white coat ceremony

[Ashers]

is this the case for most schools? at the only one i've been to (east tn state), girls were wearing sunday school type dresses and guys were in either khakis or dress pants.

I'm a girl, and I wore my suit to the white coat ceremony. I also believe that I was wearing the suit's coat. I think other people did too; it's been too long, and I've repressed those memories.

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[PeepshowJohnny]

Ok, I've always considered my parents to be the "make a big deal out of my stuff". You know, showing up early for good seats, taking lots of pictures, doing the whole "We are so proud of you" schtick. So, I knew they'd want to come to the white coat ceremony and there'd be no talking them out of it (even though I wasn't that enthused).

So I expected them to be among the peoople who make the biggest deal about the whole she-bang.

Wow, was I wrong.

My parents were there normal selves, but man some of the other parents/family

You could see people freaking crying they were so happy their son/daughter got into medical school. I got asked to take so many pictures "Now with the grandparents" "Now with the brothers and sisters" "Now with just her and her mother".

So, yeah, it's probably a big deal for your loved ones, even if it's not for you.

 

[bodonid]

Tell me when you had/are having your WCC.

Mine is two months into 1st semester, 1st year.

I have heard that some are between 2nd & 3rd year.

 

[DoctorPardi]

Tell me when you had/are having your WCC.

Mine is two months into 1st semester, 1st year.

I have heard that some are between 2nd & 3rd year.

UAB's white coat ceremony is a little less than a month after classes start. I guess they figure by then the class that will graduate is pretty well put together besides anyone who might fail. (considering that there may be some late drop outs or something)

 

[badasshairday]

So will wearing a bow tie make me look really snazzy during the WCC?

 

[Piyush]

I had this from last halloween. Black pants, white shirt, a black bow tie and a wide brimmed hat, also black. and black shoes, spit shined.

Seemed to get a lot of attention during the halloween dance

 

[TheRealMD]

My parents have never seen my medical school so I think it'd be a nice time to show them around. Also a good time to ask for a car (again).

 

[myKuduSlewaZulu]

Its just a nice little welcome-to-da-club ceremony. Worth shuttling family around the country? Not a chance. They did have a good speaker or two at mine, which helped, but the best part was probably the huge cakes they wheeled out for the reception. One of them had "Class of 20011" on it , so everyone whipped out their phones and snapped a few.

 

[dienekes88]

Oh man. I'm going to have to fix up my mullet.

 

[imamom]

Well, I guess it depends where you are coming from. If your family is middle class with no doctors anywhere in sight, then yes, this is an inspiring moment that your parents and other significant family members will remember.

Columbia's ceremony is very meaningful--humanism in medicine--and the originator of this ceremony, I believe. If you're not "into" ceremonies, try to see the other person's (your loving parents) point of view.

BTW, if you're Columbia, parents can "rent" a room at Bard Hall (top floor-marginally better than dorm rooms) very reasonably for Manhattan!

Someone behind you is very proud that they got you to this point in your life. You did not do it alone!

 

[URHere]

Well, I guess it depends where you are coming from. If your family is middle class with no doctors anywhere in sight, then yes, this is an inspiring moment that your parents and other significant family members will remember.

That is 100% my situation. My parents were looking so forward to coming...until they realized that they just couldn't afford to. I wish they could be there, but I guess the photos will have to be enough for them until they can finally make it out to the west coast.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

We have students in our class with family members who are ill and may not be able to make it to their relatives'/children's graduations. In that respect, this is a nice little ceremony to do, because unfortunately some of our parents are getting up there in age or in the period of their lives where all sorts of medical travesties can pop out of nowhere.

I think it's great for the families.

Still think its a blah for the students.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

I kinda feel like I owe it to myself to celebrate the accomplishments that I so looked forward to in my younger days. Just as in the future I will celebrate those things I look forward to today. Living one step at a time, and enjoying every step.

Maybe you have a point here. Because so far what I've experienced in medical school was nothing compared to my undergrad, premed, and trying to get into med school, which was 213912080384050345439874931 times worse.

