Going Alone To Your White Coat Ceremony

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Bendrix

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Nothing I've heard about the white coat ceremony makes me think that it's something that members of my family (who are a plane ride away) should come and see.

Any thoughts to the contrary? Are others advising family members not to attend?
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I told mine to stay at home as well. I get some pictures taken and mail em out that should sufice.
 
Prolly depends on the school. UNC's ceremony is part of a whole family day w/ a circus and freak show and roller coasters and such, and you get extra credit for each family member you bring. I think it's cuz they test out new medicines in the cotton candy, which is free 🙂
 
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I don't think I could stop my mom from coming. Besides, I want her to see where I'll be for four or more years of my life and help me move in.
 
white coat ceremonies are a joke. Dont bother. Go to the lake and have fun instead.
 
I actually skipped my own white coat ceremony. My parents showed up (as a suprise) and were PISSED.
 
I don't think it's worth it unless your family is already near your med school. Other than my husband, none of my family or friends will be there. In my opinion, I don't want to be a bother and drag them all the way from the midwest and Taiwan out to DC for this. I think the ceremony is on a Saturday and classes begin the very next Monday so I couldn't even spend much time with them.
 
i dunno. i don't want to trivialize something that could be a really nice experience for my family and i. i mean, i realize that this isn't like receiving a Nobel Prize or something, but being admitted into the medical profession is a pretty big deal.
 
That's why parents should never ever surpsied their kids unless someone else who is with the kid knows about it.

I'm just surpsied after this is thebeginning of the result of so much hard work and perserverance, pain and anxiety...why would anyone *not* want to be there?

Maybe i don't know exactly what it is or symbolizes.
 
Psycho Doctor said:
Maybe i don't know exactly what it is or symbolizes.
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Thats the whole point, it doesnt SYMBOLIZE anything.

Imagein if you will that your college had a special ceremony called "business suit ceremony" day. The idea is that after you graduate you will all wear business suits to work.

Thats the same silly idea as "white coat ceremony" day. Wearing a white coat doesnt distinguish you from anybody. Hell everybody in the hospital wears a white coat.
 
Ok, i thought maybe it symbolized the moment your life changed..and you were really on the way to being a doctor.

btw, everyone in a hospital does *not* wear a white coat
 
Psycho Doctor said:
Ok, i thought maybe it symbolized the moment your life changed..and you were really on the way to being a doctor.

btw, everyone in a hospital does *not* wear a white coat
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\
you thought right. you take the hipp. oath at your WC ceremony.
 
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👍 then i'd say that's a pretty important event and shouldn't be missed. 🙂
 
MacGyver said:
Thats the whole point, it doesnt SYMBOLIZE anything.

Imagein if you will that your college had a special ceremony called "business suit ceremony" day. The idea is that after you graduate you will all wear business suits to work.

Thats the same silly idea as "white coat ceremony" day. Wearing a white coat doesnt distinguish you from anybody. Hell everybody in the hospital wears a white coat.
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I think that's BS. I farted and I got into college. I had to work my ASS off to get into med school and for the love of all things holy I think it's a big deal to begin this amazing journey in my life. Talk to people holding spots on 6 waitlists with no acceptances and they'd probably do anything to be at a white coat ceremony. I am too grateful to not be respectful of this tradition.
 
Brickhouse said:
I think that's BS. I farted and I got into college. I had to work my ASS off to get into med school and for the love of all things holy I think it's a big deal to begin this amazing journey in my life. Talk to people holding spots on 6 waitlists with no acceptances and they'd probably do anything to be at a white coat ceremony. I am too grateful to not be respectful of this tradition.
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well said. i got really sick of reading all the "cooler than thou" blase garbage that was being spewed in this thread. i felt that way in HS, and was "too cool" for graduation. it ended up really upsetting my parents, and now looking back on it, i realize even that was just pretentous bs. i definitely didn't trivialize my college graduation, and i won't do it w/ the WC ceremony.
 
Oh and one more thing - yes my mom is coming out to see me go through the white coat thing and so is my best gay friend from NY - well he already "came out" but you know what I mean! 😀

And go see Spiderman 2! 👍
 
I wouldn?t miss it. It?s all part of the experience. Like the day you moved the tassel from the right to the left in undergrad?.memories.
 
I still say the WC ceremony is a bunch of BS. Trust me, when you are 80 years old it wont even show up on your top 100 list of most cherished moments. College, high school, hell even middle school/elementary school graduations are all more meaningful than the WC.

