
Should I drop out of graduate school? - ikhlas1
So I’m currently enroll in an MSc in Mechanical Engineering program at a University in the UAE. I’m on a scholarship program as a teaching assistant&#x2F;graduate researcher.
I just finished my first semester through which I suffered greatly but I ended up with a GPA of 3.75, if that even matters. 
We are required to choose 3 research topics out of a list of proposed topics as our thesis topic and will be assigned to one of them. I have just been informed that all three of my choices have been given to more suitable candidates and I will have to choose another topic. The problem is all the other topics are of absolutely no interest to me, I can’t see myself going through hell to do a thesis in a topic that I am not passionate or interested in. I don’t want to waste my time for two years doing something that I hate and then graduating with a degree I have learned&#x2F;benefited nothing from to start looking for a job from square 1. I would rather quit now and start looking for a job instead of wasting my time doing something that I hate for two years and then start looking for a job. Please keep in mind that to quit I would have to pay back the semester’s fees and probably any stipend I have received during the semester which could add up to 35,000 USD and this amount increases with every semester I spend in grad school, so if I’m gonna quit it’s gonna have to be now. I might be able to pay the 35,000 with the help of my family.
But I would like to get some advice first and would like to know if quitting could possibly affect my job prospects and opportunities. what would you do if you were in my place?
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gamechangr
I would quit for sure.

There are plenty of details missing, but the bottom line is that you should
have no doubts.

If I were paying $35,000 USD a semester and were not absolutely loving it
and/or confident this was the best decision of my life.... I would quit.

Two years and $35,000 X 4 = $140,000 debt is A pretty serious opportunity
costs to me.

Run.

