What happens if you quit a funded phd

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.

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 the university is good and you are good as implied in your question , you will have opportunities in the US later.

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.

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. 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 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.

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.

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. 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 decide to quit Ph. 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. Else they'll be asking this question, not teufel. This is a market place. Sign up to join this community.

The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Asked 1 year, 10 months ago. Active 1 year, 1 month ago. As the academic job market continues to collapse and tenure-track positions are cut down like grass, more and more PhD students are reconsidering whether finishing their degree is worth the effort. With the COVID pandemic cancelling fieldwork, shuttering labs, and forcing classes to go virtual, this question is more important now than ever.

Be aware that the article linked above was written pre-pandemic. After all, many PhD students devote half a decade or more of their life to their studies. They carefully cultivate their academic CV, present at conferences like crazy, and assemble an impressive personal library of books and articles. Full stop. Do you have to finish a bottle of whiskey or a pack of cigarettes just because you opened it? A good rule of thumb when contemplating quitting is to think of your PhD as an end in itself, never as a means to an end.

Academic jobs and postdocs are the only things that explicitly require a PhD, and those have never been more scarce. So, if you genuinely enjoy your academic work, keep it up! There are plenty of ways to learn beyond the academy. This might not be the right way for you. This one is a solid maybe. You just don't know what that is, sometimes it could be that you are cheap labour, you are helping with certain tasks that he has intrusted you to complete.

But that very research, especially if it results in publications, will most likely be used by your supervisor to make more grant applications. That unfortunately is the dark side of the PhD that very few people discuss. That is in the eyes of your supervisor you may well literally be a tool to be used for more money.

And that may explain his reaction. I believe that there is no law that forces you to stay in the PhD until you finish it.

Legally, you can just walk away right now and never look back, unless you signed some papers before saying that you must complete the PhD no matter what or else you would be getting a hefty fine or even imprisoned; which I don't think is the case here.

The only consequence that I can think of if you quit while your advisor is not happy is that: later on, in searching for a new job, you might need to give a good explanation to your prospective employer why you quit the PhD midway. Then the prospective employer might contact your advisor and ask him what happened.

In that case, he might just talk trash about you or give a bad letter of recommendation. It sounds like he's angry because you dropping the course is affecting his own research, likely the project you're forced to stay on with.

Universities run on a commodity of students doing the research at ground level and papers and essays from undergrad up to docterates are stored and disseminated. It's an industry. Judging by your advisors disproportionate emotional investment, it sounds like they are involved in the project in some way, perhaps to the point his job is affected.

I would take this to a student counsellor or to your student union and get some clear advise. You are by far not the only Phd student to drop out so they must have some information on your rights. I would also consider going above your advisor. Their angry reaction is just not appropiate, especially if you are under considerable financial abuse.

Their behaviour is abusive and I don't recall Bill Gates getting this much trouble when he had to drop out. There is nothing in this reality that is worth any mental illness whatsoever. And if you got what they want, you shouldn't give it away for free. What does your contract or research agreement say? Talk to your department head or academic advisors in the department. They'll tell you the protocol to follow, I'm sure you're not the first student to quit a PhD program.

People quit all the time. Also, there is not really any serious consequences unless you have a visa which depends on the PhD program. Other than that, there is nothing, even if they were paying you, you can quit. You're free to quit whenever the fuck you want. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Personally if I were you I would talk directly the grad school program leadership.

In my program I know several people that went to our Graduate School Dean and were able to get a lot better results than just talking to their PI. At our school at least, they are more understanding than the PIs and actually know all they options open to you. It sounds like you have an abusive supervisor, even if you may not see it that way now. I would bet that your advisor has created a bad reputation for himself among former students and coworkers. If you know someone who has quit his team, reach out to them and get some insight into how and why they left.

They might advise you on who to talk to. You could ask for an informal meeting, in order to make some enquiries. You can ask hypothetical questions e. If you fear people in your institution may have a direct connection to him, you may try to reach out students from other faculties if you know any to know more about these procedures.

My final advice is to bear in mind that no one will fight for your interests — unless not doing so brings more trouble than helping you. Expect everyone to be self-serving and act accordingly. Yes you can absolutely quit. It's hard to say anything about the specific project without any details but if you didn't sign anything personally then I don't see how that will affect you other than having to pay back the fund that they already paid you even that is unlikely tbh.

If you're an international student at a foreign country your visa status might be revoked. Also you're absolutely gonna burn the bridge with your adviser and might hurt your CV. But if you're absolutely sure that the consequences are worth it, then you CAN quit. You will never have to pay back any stipend. It isn't pay. It isn't a loan. It is a bare minimum contribution to your living costs while you are there. Nobody is going to make you pay back a tuition either.

No scholarship comes with the stipulation that you return the money if you aren't successful. If a scholarship is paying your tuition it is because of success you've had in your past. It is their money to gamble on you with and the overwhelming odds are in their favour. It doesn't matter what your grades are, how long it takes, or even whether you collect any data or not.

Under extreme conditions there is a slight chance that they can stop paying you like if you quit, for example , but they can never require you to repay scholarship, grant money, or stipend. They can threaten all kinds of things, but you hold all the power to decide whether you stay in the program or not. I guess it will depend a lot on where you are. In Germany for instance, it is illegal to ask someone to work unpaid, so they could get in a lot of trouble for this.

In any case, reach out to your university, there must be a student organization that can help you. Even if it's with just useful information.