...
to be honest with you, even though you call it academic suicide, I would really NOT give a crap about my grad work at the moment, you are going to med school. And its not like you don't know if your going to get accepted or not, you know your going! screw the grad work and **** your advisor and **** that whole school. I can't believe people like that actually exist. take a couple of months off, have some fun and start med school. thats me speaking though, I'm not even going to med school.

I do wish you the best of luck though. I bet its hard, but this is life.
HANG IN THERE!!!

-phospho