BTW, why did your schools leave the part of the Hippocratic Oath out that EXPRESSLY FORBIDS abortions and surgery? I might have showed up if they had left those 2 things in there. :laugh:
 
I'm from Kentucky, and no one in our extended family or friends (with the exception of a 4th cousin in Alabama who I've never met) is a doctor, so it was a big thing for my mom to come up. So, yeah, it might not have been an earth shaking ceremony, but it was a huge deal for my mom to make the trip up to the northeast and see me, see my school, and go to the white coat ceremony. It's a question worth asking: do your parents want to go? Do you think it would make them happy?
 
MacGyver said:
I might have showed up ....
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With that grammar you'll be lucky if you make it to 80, jerky! Don't hurt yourself.
 
Hey, I'm not saying I'd skip the ceremony. I think it's a nice tradition, and it certainly has personal meaning for me. My original question was simply whether people think its worth their parents' time and money to make a long trip to be there.
 
Bendrix said:
Hey, I'm not saying I'd skip the ceremony. I think it's a nice tradition, and it certainly has personal meaning for me. My original question was simply whether people think its worth their parents' time and money to make a long trip to be there.
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That's for you to decide, my friend.
 
MacGyver said:
hell even middle school/elementary school graduations are all more meaningful than the WC.
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You have got to be kidding....or just very jaded. What the hell it?s your life right? If you don?t think it was worth it then good on ya.

MacGyver said:
BTW, why did your schools leave the part of the Hippocratic Oath out that EXPRESSLY FORBIDS abortions and surgery? I might have showed up if they had left those 2 things in there. :laugh:
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It's part of the ceremony.... you don't really expect doctors to see the profs as equal to their parents do ya? Plus he actually does allow for surgery for those practitioners that are so trained.

I'm still waiting for my free training too..... :laugh:

Don't really need to post the oath (classical or not)
 
Bendrix said:
Hey, I'm not saying I'd skip the ceremony. I think it's a nice tradition, and it certainly has personal meaning for me. My original question was simply whether people think its worth their parents' time and money to make a long trip to be there.
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I think it is. Heck if they come out for it you'll actually have time to spend with them at this point too.... 👍
 
Brickhouse said:
That's for you to decide, my friend.
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Clearly, you're right. I'm not searching for the one correct course of action, which obviously doesn't exist. I'm just interested in what other people are thinking and planning.
 
Bendrix said:
Clearly, you're right. I'm not searching for the one correct course of action, which obviously doesn't exist. I'm just interested in what other people are thinking and planning.
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see what you parents want to do. if they WANT to come, it's certainly not too insignificant to warrant the trip.
 
My mom's comin. My GFs comin down from yale for it. Even her parents are gonna come. How often do you get to formally send your loved ones off to medical school?
 
my whole family is coming. My dad is so excited about it even though I told them to put off the family trip until I graduate. I guess it would be nice to share this moment with those most dear to me though. The only person happier than me about getting into med school is my dad - and only because he knows how much I wanted to become a physician.
 
family and friends coming through. Its been a long road, and though I downplay it a lot, it'll be 1 heck of a night!
But I'm savin all the emotions till graduation, when I'll bawl myself an ocean!! 😀
 
I didn't even go to my college graduation. I'll be at my WC but my family/friends won't.

I don't think it's a big deal.
 
Brickhouse said:
Oh and one more thing - yes my mom is coming out to see me go through the white coat thing and so is my best gay friend from NY - well he already "came out" but you know what I mean! 😀

And go see Spiderman 2! 👍
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It always bugged me when people go out of their way to mention a friend's gay... It'd be like stating your "best black friend" was coming from NY... Kinda unneeded.

Then again, I'm gay, and definitely not into its associated culture or expected mannersisms much, so it always bugged me if friends said it so unnessecarily. 😡
 
You guys suck...I don't even get a white coat. We get a stupid pin and that's it.
 
Brickhouse said:
Oh and one more thing - yes my mom is coming out to see me go through the white coat thing and so is my best gay friend from NY - well he already "came out" but you know what I mean! 😀

And go see Spiderman 2! 👍
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why do u label ur "best gay friend?" i'm sure i wouldn't want to be labled as "the gay friend."
 
Indebt4Life said:
You guys suck...I don't even get a white coat. We get a stupid pin and that's it.
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awww! I met a girl down there when I visited U of M last year who was really proud of that pin. She said that you only get it if you go to med school there, not for doing your residency there and that it is really a big deal amongst the students. 🙂
 
i didn't really have a lot of school spirit in HS or college but this is one thing that I don't want my parents to miss. They have worked so hard to support me through all these years financially and emotionally and I want them to see that their work has paid off. The road is still long to become a doctor but the WC ceremony signifies that I'm one step closer! I'm going to school 5 minutes away from my house so traveling won't be too difficult but even if I went to school across the country my family and bf would still fly in for this ceremony.
 
