Wearing a White Coat
Every med student can picture the moment, after years of hard work, they received a letter that started with those six magical words: “We would like to congratulate you…” I read my letter again and again until I believed the words were true, and soon an image of a short-white coat materialized. I spent so long wondering if I would ever be lucky enough to wear one, and finally, the dream would be real. White Coat Ceremony is a sacred day at any medical school because it marks a transition: students becoming future physicians. And with that transition comes a responsibility.
Before Donning the Coat
I’ll be honest. It took a long time since starting medical school to actually feel like a med student. It was just too surreal, and part of me felt I didn’t deserve it. The moment I was accepted, people around me started making big talk about my future and the impact I would have one day, and it seemed like there would be no way I wouldn’t let them down. Who was I to become a doctor? I would be the first one in my family, and so every until white coat ceremony, imposter syndrome stuck hard. I knew at any minute, I would receive a call saying they had made a mistake in letting me in and the dream would end. Classes began, tests were taken, and hours upon hours of studying took place between my first day of medical school and receiving my white coat. None of it made it feel real.
White coat ceremony
I’ll never forget what it felt like to wear the coat for the first time. Standing on stage amongst my peers, I remember the sleeves sliding over my arms as I stared out into the audience. My family was somewhere out there smiling and cheering on. Afterward, my friends and our families celebrated in the rain and took pictures to immortalize the day. Everywhere I looked I was met with smiles and tears of joy as students clutched onto their coats, almost as if they let go the coats would fly away. For many, it was the day things became real. For some, it was the first day of class or even the initial acceptance letter. For others, it took weeks to months later. My moment came when I took my seat after receiving my coat and a fourth-year student began to speak.
The Responsibility
She started by congratulating us all on this massive accomplishment and begged us to cherish the moment dearly. She reiterated how momentous of a day it really was, and how we were about to start a new journey in our lives. It’s what she said next that will forever stay with me. She said from this day on, we would never be viewed the same. Before when we walked into the hospital, there was an obvious distinction between student and doctor. Now, the lines would begin to blur. Healthcare workers would start to see us as capable members of the patient-care team and would even rely on us to help improve the lives of patients and workers alike. Patients would start to see us as young doctors and place their trust in us by divulging their most personal information and worries. And those outside of medicine would start to see us in an entirely new light, not as the students we’ve been all our lives but as the physicians who will one day take care of them and their loved ones. She said the day was certainly a day to celebrate, but it was also a day to reaffirm why we fought to get here. It was a day to ground ourselves and concretely recognize the responsibility we were about to take on. Her words rung in my mind like a bell, and I distinctly remember feeling a shared apprehension and anticipation: that the days to come would push me harder than I’d ever been pushed, and that I couldn’t wait for it all to start. A white coat has always been a symbol of knowledge, care, and compassion, but that day it became a symbol of responsibility. It became a responsibility not only to improve the field I was soon to join but one for my future patients who were counting on me to push myself now so that I could be there for them tomorrow.
