Rating: 
Summary: Solid account
Review: I found Rothman's book to be an accurate, candid, and well-balanced descriptive account of her medical school education. Many of her reactions and observations as an initiate into a profession as a health care provider coincide precisely with my own experience as an EMT. Her book is not of the level of Sinclair Lewis, Klass, or Marion, but that is merely because her purpose, predominantly expository and not advocacy, is substantially different. I believe she accomplishes her literary purpose well. One weakness is that her long accounts of her clinical years would probably bore someone without a vested interest in medicine. As a medical student myself, I highly recommend the book for those planning to attend medical school.
Rating:
Summary: Better than other similar books
Review: I had attempted to read a few books similar to this one, always finding myself too bored to make it even half-way through. However, Dr.Lerner-Rothman's book took a much more humanistic approach, with lots of personal touches. She described the entire experience of Harvard Medical School, giving extra time to the more curious and interesting facets (e.g., the first gynecological and urological exams.) I especially appreciated the way she included her observations of women going into medicine. For example, she speculates that less women become general surgeons because women are still expected to be the primary caretakers, being able to pick up their kids from school at the drop of a hat. True, the writing is not pulitzer-prize caliber, but that's why she was becoming a DOCTOR and not an ENGLISH TEACHER. Anyway, overall, I found this book to be infinitely more readable than any other book like it on the market.
Rating:
Summary: Better than other similar books
Review: I had attempted to read a few books similar to this one, always finding myself too bored to make it even half-way through. However, Dr.Lerner-Rothman's book took a much more humanistic approach, with lots of personal touches. She described the entire experience of Harvard Medical School, giving extra time to the more curious and interesting facets (e.g., the first gynecological and urological exams.) I especially appreciated the way she included her observations of women going into medicine. For example, she speculates that less women become general surgeons because women are still expected to be the primary caretakers, being able to pick up their kids from school at the drop of a hat. True, the writing is not pulitzer-prize caliber, but that's why she was becoming a DOCTOR and not an ENGLISH TEACHER. Anyway, overall, I found this book to be infinitely more readable than any other book like it on the market.
Rating: 
Summary: Disjointed and Random
Review: I hate to be harsh on the author, but this book was WAY too disjointed in its writing. First, I expected a detailed account of what it is like to be trained as a doctor at one of America's premier medical schools. Books such as this interest me, as I may never train to be a doctor (likewise, the book "Boot" is a great tome that goes through Marine Corp boot camp from beginning to end.) Instead, in "White Coat" there is basic and quick descriptions of what Harvard Medical School is like, followed suddenly by a random paragraph about dating a guy, or watching ER. Her entire first year--what I would imagine would be an amazing experience of first-time medical learning and wonders-- covers less than 36 pages! This, in a book of 331 pages? Chapters are actually topics: AIDS, Difficult Patients, Pelvic Exams, etc. The problem is that the reader never quite feels that we are progressing with her from day to day, month to month, and year to year at Harvard. I never quite caught excatly when and how she was allowed to see patients. In one chapter, she was suddenly with her first patient. I want to read this book and really know what happens at the Harvard Medical School! It's her first book, and quite obviously she means well, but her book is really an amateur effort. She is probably a good doctor but her writing skills need much honing.
Rating:
Summary: Clear account
Review: I have been following Dr. Rothman's column "on becoming a doctor," in the Harvard newsletter for the last two years; the book is essentially a collection of those columns, which gives some sense of disjointedness. However, her story is true to what most medical students go through -- ER and pop culture influences high school and college students to go into medicine; her maturation from this viewpoint is clear. Good read and accurate account of med education.
Rating:
Summary: A potentially compelling story buried in poor writing
Review: I have read many books about the process of becoming a doctor, and looked forward eagerly to reading this one. However, I found it so poorly written that it was almost unreadable. The writer sounds like a compassionate person who is almost surely a fine and caring doctor, but I think she should stick to that profession and not writing. I never felt I got to know her in any way---her emotions and thoughts came through in a severely muted way. Her main way of describing each and every person she encounters, patient or not, is by their appearance---with special attention to if they are at all overweight---with note of if this is mild, moderate or severe! Even when telling about her most upsetting experience ever during her training, a case where by not speaking up, a child might have been given a medication he was allergic to, she was not able to describe the incident or her feelings in such a way that I felt any of what she felt. I did enjoy hearing some of the medical stories, but I think I would have enjoyed them just as much if they were simply a case history and not part of this book. I am surprised this account was actually published.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre +
Review: I read this book before entering medical school. I must admit that before my first encounter with my cadaver, I re-consulted Rothmen's book in order to dampen my fears. I am only in my first year, and I whole-heartedly confess that I will continue to relate my experiences with hers. However, I became increasingly annoyed by her as I read this book. I have worked in the hospitals in which she performed her rotations. I would never advise any patient to see her. She seems like she is too prone to nervous breakdown. She seems too quick to blame others, and too kean to advocate the negative aspects of Harvard. If she had so many problems with the system, why did she choose to perform her residency in Children's (a major Harvard Affiliate)? As I know the hospitals, I had no problem picking up on the details or imagining what she was talking about. Thus, I am not able to adequately comment on her writing style.
Rating:
Summary: Good insight into the feelings of a Med student
Review: I'm bought this book to give me an idea and a comparison of life of a medical student of one of the best medical schools in the world against that of our local students, of local conditions. Well written and psyches me up as I prepare to enter our local university to do medicine. Also set me into seriously considering the issues and worries I would face as a medical practitioner. Well balanced narration with school and social lives and how each would affect the other.
Rating: 
Summary: being a medical student
Review: It starts good with feelings, expectations, experiences but towards the end it becomes more like ER show, personal feelings seems to disappear. I was more interested reading about actual thrill that was felt rather than how the patients felt, but still gave me an understanding of being in medical school and difficult life it brings.
I liked the way she described the obgyn experience but others was like textbook explaining the problems. First years experiences was very short, the process and procedures was not clear, I still do not get from the book when you start rotations, when you become resident, what is expected from you, what happenes if you do not perform.
Rating:
Summary: uneven journal of a doctor in the making
Review: My wife and I had roughly the same experience reading this book - after the initial hundred pages or so the descriptions became rote, the observations repetitive, and the writing just got somewhat tiresome. We both had a hard time working up the energy to finish this book. This is not a great piece of journalism - rather it is Dr. Lerner's sometimes interesting, sometimes boring diary of her experience making it through Harvard Medical School.
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