Cosgrove struggled in public schools in his hometown of Watertown, N.Y., and studied hard for D's in college French at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., his father's alma mater. He did so poorly on the standardized tests required for medical admission that he credits special circumstances for getting into the University of Virginia's medical school, the only one of 13 schools that accepted his application.At medical school, he was no academic performer, but he thrived in the clinical work.