It's never too late. Your "friend" is not doing you any favors by discouraging you. She should be ashamed of herself! You have been given some great advice regarding how to raise your GPA. Believe...
In my A&P series we learned on cadavers. No disection, we used cow and sheep parts for that. I was really nervous about how I'd handle it before hand, but when it came down to it I was fine with...