Schulich Medicine & Dentistry welcomes 171 new medical students

It's a sight that always sparks pride in all those associated with Western University's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry; 171 students sitting together, all wearing crisp white laboratory coats. It's the moment when they officially start their undergraduate medical training.

This year's White Coat Ceremony for the Meds Class of 2017 will be held Tuesday, August 27^th in Room 145 of the Natural Sciences Building. Students and their families will begin arriving at 9:00 a.m. for registration, with the program running from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Media is welcome to interview students either before or after the program.

During the ceremony, medical students symbolically agree to the professional, social and ethical responsibilities of becoming a physician, when they slip on their white coats and recite the Hippocratic Oath.

Just being accepted into medical school is quite an accomplishment. Every year, Schulich Medicine & Dentistry receives nearly 2,500 applications for its 171 spots.

Thirty-eight of the students are enrolled in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry-Windsor Program. It will hold its own "meet and greet" for those students at the University of Windsor in the Medical Education Building on Tuesday, September 3^th with the doors opening at 5:30 p.m. and the formal program starting at 6:00 p.m.

First year dental students will have their White Coat Ceremony on Friday, August 30, in the Davenport Theatre at Talbot College with the program starting at 10:30 a.m.