Ok, I’m going to ramble a bit so if you want to get to the point skip to the second paragraph. Currently, I am a freshman in college (finishing up second semester now) and basically, medicine has been my dream since forever. Its something that I absolutely love but sadly the pre-reqs for it are probably the subjects I do the most poorly in/ struggle with the most. I genuinely need help in regards to what to do to actually have a shot at getting into med school. At this point I’m considering DO rather than MD because I know they don’t emphasize GPA as much, but regardless please advise me on what to do/how to study if I’m not a science person and what I can do to succeed.
Now for the main issue: I am currently taking chem and I literally have a D-, not because I’m slacking off or anything but its because of the professor I chose to take, I literally don’t know a single person actually passing the class but I hear there’s a big curve at the end of the year. Regardless I don’t think I’m going to end with a grade that I want. Should I take a chance and try to fix my grade (I still have around 50% of the coursework grade left so I do have a chance to improve the grade significantly) or should I not risk it and withdraw and retake with a better professor? If I do that another issue is that I’ll be forced to take a gap year just because certain classes aren’t offered in some semesters so it’ll take me a whole year longer before I can apply to med school. What should I do!!!?
Thanks in advance 
Talk to the TA or professor to get a better sense of where you stand and how big of a curve is generally expected.
Also think about how you can study and prepare differently. Do you have a tutor? Are you going to office hours? Review sessions? Practicing questions?
What does it mean that you are “not a science person”? You have a lot of science ahead of your if you are planning on med school!
Science classes can have some pretty big curves. Maybe talk to someone who took this class with this professor last year to get some idea how big the curve was.
I also agree you need to talk with Prof to get an idea of where you stand compared to the rest of your classmates. If it’s clear that you can’t get at least B/B-. then drop the class to protect your GPA.
Some suggestions to improve your grade–
–tutoring. Your college’s academic support center will usually offer this for free.
–If you haven’t found a peer study group, find or form one.
–Do extra problem sets and then do some more until you can do the calculations in your sleep. Science & math often requires a large amount of problem-grinding.
I’m not sure this is true. The median GPAs for osteopathic med students is now around 3.5+ (compared to 3.7 for allopathic med students). DO schools won’t overlook a poor GPA. DO schools no longer allow grade replacement, either.
RE: Gap year-- these are increasingly common. According to the MSQ( (matriculating Student Questionnaire) >60% of entering M1s have taken at least 1 year more off between college graduation and matriculation
I am concerned that you don’t like and tend to poorly in your science classes. You do know if you get to med school, it will nothing but science. It’s all science, all the time. If science isn’t your thing–then maybe you need to rethink your career goals. (The career center at your college can help here too. Aptitude testing and some alternative career suggestions.)
One thing I’ve done if I am behind, when I was in college was to attend EVERY professor’s(or TA’s) office hours, it will help you to understand what they expect from you and learn how to study the problem set. I know its going to be double work, but if you want a good grade, that is a MUST.