Medical students undergoing a stressful process of adjustment, especially in their first year of studies, to the environment of medical school and hospital wards with their stringent requirements, are subject to a personal and professional identity crisis. Possible maladjustments may have profoundly negative affects on their studies and their personal and professional maturation and development. Most medical schools have some type of counseling service available to these students. One school's Student Advisory Group--a body composed of students and faculty who report to the dean's office--operated a guidance and counseling service staffed by voluntary faculty member counselors. A table of one faculty member's personal counseling in the period of 1981-1987 showed that 83% of counseled medical students were in their first year of undergraduate studies and that 62% of all counseled students were females. The indications as to the reasons for which the counsel was sought illustrates the fact that the majority of students (79%) needed help for reasons directly connected with the level of their academic performance, or with direct impact on their perception of how they were expected to perform. An effective counseling service in medical schools is essential, and it is possible to sidestep the usual administrative and budgetary problems in regard to staffing and operating such a service. (Author/NB)