And there's also the fact that most med schools try and help you out as much as possible once you get in. Maybe the WCC is like a "hey, sorry we had to kick the **** out of you for a while, perhaps you might be worth something, here we'll throw you a bone to chew on for a little bit, oh but dont get too excited! it's not the real thing, but cut short, to remind you that yeah you survived our multiyear long hazing rush period, but you're still dogsh*t. Sorry again!"

Yeah I can totally dig that. Good point fish man, me likey this new perspective.

 

[Dedikated2liftn]

Maybe you have a point here. Because so far what I've experienced in medical school was nothing compared to my undergrad, premed, and trying to get into med school, which was 213912080384050345439874931 times worse.

And there's also the fact that most med schools try and help you out as much as possible once you get in. Maybe the WCC is like a "hey, sorry we had to kick the **** out of you for a while, perhaps you might be worth something, here we'll throw you a bone to chew on for a little bit, oh but dont get too excited! it's not the real thing, but cut short, to remind you that yeah you survived our multiyear long hazing rush period, but you're still dogsh*t. Sorry again!"

Yeah I can totally dig that. Good point fish man, me likey this new perspective.

Ha, you're my new best friend.

 

[Green Apple]

I've heard that you study 132139874 times harder in med school than in undergrad, but I also hear getting into med school is tougher than med school itself. As an incoming med student, this confuses the heck out of me.

 

[DoctorPardi]

I've heard that you study 132139874 times harder in med school than in undergrad, but I also hear getting into med school is tougher than med school itself. As an incoming med student, this confuses the heck out of me.

The failure rate in medical school is miniscule, so if you get in, you're extremely likely to graduate. Though this is likely contributed to two things:
1) It is so hard to get in, only people who would not fail get in
2) Medical school's can't fill an empty spot, if you fail out year one, then they are losing that amount of tuition for 3 years with no chance of replacing it. Basically there is no incentive to fail someone except in the case that they truly can not pass a course or for some reason are not willing to.

I am sure there are other reasons but those are the ones that pop out at me. Plus if you fail that is one less physician pumped out that can not be regained.

So in a way getting in may be harder than passing. Getting in is probably not nearly as hard as getting AOA or being top 5-10% of your class though.

 

[Dedikated2liftn]

The failure rate in medical school is miniscule, so if you get in, you're extremely likely to graduate. Though this is likely contributed to two things:
1) It is so hard to get in, only people who would not fail get in
2) Medical school's can't fill an empty spot, if you fail out year one, then they are losing that amount of tuition for 3 years with no chance of replacing it. Basically there is no incentive to fail someone except in the case that they truly can not pass a course or for some reason are not willing to.

I am sure there are other reasons but those are the ones that pop out at me. Plus if you fail that is one less physician pumped out that can not be regained.

So in a way getting in may be harder than passing. Getting in is probably not nearly as hard as getting AOA or being top 5-10% of your class though.

The is off topic, but this post peaked my curiousity. Is there a governing body for law schools (something similar to the AMA) that controls how many students are admitted into US law schools? I'm guessing that there isn't, seeing that the drop out rate is higher for law students. Furthermore, the fact that the selection process is less competitive for most law schools makes one think that there isn't (reflecting the fact that the supply of lawyers need not be as tightly regulated....if at all). Additionally, while law school is expensive, it's realtively short. In most cases, a student can't drive him/herself so far into debt that changing careers isn't an option. Anyone??

 

[Dedikated2liftn]

The failure rate in medical school is miniscule, so if you get in, you're extremely likely to graduate. Though this is likely contributed to two things:
1) It is so hard to get in, only people who would not fail get in
2) Medical school's can't fill an empty spot, if you fail out year one, then they are losing that amount of tuition for 3 years with no chance of replacing it. Basically there is no incentive to fail someone except in the case that they truly can not pass a course or for some reason are not willing to.

I am sure there are other reasons but those are the ones that pop out at me. Plus if you fail that is one less physician pumped out that can not be regained.

So in a way getting in may be harder than passing. Getting in is probably not nearly as hard as getting AOA or being top 5-10% of your class though.

