<p>Pre-med is not a major, just a series of courses that are required by the majority of medical schools for admission. </p>
<p>If you've taken the pre-med requirements - a year (with lab) in general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics and biology, then you just need to graduate. A business degree is okay. If you haven't taken these courses, then you need to throw yourself into them right away. You'll definitely be doubling up on sciences each semester at a minimum.</p>
<p>Take your classes wherever you can get them done. If you're working, then obviously a school at which all the science classes are at 9:30 in the morning isn't going to be helpful. Do remember that you need some sort of clinical experience, so you'll need to find ways to volunteer in medical situations on your schedule (which I can imagine is busy with 5 kiddos running around). In general, I believe that most schools give non-traditional students, especially those that went back to school, some leeway in meeting the "normal" expectations.</p>
<p>Without getting into your financial situation too in depth, I do think you need to look at the possibility of becoming a full-time student once again. I'm not sure how quickly you can finish two years of pre-med requirements if you're limited to night classes.</p>
<p>You will not be able to work and go to medical school at the same time. Only jobs with minimal time commitments and very flexible hours will be feasible during the first two years (ie I worked for Kaplan teaching MCAT prep during my first year - I never had a week where I worked more than 10 hours, I have friends who waited tables or tended bar but only on the weekends). During the third year, there's ABSOLUTELY zero way to hold a job. Simply too great of time commitments (early, early mornings) and uncertainty in the schedule - on a number of services particularly in surgery fields, you never know exactly when you'll get off each evening. Throw in odd call schedules, and the like, and there's just no way you'd be present on a reliable basis.</p>
<p>Bottom line, this isn't going to be difficult, and it will change your lifestyle. It's awesome that you have the desire to become a physician, but there are barriers. Besides looking at MD/DO options, I'd encourage you to consider the possibility of Physicians' Assistant - PA school is shorter (usually about 27-30 months), and there's no residency afterwards, the hours are better, and many docs give their PA's a lot of autonomy. In the clinic PA's pretty much do all the same things a doc would - take a history, do a physical exam, order tests/labs, diagnose and prescribe drugs - but turn to the physician when a patient is complex or difficult. There are a growing number of PA's entering surgical fields as well as sub-specialties, and in the OR, they typically operate as the first assistant.</p>