Welcome to medical school and the profession of medicine!  The purpose of this document is to provide you some information about your new roles as graduate students in our profession.

OVERVIEW:

As you begin your education at MUSC, you may not personally feel greatly different than you did as a college student.  However, the public expectations of you as a student physician, and as a representative of the profession of medicine, will be considerably higher than you might realize.  Although you are not yet a doctor, you will nonetheless be expected to conduct yourself in a manner expected of physicians.  Some activities and behaviors that may have been acceptable in college may no longer be appropriate in medical school.

This extends to personal grooming and the clothing you wear in class and in public places on campus.  While acknowledging that Charleston weather can be very hot at times, it is still important to dress in a manner that is respectful to your professors, your classmates, and to the medical center staff to whom you come into contact.  This dress code is intended to contribute to your overall professional development as students of medicine and to make you aware that there is a standard of professional dress that should be adhered to in order to have a more effective transition into the professional workplace. In addition, the dress code seeks to improve the overall appearance of students enrolled in the College of Medicine.

DRESS CODE:

Students must remember that this is a professional school, and as such, it is expected that students display an appropriate level of judgment with regard to personal hygiene, grooming and dress. At no time will the following items of clothing, or clothing style, be acceptable for students attending classes in the College of Medicine.

• Wearing hats, caps or other head wear in the building*
• Wearing sunglasses in the building*
• Fish-net (stockings/hosiery) and other see-through clothing
• Crop tops and other bare midriff tops including spaghetti strap blouses
• Short shorts
• Athletic-type, wide-armhole tank tops that expose chest, back or midsection
• Any clothing with holes and cuts (i.e. jeans, shirts, tops, etc.)
• Bare feet, thongs, or flip flops (i.e. beach shoes)
• Suggestive, revealing or tight fitting clothing, or clothing with inappropriate pictures or slogans
• Pants worn below the waistline and/or dragging the floor
• Wrinkled, dirty or unsafe attire
• Extreme personal presentation of any type (e.g. body piercing, hair style, tattoos)

*Wearing these items for medical or religious reasons is acceptable.

The above dress code will be in place on a daily basis for all students in a formal classroom setting.  A stricter code is expected during patient-care responsibilities as outlined by the Medical University Hospital dress code (see attached).  Please be aware that in addition, certain classes may have a specific dress code requirement (laboratory classes for instance), which will be outlined in the course syllabus.  Additionally, students are required to dress professionally and to wear their white coat when interacting with real and standardized patients in the Doctoring Curriculum course settings.  You will be given your own White Coat at the annual White Coat ceremony prior to the start of classes.