Eventually I had to choose a medical school. At the appointed time, my chemistry advisor called me in to ask what I might want to do with a medical education. I answered that I had become interested in the lide of an academic, but still intended to attend medical school because nothing else had caught my fancy quite strongly enough. "Then you should consider Harvard," he advised. "Where is that?" I asked. "In Boston somewhere, I think," was his response.

I eventually found the correct address and applied, adding the University of Pennsylvania for good measure. Making only two applications was probably foolhardy even in those days; in the present, it would be self-destructive. Both schools admitted me, the University of Pennsylvania by means of a letter sent regular mail, Harvard by means of a telegram. The contrast foreshadowed what was to come. (Truth be told, I also applied to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, but withdrew my application after visiting the school - my rural sensitivities were not yet prepared for the gritty realities of the Baltimore neighborhood in which the school resides.)

I prepared my applications while working as a summer employee in Yellowstone National Park. I wrote by hand with a ballpoint pen, and included a statement that I sought a career in medicine because I thought this would provide me both gratification and a comfortable living. No contemporary medical school of any note would now entertain and application unless it were flawlessly typed (and preferably, electronically submitted), and few would look kindly upon a crass confession of material aims - applicants are expected to endorse abnegation and fierce social purpose.

How to choose? My interview for Harvard had been in Philadelphia, so I still knew virtually nothing about the school other than it was for some mysterious reason celebrated. I wrote a letter to Harvard, explaining that I was having difficulty deciding between it and the University of Pennsylvania. Could I come visit? Years later, the dean of the students at Harvard told me that my letter had been posted in the dean's office for the amusement of the staff. Thus did I learn the measure of institutional arrogance.