I also didn't do a formal post-bacc. My insane schedule:
Fall 2003: Retake of College Algebra and Trig (due to many, many years w/o math), General Chemistry w/ lab, part-time work (10 quarter hours)
Winter 2003-2004: Pre-calc, Biology I w/ lab, Gen Chem II w/lab, Physics I w/lab, part-time work (20 quarter hours)
Spring 2004: Calc I, Biology I w/lab, Gen Chem III w/2 labs/week, Physics II w/lab, part-time work (20 quarter hours)
Summer 2004: Organic Chemistry I and II with labs during an 8 week session, no work (8 semester hours)
Fall 2004: Physics III w/lab, Microbiology, Biochemistry, part-time work, ill for 3 of 4 first four weeks of quarter (pneumonia), got married first weekend of quarter, commuting 3 hours/day 5 days/week (15 quarter hours)
Other misc. stuff: Finished Ochem on Monday, took the MCAT that Saturday. Worked on the AMCAS a little during Ochem, finished it in October. My applications (including secondaries) were complete end of October/middle of November. Have interviewed at 4 of 5 schools, been accepted to 1, waiting to hear from the other 3 post-interview (should be any day), and no word post-secondary from the 5th school. Grades above: All A's except for an A- in Ochem lecture and a C in biochem.
I DON'T recommend this schedule. I think if I had to do it again, I would take more time. I managed to do fairly well on the MCAT (10 PS, 10 BS, and 11VR) despite very little MCAT prep (although, in a sense, my entire year of coursework was a MCAT prep). I feel very fortunate to have done that well with as little prep as I did.
I was also fortunate that my job as an EMT allowed me to study when we weren't on runs and, oddly enough, on many of my shifts, I was able to study nearly all day.
If you have a post-bacc program close to you with ties to a medical school, that may be your best option. If not, do the post-bacc on your own. As far as whether or not to re-take the gen chem, I guess it depends. If you feel like you have a decent enough foundation in gen chem to not be lost in ochem, I think I would not retake them. Instead, I would concentrate on doing very well in the rest of the pre-reqs and take a couple of upper level bio or chem classes instead. If, however, you remember nothing from Gen Chem, retake them (or at least audit them). You will need that information on your MCAT.
Good luck.
As far as research is concerned, if you want to be a researcher, it's essential to do research, but if you want to be a clinician, you might want to get some clinical experience instead. Ideally you can use your experience to "prove" that you really do have a goal in mind and you can use it to tell the committee how medical school fits into that.
