Bissell Daniel M. - Med School Confidential

PRAISE FOR

Law School Confidential

The shared experiences of the vast majority of law students are many, and the author covers these commendably and comprehensively. Valuable in helping students adjust in the early days of law school. A useful and worthwhile book.

N EW Y ORK L AW J OURNAL

This book is a must for anyone attending or thinking about law school.

T HE H OUSTON L AWYER

Miller covers every aspect of the law school experiencefrom surviving the first semester to seeking summer internshipswhich makes this book unique. Recommended.

L IBRARY J OURNAL

PRAISE FOR

Business School Confidential

A valuable tool for those ready to throw themselves into b-school.

P UBLISHERS W EEKLY

If you are considering business school, currently applying to business school, or presently in business school, Business School Confidential is a book you should not be without.

P RINCETON R EVIEW

Thorough... its thoughtful insights will stick with b-school candidates long afterward.

B IZ ED M AGAZINE

MED
SCHOOL

CONFIDENTIAL

ALSO BY ROBERT H. MILLER

Law School Confidential
Business School Confidential (with Katherine F. Koegler)
Campus Confidential

MED
SCHOOL

CONFIDENTIAL

A Complete Guide to the
Medical School Experience:
By Students, for Students

Robert H. Miller

AND

Daniel M. Bissell, M.D.

S T . M ARTIN S G RIFFIN
T HOMAS D UNNE B OOKS N EW Y ORK

THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS .

An imprint of St. Martins Press.

MED SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL. Copyright 2006 by Robert H. Miller and Daniel M. Bissell, M.D. Foreword 2006 by Harold M. Friedman, M.D. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.thomasdunnebooks.com
www.stmartins.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Miller, Robert H. (Robert Harrax)

Med school confidential / Robert H. Miller and Daniel M. Bissell, M.D.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-0-312-33008-8
ISBN-10: 0-312-33008-1

1. Medical educationUnited States. 2. Medical StudentsUnited States. 3. Medical collegesUnited States. I. Bissell, Daniel M. II. Title.

R745.M612 2006
610.71173dc22

2006044414

10 9 8 7 6

P ART O NE:
S O Y OU W ANNA B E A D OCTOR ...

P ART T WO:
A PPLYING TO M EDICAL S CHOOL

P ART T HREE:
T HE P RECLINICAL Y EARS

P ART F OUR:
T HE C LINICAL Y EARS

P ART F IVE:
A PPLYING f OR R ESIDENCY AND S URVIVING THE M ATCH

P ART S IX:
T HE T RANSITION TO R ESIDENCY AND L IFE AS A P HYSICIAN

P ART S EVEN:
A DVICE FOR THE S POUSES , P ARTNERS , S IGNIFICANT O THERS, AND F AMILIES OF M ED S TUDENTS

W HILE ANY AUTHOR would love to claim the finished product as the jewel of their creation alone, the truth is that there were many important contributors to the book you now hold in your hand. First, a thank-you for the invaluable input and insights of our fantastic mentor group. Thank you Ben, Chris, Deb, Pete, Carrie, Adam, and Kate. It is your contributions that have transformed an otherwise unilateral impression of medical school into a broad and comprehensive guide to the experience. We appreciate the time, the effort, and the candor you offered, and are honored to share the authorship with such an august and talented group. Thanks also to Nancy Nelson, former Dean of Student Affairs at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, for her encouraging words, extensive contacts, and sage advice; and to Dr. Andy Perron, Program Director at the Maine Medical Center Residency in Emergency Medicine, for allowing his chief resident to write this book, and for his superb support and encouragement.

We would also like to thank the many people who contributed to Med School Confidential behind the scenes. First, to our terrific literary agent, Jake Elwell of Wieser & Elwell, who has stood by the Confidential series from the beginning and has helped to nurture and grow it into the well-respected, international platform it has become. Honors three times, Jake, makes you a CB Club Member. Thanks also to Tom Dunne and Pete Wolverton at St. Martins Press for seeing the wisdom in turning the success of Law School Confidential into a series.

On the production side, true thanks go to John Parsley, our editor at St. Martins Press, who inherited this project, but whose enthusiasm, responsiveness, and professionalism have kept us on track and made this book his own. John, were truly grateful to have had the chance to work with you. Thanks also to Mark Steven Long for an exceptionally good job copyediting and fact-checking.

Finally, a thank-you to our families for unending patience and support in the face of tremendous pressures and long hours.

From Rob: To S.D., for seeing me and our family through yet another Confidential entry by so ably and loyally manning the rudder while I continued to insist on fiddling with the sails. Your many contributions to this book, to all of the others, and to the dreams of an aspiring author looking to make good on those dreams will never be forgotten.

From Dan: To Kim, who shouldered the burden when the teetering tower of residency, research, kids, writing, and life seemed about to topple over. As always you kept our family moving forward and filled me with inspiration to get the job done. Your contribution to the final section of the book has given a voice to the countless spouses who have also weathered the med-school experience and will be inspiration and solace to those who come behind us. Thank you, also, to my father for brandishing the red pen one more time and bringing thirty-five years of teaching experience to bear on our piece, even if it did run a bit over the five-paragraph limit. Your insights, instincts, and insistence on proper punctuation were invaluable.

T HE TECHNOLOGY AND organization of American medicine is evolving rapidly and it constitutes not one career path. Medicine provides options for students with diverse interests and personalities. There are some unifying themes: you need an ongoing interest in science, concern for people as individuals, high ethical standards, and a willingness to work as part of a team. These qualities must be present in any physician, whether he or she contemplates a career in primary care, a more narrowly defined clinical specialty, administration, or bench research.