The failure to fill several prestigious medical house officerships in 1987 and the subsequent steady decline in interest in internal medicine among medical students has led, over the past five years, to convulsive self-examination by program directors and chairpersons of medicine departments. A flood of papers have imputed blame to factors ranging from venal changes in the character of modern medical students to excessively brutal training programs, with much reasoned thought and analysis between these two extremes. Whatever the reasons, it appears to be true that internal medicine, as a field, is in trouble. As one applicant for an internship . . .