Thanks for your comments, Andy, almostcutmyhair and GoIllini. It is amazing that you can understand my situation so well.
To Andy:
I appreciate your view that I should be upfront with my supervisor, because finally I need to tell him everything.
Actually, I need to finish a project before I can graduate. Now I just start this project and no one can say for sure when I can finish it. So I feel that it is too early to tell my supervisor I will leave next fall. My plan is to see the application result in March 2010. At that time, I think I am able to almost finish the project. Then I can tell my supervisor I want to leave after summer if I can get an admission. So there are still 6 months from March to September. I am not sure whether it is too late to let my supervisor know.
To almostcutmyhair:
Fortunately, I am not an PhD from anthropology or nursing, I am PhD in Computer Science. I want a MFE to strengthen my background further.
To GoIllini:
Yes, we have similar situations. It will be great if the MFE can also understand as the MBA programs do. But different from your case, I can trust my supervisor, my problem is that I can not know my graduation time for sure. I feel it is too early to tell my supervisor I want to leave next fall because no one knows when I can finish the project. I want to tell him when the project is almost done, maybe in March when I can also know the application results.
So, dear friends, I want to hear your opinions on the following questions:
1. Now, I feel it is too early to tell my supervisor that I want to leave next fall because no one can guarantee I can finish the project by that time. I want to tell him I want to leave when the project is almost done, perhaps in March 2010 in my opinion. At that time, there are still 6 months before I leave. Is it too late to let my supervisor know then? Am I honest and straightforward? What should I do?
2. If there is no recommendation from my PhD supervisor in my application, will the MFE program call my department and find my supervisor to talk with?