Dear Class of 2010:

Do you have them yet-the goosebumps? Do you feel it yet-that sense of awe that accompanies the knowledge that you will be a doctor one day? The fact that you chose to attend Tulane School of Medicine means one thing: you want to be a great doctor. You want to be the doctor that cares about your patients and the one that brings them the best care possible. You want to be the doctor who trained at one of the most historically relevant schools in the country and you want to be the doctor who trained in one of the most medically underserved metropolitan populations in the country. I repeat, this time with emphasis: you want to be a great doctor.

The admissions packet that you have received is the beginning of your journey into medicine. In just a few short months you will be in New Orleans, sitting at orientation among 155 other people as excited and nervous as you. You will have conversations with people from all over the country and from all walks of life. Yankees in their wicked-weird accents will try to decode the southern drawl. Midwesterners may see their first coast, while Californians will miss theirs. Many classmates will come from physician legacies and some will have been the first in their families to go to any college at all. You will have classmates married with children and classmates barely old enough to enjoy Bourbon Street. Students from previous years have included EMTs, D1 football players, Peace Corps volunteers, Ph.D.s, firefighters, actors, ballerinas, and even an army captain pulled off of a tank crew in Iraq. It is our diversity-along with our unique patient population and health care system-that makes Tulane School of Medicine an amazing place to grow as a person as well as train as a physician.

You will be the first class to complete four years at Tulane in post-Katrina New Orleans. Medical school is always rewarding, but never easy. This year may be more difficult than ever. That you chose Tulane in spite (or maybe because) of all that has happened speaks volumes about you as a person. Every medical student in the country has dedicated themselves to healing people. You and your 155 classmates have done more. You have dedicated yourselves to the healing of an entire city. You will be great doctors. I can't wait to meet you all.

Laissez les bon temps rouler,

Chris Kroner
President, Class of 2009

PS. Congratulations on being accepted to the best medical school in the country! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at ckroner@tulane.edu. Oh yeah, and in case you haven't heard, New Orleans is a ridiculously fun city to party in. Work hard-play hard baby. That's how the Green Wave rolls.