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[pollinate]

You guys really think you are something huh?  lol.  I'm eternally amazed at the level of undeserved pretentiousness rampant among some academics.  It's certainly the most laughable quality of this website.  Why not instead of the insults just say "no, this is something that is impossible."  Obviously I wouldn't be asking it if I thought it was completely insane.

Why is it such a dumb question though?

1. There are no jobs

2. The 2 jobs that are out there are going to Ivy League grads

3. Why not transfer to an Ivy League school to finish?  If you need to spend a couple more years taking courses also why not?

The responses:  Oh my god you must be dumb.  (Hahahaha!).

It seems that psychologically I post occasionally to get my yearly abuse from you people who seem to have nothing better to do than bash everyone else who comes on here.

I guess I am dumb!  Thank you so much!

I don't know if you're dumb per se, but you certainly seem to lack comprehension of both the way the grad school usually works and the responses on this thread which described it to you and provided examples.  And, because you lack this comprehension (and probably also have quite inadequate experience with the fora), you interpreted these responses as pretentious and/or abusive.

I don't think I can help you out any more.  However, do keep checking this thread, because you've just yourself an unmiss-able target for exactly the sort of responses you think you've already been getting.

[madhatter]

The responses:  Oh my god you must be dumb.  (Hahahaha!).

It seems that psychologically I post occasionally to get my yearly abuse from you people who seem to have nothing better to do than bash everyone else who comes on here.

I guess I am dumb!  Thank you so much!

Well, I'm offended. I wrote a pretty clear response on how this works, as did several others. I see a grand total of two responses that chose to call you ignorant (one somewhat gently, one not so much), but the rest of the thread has provided you with much valuable information. It's not what you wanted to hear, apparently.

[stangoldsmith]

No you're right madhatter and thank you and the others as well.

I'm not seriously considering this question (moving to another program) but I have thought about why people don't do it more often and wondered what the general consensus is, which is why I asked.

J you are right and helpful as well - focus on the prize: dissertation and publishing.

Sorry for the rude sounding response, I just always get (and I don't think I'm the only one) these people on this website replying in a very crude and downright insulting fashion.  I still don't see how or why my original question begged the crass responses I did get as someone wrote though. 

Thanks again.

[dellaroux]

I would say that while perhaps my tone was stronger than necessary, for which I apologize, my underlying thought was that you hadn't been paying attention, or conversing with, or listening to, other students or faculty or peer/colleague/other sources in the field at large not to have had a better sense of how to get "clues" for grad school culture that most people do pick up on one way or another.

I wouldn't necessarily think that you would have to have known them on arrival; it's very true that the culture is a quirky one and takes a bit of parsing to get, get into and get through.

But if by the time you're ABD you haven't caught or been taught some of the basics that have to do with your being "branded" by the school you finish with, which has its investment in your success and credibility at least as much as you do, then you're blocking information that is usually known and absorbed by others at that point or before it.

The point wasn't to mock you so much as to say, "wake up and pay attention, this is something you should know already" (and the corollary is that, as was just said above, if you're just now asking, you both need to listen and pay attention much more closely than before, and you may need to even play some catch-up ball because there are probably other things you're missing by not knowing how to catch clues on the fly.

Not all ball parks have a Green Monster to help trap them for you.

[macaroon]

You guys really think you are something huh?  lol.  I'm eternally amazed at the level of undeserved pretentiousness rampant among some academics.  It's certainly the most laughable quality of this website.  Why not instead of the insults just say "no, this is something that is impossible."  

Umm....  I did?

I believe I wrote something like,  "You can't transfer.  You apply to another program and start over."

[polly_mer]

You guys really think you are something huh?  lol.  I'm eternally amazed at the level of undeserved pretentiousness rampant among some academics.  It's certainly the most laughable quality of this website.  Why not instead of the insults just say "no, this is something that is impossible."  

Umm....  I did?

I believe I wrote something like,  "You can't transfer.  You apply to another program and start over."

Macaroon was  not the only one who wrote "You can't transfer".  Basically, all of the responses were "It doesn't happen, here's why, and here's what your options for things that would get you into other programs would look like".  The pretentiousness is either all in your head or that word does not mean what you think it means.

[mountainguy]

I have heard of people successfully transferring PhD programs, but generally speaking, not all of your courses will transfer over with you, and you'll have to re-take certain requirements in your new program. And I've never heard of someone who was allowed to bring their ABD status with them.

[watermarkup]

I don't think wondering about transferring is completely illogical. Sure, the short answer is: "You can't." But it's the kind of thing that no one ever talks about, because it never happens, so if you find yourself in the situation where you start wondering, the answer isn't necessarily obvious. I asked my former advisor about it when I was ABD (long story). She told me, "You can't," and that was that.

[lyndonparker]

I agree with much of what has been written. In addition to the idea "you can't," there is also the concept that, "it doesn't matter" which I think OP has not gotten her or his head around.

I teach at a very good SLAC. When we hire we certainly look at where people studied. BUT not in the way some people think. In most equations, Harvard=University of Virginia=University of Illinois=UCLA. Of course this is field dependent, but we don't cut a great candidate because he or she didn't go to one or two schools. The "top" schools may number 10, or 20, or 30, or 40. Your advisor matters a lot more than the school you attended.

[polly_mer]

I don't think wondering about transferring is completely illogical. Sure, the short answer is: "You can't." But it's the kind of thing that no one ever talks about, because it never happens, so if you find yourself in the situation where you start wondering, the answer isn't necessarily obvious. I asked my former advisor about it when I was ABD (long story). She told me, "You can't," and that was that.

Well, yes and no.  Yes, it is a logical question to ask.  However, the logical way to go about finding the answer includes doing a little legwork to read up on how the process works in one's current program and in the programs that one is considering transferring to.  In short order, the obvious conclusion should be "In the cases where one can transfer, the number of credits transferred is usually less than a semester's worth of work (although a master's degree is usually allowed to be applied to a doctoral program in the same field for credit in programs where one need not earn a master's degree before continuing to a doctorate), all candidacy exams must be taken at the local program, and a time in residence requirement of not less than a year and often two applies".  At least that was the case in all of the programs that I considered and learned about by reading the program handbook. 

I attended multiple programs during my graduate school years so I learned a little bit about how the process worked.  As a consequence, I have many more graduate credits than comparable people in my specialty with just one master's degree and one doctorate and I spent three and a half years in my completed doctoral program because two of those years were mandated as time of residency requirements since one could not take the qualifying exams until the start of the second year of residency and one could not defend a dissertation until a year after passing the qualifying exams.

People do change graduate school on a not-infrequent basis.  However, doing so does usually mean starting over, unlike for undergraduate work.  "Transfer" is not the word to use.  "Enroll somewhere else" is the more correct term.  That's more easily accomplished, but for people who are near the end of their degrees, the reasons for starting over in the same field instead of finishing the degree and going somewhere for a more targeted post-doc experience have to be compelling.  Applying to other programs ABD will raise a big red flag for many on the admissions committee because the common reasons for doing that are giant negatives about the ABD person (e.g., personality problems so that the advisor dumped the student, inability to finish, failed defense for big cause).