Orientation and White Coat Ceremony
Each year during orientation, first-year students attend a White Coat Ceremony. At the event, students receive their first white medical coats signifying the beginning of their medical journey.
Read about the White Coat Ceremony / View Photos of White Coat / View photos of Orientation / Orientation Activity Day Album
Match Day
Match Day is one of the most important and anticipated moments for doctors in training. Each March, fourth-year medical students receive their residency appointments as part of the National Resident Matching Program and learn where they will begin the next phase of their medical careers.
Day in the Life of a Medical Student
Families are invited to campus every other year for a day-long event at which they get an insider’s view of life as a GW medical student. The day features classroom and clinical experiences, including sample lectures, hands-on activities, small group discussions and a mini-commencement ceremony.
Learn more about a Day in the Life of a Medical Student
Cookies
Each fall semester, students mingle with the deans and faculty of the medical school over cookies. They only rule is that there can be no discussion of school or exams. This is a great opportunity for students to relax and get to know their deans, professors, mentors and peers.
Family Tree Day
This tradition is founded upon the Big Brother/Big Sister program which connects each incoming student with a student in the year before them to show them the ropes and help to provide support in their transition to medical school. This event in particular allows “generations” of SMHS families – little sibs (MS1s) with their big sibs (MS2), grand big sib (MS3) and great grand sib (MS4) to gather and connect with one another over lunch.
View photos from Family Tree Day
Medical Student Formal
This event allows medical students and friends or significant others to enjoy a night out in D.C. The event is a great time for students and has become affectionately known as the “Medical School Prom.”
View photos from this year's Medical Student Formal
Follies
This Broadway-like show features talented students in the M.D., PA and PT programs as they present skits and choreographed dance numbers. This also allows students to showcase their artistic interests outside medicine as well as provide a platform to award their favorite professors as part of the nominating process for the American Medical Student Association’s National Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence.
Read about Follies and the Golden Apple Awards
Medical Student Olympics
Beginning in 2012, the GW Medical Student Olympics has served as a survival of the fittest challenge for student athletes representing all four classes of the SMHS M.D. program in a series of athletic contests ranging from soccer, to basketball, and even “track and field” events — which includes tests of skill such as hula hooping, balloon sandwich racing, and penny throwing.