Sarthak Garg learned quickly that medical school can be a humbling experience. A second-year student at the UMKC School of Medicine, Garg said he felt proud as he left the school’s InDOCtrination Ceremony a year ago.
“I felt that I had done a lot in the last four years of high school to have earned my spot at UMKC and that I truly did belong here,” he said on Aug. 19 during the 2016 InDOCtrination Ceremony welcoming first-year students.
The feeling only lasted until that evening when a classmate announced an instructor had already posted online an assignment that was due in just a few days. Everyone at some point, Garg said, experiences the feeling of being lost and unqualified.
Garg received the School of Medicine’s 2016 Richard T. Garcia award for outstanding leadership skills, compassion toward fellow students, and outstanding academic performance throughout Year 1 during the ceremony. Speaking to more than 100 members of the Class of 2022, Garg encouraged each one not to dwell on those negative thoughts.
“There are going to be situations where you don’t know what to do right off the bat but that’s perfectly OK,” he said. “Being a part of UMKC School of Medicine doesn’t mean you are expected to know the answer to everything.”
He urged the new medical students to put aside their pride and their hesitation and not be embarrassed to ask questions.
“There are over 100 of you here,” Garg said. “You’ll find someone to work with. And who knows, you might wind up making a new friend.”
School of Medicine Associate Dean for Student Affairs Brenda Rogers, M.D., began the welcome ceremony by telling students and families that the world of medicine is challenging yet rewarding. She also encouraged the class to persevere and enjoy the journey.
Before each student was introduced as members of their first-year docent units, the class also heard from 2015 graduate Ryan Eckert, M.D., now a second-year internal medicine resident.
Eckert told the class that his best advice is, “Don’t give up.”
“You don’t have to be a genius to get through medical school,” Eckert said. “You just really have to want it more than you want anything else. You have to work harder than you’ve ever worked before.”
The class then listened to a reading of the Oath of Physicians, one that students will recite in six years at their graduation ceremony. The work began later in the afternoon with an orientation session in preparation for the first day of classes.
Visit the School of Medicine Facebook page for more photos from the 2016 InDOCtrination Ceremony,