Depends on where you're accepted at and where you choose to attend...I would assume.

 

[DoctorPardi]

Depends on where you're accepted at and where you choose to attend...I would assume.

That may be true, but think about it, the competition of getting in to a top tier medical school would probably be analogous to the competition you'll face once you're in.

The is off topic, but this post peaked my curiousity. Is there a governing body for law schools (something similar to the AMA) that controls how many students are admitted into US law schools? I'm guessing that there isn't, seeing that the drop out rate is higher for law students. Furthermore, the fact that the selection process is less competitive for most law schools makes one think that there isn't (reflecting the fact that the supply of lawyers need not be as tightly regulated....if at all). Additionally, while law school is expensive, it's realtively short. In most cases, a student can't drive him/herself so far into debt that changing careers isn't an option. Anyone??

Well for one there are at least 400 law schools, so getting into "a law school" is easier than getting into one of the ~120 medical schools. If you were to compare the difficulty of getting into a top 100 law school with a medical school it would probably be similar. Also I would guess the drop out rate would be similar as well.

Law school is three years and the expected income for graduates varies much greater than that for medical students. For example if you graduate from any medical school you are eventually going to be making 100-200 grand in almost any case (if you complete residency, stay in medicine etc). However some law schools have average incomes for graduates around 40,000 -60,000 dollars year.

So it is a trade off, now if you consider the top say 25 law schools you are very likely to get a job paying 90-125,000 starting out. Of course the competitiveness for a top 25 law school is about the same or more competitive than any medical school.

 

[randomized1df374d41]

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[Phoenix.]

Tell me when you had/are having your WCC.

Mine is two months into 1st semester, 1st year.

I have heard that some are between 2nd & 3rd year.

Mayo doesn't even have a WCC because docs here don't wear white coats (instead they wear suits - unless they're operating, in which case they wear scrubs). Goes back to the Mayo brothers' history and white coats spreading disease back in the day.

Regarding timing, while we don't have a WCC, we do have a family weekend in mid-October (we start the year July 21st), which I heard is scheduled a few months into the academic year so that we actually know something about the school and the like in order to better show our families around.

As for the whole law school discussion above, lacrossestar is pretty on the mark with how much more important it is to your career to get into a top law school than a top med school. And while I went through the law school application process some time ago, getting into a good law school seemed MUCH easier than getting into a good med school (and I'm not even talking about top here, just good).

 

[bodonid]

peaked my curiousity

lol

Mayo doesn't even have a WCC because docs here don't wear white coats (instead they wear suits - unless they're operating, in which case they wear scrubs). Goes back to the Mayo brothers' history and white coats spreading disease back in the day.

that is very interesting. So at the Mayo Clinic hospitals everybody runs around in suits? What about the non-MD professionals? Do they wear white, or no?

 

[DoctorPardi]

Mayo doesn't even have a WCC because docs here don't wear white coats (instead they wear suits - unless they're operating, in which case they wear scrubs). Goes back to the Mayo brothers' history and white coats spreading disease back in the day.

Regarding timing, while we don't have a WCC, we do have a family weekend in mid-October (we start the year July 21st), which I heard is scheduled a few months into the academic year so that we actually know something about the school and the like in order to better show our families around.

As for the whole law school discussion above, lacrossestar is pretty on the mark with how much more important it is to your career to get into a top law school than a top med school. And while I went through the law school application process some time ago, getting into a good law school seemed MUCH easier than getting into a good med school (and I'm not even talking about top here, just good).

Yeah I will certainly defer to you on what is harder to get into, as you have done both. My point was that often disgruntled medical students will claim "lawyers are making X and have less debt and doctors are only making Y". The reality is, to be a lawyer who makes a ton of money and has one of those stereotypical jobs people mention you have to go through a similarly rigorous and competitive process as medical school (getting into a top 25 law school for 3 years, then working a ton of hours a week once out and so on). Of course as I said, those top 25 graduates from law school often start out making 6 figure salaries which we do not. Though again grads from outside the top 25 are often making much less starting out.