Dropping out of a master's program to pursue a PhD

Question

This might be a bit of a weird question, but I'm wondering if anyone's been in similar shoes or knows about this.

I'm a master's student who applied for PhD programs this round. I didn't think I was going to get in anywhere and my advisor suggested the idea of extending my master's by one semester and applying again.

It turns out that I recently got contacted by a POI who I've been really keen working with. The problem is that this contact was much later than the period for students to apply for their thesis defense, which I didn't apply for because I was pretty set on the idea of staying one more semester.

I'd really like to pursue a PhD under this professor but my graduation schedule is a little tangled. Some options I have are to discuss the possibility of deferral, but I'm wondering about the hypothetical option of dropping out of my master's program completely and going ahead with the PhD starting from this fall semester. Is this scenario unheard of? Is it even typically allowed?

Thanks for any opinions/feedback.

Answer 1

When I was an undergrad I had no idea how the machine I was scuttling about in worked.

This was brought to mind by

Is it even typically allowed?

Here's the thing. Masters and PhD students are an asset. Somebody wants you to study with them as much as you want a higher degree. People start PhD programs at all kinds of weird times, even when there's a "normal" intake period. The rules to which you allude are practices that are followed to make administration easy. They are not inviolable Laws.

So my advice is to talk to the academics involved. First, your current advisor, then the other person. While you should take care to avoid being seen as disloyal, those people will eventually find out anyway. So try to get them onside from the start.

It's easy to make assumptions about what is or is not possible, to your detriment. So don't assume. Talk.

And that machine? It's made of people. Good luck.