Should i do a post bacc

[JAMESchild]

I would like to get an honest response from nontraditional students. I graduated with pharmacy degree in 2005. I have been working in retail and enjoy my interaction with the customers but i will like more patient contact and to work in developing countries in Africa. I thought about medicine but was discouraged because of my grades; I have sGPA: 2.8 and cGPA : 3.3. Given this information is worth it to spend 2 years and 23k doing post-bacc to improve my gpa and prepare for mcat? P.s.- i barely remember any of the prerequiste material (took them in 1999-2001). Also, i am URM.

I am 30 years old, and would like to start medical school at 33.

Grades are:
chem: C+ (B with retake)/ b-
bio: B-/B+
Physics: B+/A-
Org chem: D( B with retake)/ C
Micro: B+

Thank you..

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[DrMidlife]

...is worth it...

Only you can make this judgment. You would have to stop making good money. You would have to get straight A's, which may not be possible. You would have to get a great MCAT, which may not be possible. You cannot control which medical school you get into, or if you get in at all.

Basically, if you want to go after this and will accept the risk, yes, you can get into med school. It will not make any sense financially, and there is no guarantee that you will enjoy medicine more than pharm.

Assume the student loans after med school will be more than $300k. You may get lucky and they will be lower, but $300k+ is a good assumption.

You can't do much overseas work (such as Doctors Without Borders) until you are done with residency and out of debt. (You can get a loan deferment to serve, but that just extends your repayment schedule more.) Generally you have to devalue your practice in the US to serve overseas - not that this is a bad thing, but if you also want to raise a family and have a house and also take normal vacations, you can't tack Doctors Without Borders on top of that any time soon.

Best of luck to you.