Finishing first undergraduate degree... Next steps?

[hollia]

I'm sure I'm asking the same general questions that have been asked a million times, and I'm still a few years away from even thinking about applying to med school but I'm really starting to consider what my next steps should be. I'm in my last year of a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Psychology. It will have taken me approx. 5.5 years to complete my degree by the time I'm finished (I've had to work a LOT during my degree to support family members who were struggling). Due to a family loss, my first year GPA was awful (1.85 on a 4.3 scale, or something like that). However, I've had a strong upward trend and have had achieved 3.2-3.7 every semester since. I'm expecting to graduate with a cGPA of around 3.26. I attribute this to the fact that I gave up on the idea of medical school after my terrible first year, and aimlessly wandered through the rest of my degree. I did not enjoy psychology (which was my 'back up plan') and therefore did not feel motivated to continue pursuing it. That said, I've wanted to go to medical school for years, and I'm looking for a way to achieve that goal.

For this reason, I'm thinking about pursuing a second degree. I want to make myself as competitive as possible to as many schools as possible, while realizing that realistically, a lot of schools won't overlook my less-than-stellar grades in my first degree. I've already got a few ideas of what I really want to major in (as in, subjects that would give me a viable backup plan if medical school doesn't work out), but I'm just having some troubles with the logistics of going forward.

I have a few questions specifically:

1. Would it be acceptable to complete a two-year degree, provided I am able to get approx. half my credits from my first degree transferred to the second? I've read that it is usually fine, but I just want to check.

2. How can I get involved in extracurriculars that would improve my CV? I haven't done much over the course of this degree, except for work an extreme number of hours at an irrelevant job, but will be focusing solely on studies and extracurricular activities during my second degree. I don't really know where to start with getting involved.

3. Would it be advantageous to study for, and write, the MCAT early in my second degree so that I can get an idea of where I stand and rewrite if necessary?

4. I have a few withdrawals on my transcript... Most from my first year, but one from this current semester. I was going to re-take first year calculus due to a low grade but decided against it as I felt it would affect my other grades and I would not significantly improve my marks. How significant is this going forward?

Thanks so much in advance!