Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to footer content

Premed Advising

Helpful Books

Medical School Admission Requirements - Association of American Medical Colleges; Attn: Public Relations; One Dupont Circle, Suite 200; Washington, DC 20036. Contains descriptions of the application process and admission information on all accredited medical schools. This is available at most bookstores, as well as on-line, and comes out in the spring of every year.

Also of interest: Minority Student Opportunities in United States Medical Schools (MSOUSMS) To be used by minority students as a companion for the above book.

A comparable book about osteopathic medical schools is also available: 2011 Osteopathic Medical College Information Book.

Get into Medical School: A Guide for the Perplexed, 2nd ed. by Kenneth Iserson, 2004.

The following books have been suggested by a CSUF alum Matt Mazurek, who is now a doctor (see his "Advice" essay on this website.)

"Getting Into Medical School" by Sanford Brown, M.D. This book is an excellent resource for information regarding entry into medical school. It provides much of the same information I have written about plus a listing and breakdown of schools. It provides much of the same information I have written about plus a listing and breakdown of schools.

" Medical School Admissions--An Insider's Guide, Fourth Revised Edition" by John Zebala, M.D. This book, like Dr. Brown's book, contains much information for the pre-medical student. Its most valuable content is a collection of 50 personal statements and essays written by pre-medical students. When the time arrives for you to draft your personal statement, the essays provide you with numerous examples and varieties of "making the statement." This book is a MUST for pre-meds. I have found copies at Barnes and Noble bookstore, and if they don't have it, have them order it for you. If you are in the Bay Area, drop by the Stanford University Bookstore because they carry the book.

You can find other books of interest on the web.

Interesting, Fun Books to Read

Here are some books which are entertaining to read and informative about medical practice. Anne Fadiman's book is especially relevant to the Valley since she deals with a severe medical problem of a Hmong child in Merced and the cultural problems which became relevant to the treatment. Read; read; read!

Austin, Paul. (2008) Something for the Pain: One Doctor's Account of Life and Death in the ER

Broyard, Anatole. (1992). Intoxicated by Illness. New York: Ballantine Books.

Bursztajn, Harold, Feinbloom, Richard, Hamm, Robert, & Brodsky, Archie. (1981). Medical Choices, Medical Chances. How Patients, Familits and Physicians Can Cope with Uncertainty. New York: Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence.

Chen, Pauline. (2007) Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflection on Mortality

Coles, Robert. (1989). The Call of Stories. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Colgrove, Melba, Bloomfield, Harold, & McWilliams, Peter. (1976). How to Survive the Loss of a Love. Los Angeles: Prelude Press.

Gawande, Atul. () The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right.

Gawande, Atul. ( 2007) Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance

Gawande, Atul. (2002). Complications: A Young Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Groopman, Jerome. (2007). How Doctors Think: Critical Judgment and the Practice of Medicine.

Fadiman, Anne. (1997). The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Jauhar, Sandeep. (2007) Intern: A Doctor's Initiation

Kidder, Tracy. (2003) Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the Worl

Kleinman, Arthur. (1988). The Illness Narratives. New York: Basic Books, Inc.

Konner, Melvin. (1988). Becoming a Doctor. New York: Penguin Books.

Magee, Mike. (2004). Positive Leadership. 3rd edition. New York: Spencer Books.

Magee, Mike. (1999). The Best Medicine: Doctors, Patients and the Covenant of Caring. St. Martin's Press.

Remen, Rachael Naomi. (1996). Kitchen Table Wisdom. New York, Riverhead Books.

Verghese, Abraham. (1998). The Tennis Partner. New York: Harper Perennial.

Verghese, Abraham. (1995). My Own Country: A Doctor's Story. New York: Vintage Books.

The following books have been suggested by a CSUF alum Matt Mazurek, who is now a doctor (see his "Advice" essay on this website.)

" How We Die" by Sherwin Nuland, M.D. Written by a faculty member of Yale University, this book is a good one providing insight into how a doctor handles life and death. You might be tempted to pass this book up because of the subject matter, but it really is an enlightening account, and the difficulties of practicing medicine are clearly shown. Weaving personal stories with the clinical and technical aspects of medicine superbly, Dr. Nuland's book is another must read.

" Lethal Medicine" by Harvey Wachsmann, J.D., M.D. One of a handful of physicians with both a Juris Doctorate and Medical Degree, Dr. Wachsmann, a practicing medical malpractice attorney, has written a chilling book about medical malpractice. According to Dr. Wachsmann, much of the malpractice taking place in this country goes undetected. Read the book with an open mind and you won't be disappointed.