Psycho Doctor said:
Ok, i thought maybe it symbolized the moment your life changed..and you were really on the way to being a doctor.

btw, everyone in a hospital does *not* wear a white coat
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It's a profession, not a religious cult. Nor is it "life-changing" unless you are very young and haven't done anything yet. I am in no way a cynic but you are setting yourself up for disappointment if you think a white coat is going to transform you from a bong-smoking college student to Marcus Welby, MD.

In my opinion, the White Coat Ceremony is embarrasing on many levels. First because some people ascribe talismanic powers to an article of clothing worn by everyone form the chancellor to the guy who feeds the chimps up in the lab.

Second because the speeches are always over the top in regards to the self-congratulation and ass-kissing. Now that I am a fourth year I think that I'm getting a handle on the profession of medicine. When I was a first year I didn't have a clue and I knew it. The white coat ceremony made me feel like a fraud.

This is not to say that medical school isn't pretty friggen' cool, because it is.
 
I definitely say ask your parents. After all they are the ones who have to pay for the trip and put in the effort to make it. Tell them exactly what it's about and let them decide if they think this is a "significant day" for them to be a part of. They might also be happy to find an excuse to come and visit you.
Congratulations on making it!
 
And of course you don't skip the ceremony and of course your parents will come. That's the point. Your parents don't know any better and think that on the first day of medical school you know everything about medicine. My inlaws have no idea. they watch ER, they buy into the hype. They'd be shocked, I'm sure, to watch me getting pimped on a surgery rotation.

I am not agin' the ceremony. I just don't think it's a big enough deal to have anybody make a long trip or spend a night in a hotel. My inlaws live an hour away so what the hell.
 
jesus christ. the cynicism in this thread is ridiculous. it's a traditional ceremony and nothing more. you don't have some unbelievable revelation or gain unlimited knowledge when you put that white coat on - someone would be extremely naive to assume something like that. if nothing else it's a chance to meet some fellow classmates, scope out the potential hotties, and reflect on all the work that you did just to get to that point. it is what you make of it; nothing more, nothing less

i just had my WCC this past sunday and i was very pleased. it was a LOT shorter than my graduation ceremony and i enjoyed getting to spend some time with my family before starting classes. if your family wants to join you and they have the means, then it will be well worth their trip. don't skip it or refuse their company because you have some weak objection to the exact wording of the hiipocratic oath your school uses or the significance of getting a piece of attire that even the ****-shovelers wear in the monkey labs. it may not be that big of a deal 60 years from now but you can spare the 2 hours.
 
I went to my White Coat Ceremony alone, though my family lived in-state, because I didn't think it was all that. It turned out to be pretty good, one of the first bonding experiences between me and my classmates, but I think it holds a different value for each person. Maybe it's just pomp and circumstance, maybe it's the crowning achievement of an academic career, but to me it was a free coat, free snacks and an excuse to get wasted with 91 then-strangers.
 
ItsNotATumor said:
I went to my White Coat Ceremony alone, though my family lived in-state, because I didn't think it was all that. It turned out to be pretty good, one of the first bonding experiences between me and my classmates, but I think it holds a different value for each person. Maybe it's just pomp and circumstance, maybe it's the crowning achievement of an academic career, but to me it was a free coat, free snacks and an excuse to get wasted with 91 then-strangers.
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Nice name.

"It's not a too-mah!" 😀
 
That's exactly what I would think...this signifies an amazing culmination of years of hard work, emotional anxiety and expense. i can't imagine my family or me wanting to miss this. But then again i'm not there yet.
 
Ha ha.

Family/friends are not invited to the white coat ceremony at my future school. Weird, but it is just as well.
 
lane said:
it may not be that big of a deal 60 years from now but you can spare the 2 hours.
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👍 Exactly.....why not get the full experience....after all you've earned it. Why feel like a fraud...it's not like it says Thewzdoc, M.D. on it.
 
When IS everyone's WCC? Ours at USF is after the three weak introductory course. Friends at UF say theirs is after their second year! So I'm wondering how it varies between schools.
 
It?s usually somewhere around orientation...right?
 
My brother and I have our WCCs on the same day. His is in Kentucky and mine is in Pennsylvania, so we had to split our parents up. My Did is comming up to Philly for mine and my Mom will be at my brother's in Lexington. Both are on the last day of week-long orientation.
I just hope our graduations don't fall on the same day too... :scared:
 
Ascensionmd said:
why do u label ur "best gay friend?" i'm sure i wouldn't want to be labled as "the gay friend."
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Tough crowd! Sorry to offend more than one of you with my word choice - it was more of an attempt to paint the campy fun picture that will be my white coat ceremony - sometimes I forget other people are intolerant and that it's sometimes better to keep my gay friends anonymous, I do apologize, but I guarantee you they would not be offended by me, so no worries. 🙂

... and sorry to bring "everyone" forum BS into pre-allo.
 
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