Graduating from medical school is a major milestone for your students, and your commencement ceremony should reflect that. It’s an opportunity to celebrate your grad entering the profession and to recognize the hard work it took to get there. With a well-planned ceremony, you can honor your graduates, set them up for continued success in their careers, and foster a lifelong connection between them and your institution.
Keep reading to learn more about the unique history of medical school graduation ceremonies, the significance of events like Match Day, and ways you can enhance the festivities.
Understanding the History of Med School Graduations
Medical school graduation ceremonies are momentous occasions that require thoughtful planning and execution. To make the event meaningful and memorable, you should first understand the history of these ceremonies and how they’ve evolved.
While we’ve long recognized healers and healthcare professionals for their achievements, the official White Coat Ceremony (WCC) as we know it wasn’t established until 1993 by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation. Generally, these ceremonies feature an opening address, a commencement speech, and the recognition of each graduate as white coats are placed on each student’s shoulders. Afterward, the graduates recite the Hippocratic Oath, which signifies their entrance into the medical field.
What Is a Match Day Ceremony?
Along with WCCs, medical schools participate in Match Day Ceremonies. Organized by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) and occurring every third Thursday in March, Match Day is the time when medical students decide which healthcare specialty they will pursue. During this ceremony, medical students gather with their classmates and faculty to find out where they have been matched for their residency training.
Match Day is a highly anticipated event for medical students, as it marks the culmination of years of hard work and a promising start to the next phase of their medical careers. Often, this event is held just before or after the white coat ceremony.
Looking for additional ways to recognize your graduates? Read our blog on helpful tips for enhancing a commencement ceremony.
Five Tips for Throwing a Fulfilling Medical School Commencement Ceremony
Medical school graduation is already a momentous occasion, but if you want to take the festivities up a notch, consider the following tips:
1. Choose a Meaningful Theme
Selecting a moving theme will help create a cohesive atmosphere for your graduation ceremony. Consider hosting a celebration that pays homage to the medical school’s history or mission statement and will inspire students as they embark on their new career paths. From “Success Through Service” to “The Power of Caring,” there are endless possibilities for themes that foster meaningful conversations and reflection during graduation.
2. Incorporate Unique Experiences
Consider incorporating a range of unique experiences into your medical school commencement ceremony. Invite faculty members to share stories about their own experiences during medical school or have students give speeches about what their educational experience has meant to them. You could even get creative by offering interactive activities and booths that allow students to reflect on the past and prepare for the future.
3. Select Profound Speakers
Choose speakers who can empower your graduating class and provide them with meaningful and timely advice for their future journeys. Consider inviting alums, physicians, or even inspiring public figures to address the graduates and share their success stories. Ask speakers to focus on resilience, determination, and perseverance to truly resonate with the audience.
4. Encourage the Importance of Post-Graduate Connections
While serving as a medical professional is often rewarding, it’s a challenging career. Plus, many grads soon feel overwhelmed and stifled by large amounts of medical school debt, taxes, and many other stressors. As a university event coordinator, one of the best things you can do to establish your institution as a caring entity is to push for post-graduate connection opportunities.
Take the opportunity to foster relationships and camaraderie among the new graduates by encouraging them to connect with one another on social media platforms or through professional networking. Set time aside during your commencement ceremony to encourage your new alums to sign up for your alumni portal, provide their contact information, and join alumni-specific groups.
5. Send Your Grads Away With a Great Gift
Finishing your ceremony with the average medical school graduation gift like an honors plaque or diploma holder is fine, but consider a gift your grads can cherish forever. With the excitement of Match Day and the White Coat Ceremony, what better gift for a medical school graduate than a personalized video clip that your students can relive as often as they want?
By partnering with a company like StageClip, your institution can boost post-graduate engagement numbers with the help of detailed alumni surveys that collect hard-to-get destination and contact data from your newest alumni. At the same time, your new grads will genuinely appreciate a well-made, memorable video reel that’ll elevate your commencement ceremony experience.
Key Takeaways
At its heart, celebrating accomplishments should be about recognizing what students have achieved through hard work and dedication—and celebrating these achievements in meaningful ways ensures that everyone involved gets something special out of those moments. By adding creative touches to your festivities and prioritizing valuable gifts, you can increase engagement while still honoring tradition during your medical school graduation ceremonies!
Make StageClip A Part of Your Next University Commencement Ceremony
To ensure that your graduate’s special event is remembered for years to come, consider booking a demo with StageClip. As a trusted commencement partner, our custom graduation clips are modern, fresh, and perfect gifts for any grad. We’ve already worked with Harvard Medical School and John Hopkins Medical School—two of the top medical schools in the U.S. Join the growing list of schools who love us for our proven results.
Start on the path to enriching your medical commencement ceremony experience.
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