I was an International Studies and Spanish double major at a top 20 school, and quickly realized how useless that was. Graduated in '07, started taking pre-reqs in Jan '08 and got accepted to UIC last week. It's totally not too late to do this, but here are the factors I'd consider before choosing how to proceed:
1. Cost
2. Timeline
3. Location
4. Specific programs to which you will apply.
Formal Post-Bac:
If you want this done quickly, there's no better way than a formal post-bac. They're competitive, but they'll get you through in roughly 18 months, set you up with clinical experience and reference letters, all much faster than taking classes ad-hoc. The downside is that they're expensive and generally do not allow time to work. The only exception to that rule that I have found is Northwestern. Their post bac is designed for working people in that it offers night classes and still keeps a fairly short timeline, so that's an option if you're employed, assuming you can find a job in the chicago/evanston area. It, like many other post bacs does require calc for admittance, so keep that in mind. If you don't have to move in order to do a formal post bac, or if you can afford not to work, It's easily the quickest and easiest route. Do realize, however, that the lifting yourself up by the bootstraps-I-worked-two-jobs-and-rocked-my-prereqs story will gain more sympathy than the I spent fourteen grand to go to Hopkins for a year and a half gig. Also consider that taking out loans to pay for a post-bac that you don't finish is about the worst thing you can do. If you make it though, it's possibly one of the best decisions you could make, but if you eff it up, you're up **** creek. Getting a Science course or two under your belt before applying would be a wise choice.
Cobbling Classes Together at a State School:
An unforseen drawback of this method is the fact that you are generally seen as a non-degree seeking student and therefore are placed at the bottom of the class selection pool. At Illinois, a school with no formal post bac, I was relegated to frantically adding classes after the fourth day of the semester, hoping what I wanted was available. Upsides include a dramatic decrease in price over traditional post-bacs at private schools, no likely relocation for you (from the sound of it), and neat stories about the stress of making this happen all by yourself. And though most schools will never say it, if there are two colleges within a reasonable distance of your home, and you choose the lesser of them, you will be at a disadvantage. It looks better if you go to the state school over the community college, so be prepared to defend that choice if you go the other way. The biggest downsides, in my opinion, are related to larger class size. Large classes make individual instruction difficult and recommendation letters impossible to come by without a lot of extra effort. I found it neigh on impossible to make it to office hours regularly enough to feel good about asking profs for letters. Finally, because classes are primarily offerred during the day, it's hard to do the state school thing and work. you'd have to get a night job (not too difficult in a health profession, but still stressful). Scheduling conflicts will add to the time it takes you to finish, so keep the community college thing on the table for those classes that are just too hard to get into.
Community College:
Upsides: Cost (by far the cheapest method), Stress (equal footing with all students on registration), Learning Environment (smaller classes, more opportunities for points, and way more professor interaction than a state school), Schedule (they offer evening and night classes so you can work, and this will get you through faster), Location (no way you'll have to move).
Downside: Reputation (as I mentioned, you'd have to explain why you went there over a bigger name school)
With regard to Calc, You gotta take it again. I'd go with the community college on that one along with the first Chem or Phys course. Saturate your head with math for a while. Realize that a lot of post-bacs require Calc to get in, and will accept one or two pre-req courses taken at other schools, not requiring you to repeat them. If you're working, i reiterate someone else's comment suggesting you take only two sci courses at a time. Even if you're not working, I'd take at least calc asap so you can apply to whatever post bac you like.
Looking ahead to the MCAT, a formal post-bac will make its own preparations or suggestions, but if you're going the do it yourself route, I'd take a Kaplan or Princeton review course that has a lot of practice tests. A good MCAT will go a long way to dispel any concerns they have about the quality of your science education.
This is probably a lot more information than you bargained for, but if you need anything else, feel free to message me back here. I'm a bit self conscious about my punctuation and parentheticals since I know I'm talking to an English major, but I'll bite the bullet on that one
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Good Luck
MTF
