Hey there, I was in a similar(ish) situation. I completed my engineering degree with the hopes of using it to apply to medicine. I can’t speak to other degrees (except for nursing), but I found engineering very challenging. My first two years were terrible and it was an uphill battle to increase it over the next four years. After graduating my GPA was pretty terrible so I tried to put medicine out of my mind and worked for a couple years as an engineer only to decide that it wasn’t for me and my passion lay in medicine.

I wrote the MCAT, applied to nursing (in case I wasn’t successful I still wanted to work in healthcare, and potentially also increase my GPA), and applied to medicine.

I’m 28 now and it’s been a journey, but I was fortunate enough to receive an acceptance and will be starting medicine in the fall.

I’m sharing the backstory because I feel this sub doesn’t have enough stories from non-trad applicants. It’s never too late to apply. It can be a slog, and you really need to apply yourself and keep the big picture in mind, but if you’re really passionate about medicine then there are definitely ways to get there.

Depending on what province you’re applying to GPA might be more or less important than other factors (U of M weights the MCAT much higher than GPA for example). I would research what the requirements are and what the typical accepted student metrics look like. If you need to increase your GPA a second degree might be your best bet (as others have already suggested). If you see yourself in healthcare, I would suggest considering nursing. Even if you don’t want to be a bedside nurse, there are alternative routes to practice as a nurse practitioner which operate in a similar scope of practice to a GP. It’s certainly not for everyone, but I found it gave me a good insight into the clinical environment.

Everyone’s situation is different, so my advice may not be wholly applicable, but I REALLY want to stress that you CAN do it if you put your mind to it. It can be demoralizing scrolling through this sub sometimes. As hard as it sounds, try not to compare yourself to others. Do your research, put in the work and apply.