What's the best route to take?

[dhami1]

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I'm posting this because I don't know what to do or what my chances are of getting in anywhere. My ultimate goal is to be a Forensic Psychiatrist.

I'm 24. I graduated from a state school with a 3.54 GPA (BS in criminal justice/psychology). I got a C in College Mathematics freshman year and it was the only math course I took. My SAT was a 1240; ACT was a 27 (22 math, 30 english, 29 social studies, 26 science).

Intro Bio - A; Intro Bio Lab - B
Botany Class and Lab - B's in both
Inorganic Chem and Lab - A's in both
Intro to Organic and Biochem and Lab - A's in both
Environmental Science - B
Forensic Science - B
I Q dropped my Intro to Astronomy after the first week of class because I was taking too many hours and didn't need it.

My undergrad EC record is great. I was VP and then President of two honor societies for two years, a member of several clubs, a sorority, worked on a prestigious research grant for 2.5 years (no undergrad debt - yay!) and conducted research with a professor. I joined a lot of organizations and really beefed up my resume.

I graduated, took the GRE, and made an 1190 (standardized tests are not my thing). I got an MS in Criminal Justice/Forensic Psychology from a better school, but a city university (still not that great/ranked at all). I got a 3.91 GPA (A's and A+ in everything except for my internship, where I got a B). While in this program I was an officer in the graduate student council and volunteered weekly in the Psych Clinic at the local hospital.

Then I realized that in order to treat the populations I want to work with, I needed to pursue psychiatry instead of psychology. I was accepted to an MS general psych program and will be done in a little over a year. I enrolled in this second MS because I was told by my mentors at my other MS program that I needed an MS in psychology (not criminal justice) before going to med school to help my chances down the road for a psych residency. The school I'm at now is a good, ranked school and I am working with an incredible mentor who is capable by name alone of killing or significantly boosting my career. My GPA so far is 3.5.

Unfortunately, I am repeating a lot of the classes I have already taken and the program has a very strong research aspect (no treatment or interface with clients at all). I was recently advised by a professor to leave the program and enroll in a post bacc pre med now instead of waiting until the end of the program - she believes one MS is enough and that while I'm a great student, I'm wasting my time and money. My mentor thinks I should stay, but this could be because I'm working on a grant with him and he wants me to stay for my benefit to him and the university, not necessarily for me.

I think I'm going to apply to Columbia's program now (applications are due April 1) and see where to go from there. Otherwise I will finish out my program and apply to all the other PBs. The other ones I'm interested in are: NYU, UCBerkeley, Mills, Rutgers, Scripps, Goucher, Boston University, Bryn Mawr, Central CT, USC and Penn. I'm trying to stay in the Northeast, ideally New York or Philadelphia, but I'm willing to move. I wanted to apply to some really good programs (Goucher and Bryn Mawr), some backups (Central CT, Rutgers, USC), and some in-between (everything else).

My questions are:
1) Should I apply to post bacc pre med programs now and not finish my MS?
2) What are my chances of getting into Columbia?
3) If I wait until I graduate from this program, do my chances increase at all?
4) Should I retake a college math course (I'm really worried that C will ruin my chances), or do PBs offer them?
5) Have I ranked these programs (good, backup, in-between) correctly?

 

[Campi Doctor]

Bottom line up front – your best bet is probably to cal the PBs you're interested in and get their take, since they're the only ones who matter. Take everything else I'm about to write with a grain of salt.

1) Most post-baccs offer the standard science curriculum that you've already taken and done well at. Certain programs will probably not let you in since you've taken those classes in the not-too-distant past, but others won't care. It's important that you find out which category the schools on list fall into (internet research, phone calls, asking alumni/ae on SDN, etc.) before you opt to piss away the money you've spent on the 2nd MS.

2) Can't help on this one. I withdrew my application after I got in someplace else.

3) Unless you do poorly, I don't see how they can get any worse. You're doing research and "hard' science, so that's a plus. As long as you can coherently explain why you chose to do a second MS, in your application essays and/or interviews, it shouldn't hurt you.

4) Some do offer the option of taking math classes, some don't, and some tell you take them on your own before you show up so that physics isn't too much of a bear. Again, I fall back on doing some research. My $.02, is take it over again on your own before you apply, so that they don't assume that math is beyond you.

5) This is all matter of opinion stuff. The "top three" according to virtually everybody are BM, Goucher, and Scripps (in no particular order – don't want to offend anyone), but I would imagine that it really depends on what you're looking for. If it's location, you lean a certain way; if it's cost, you might vote differently. I applied broadly, and once a school that I thought was great offered me a spot, I withdrew my application from the rest. If you've got a couple hundred dollars to spend on application fees, envelopes and stamps, casting a wider net seems smarter. At the end of the day, they will all prepare you to apply to medical school (some probably better than others).

Best of luck, and hope this helped a little.