The First of Many

The Commitment

When the school’s admissions portal opened on Feb. 19, applications began rolling in within minutes, with 875 submitted in the first 24 hours alone. From that applicant pool, the School of Medicine interviewed candidates from across the country before selecting its inaugural class. When Commit to Enroll opened on April 30, Whiting eagerly confirmed her place at her alma mater first, becoming the first official student in UGA School of Medicine history.

“The people here are what made my decision easy,” Whiting says. “The experiences and mentors I had during my years at UGA are ultimately what led me down the path to medicine, and I was excited to return to the community that has already given me so much.”

Whiting saw UGA as a place that would prepare her for clinical practice.

“I believed in the institution to provide the rigor, support, and community necessary for success in medical school and beyond,” she says. “The faculty I got to meet during the interviews and Second Look were so welcoming, so it was easy to picture myself coming back here.”

Whiting fell in love with medicine while conducting biomedical research as an undergraduate biology student in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and working with clinical research participants. She enjoyed integrating science and direct patient care—and that’s how she knew she wanted to pursue a career in healthcare.

“I truly cannot see myself doing any other career,” she says, even if she’s not going about it in the most traditional way.

Whiting may be the School of Medicine’s first student, but at 28, she’s not the youngest. Still, knowing that she was the first student to hit the commit button was confirmation she was moving in the right direction.

“It took me a little longer to realize my path,” she says. “It’s funny to think that in this one small way, I was right on time.”

A Glimpse into the Future

Whiting has a passion for health equity and sees a need for increased investment in women’s health at every stage of life, which is why, for now, she plans to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology.

“I have multiple friends who are in residency,” she says. “And they have made it clear that sometimes a specialty you hadn’t considered before is the one that ends up choosing you.”

That open attitude also applies to where she practices medicine.

“As a native Georgian who feels grateful to have grown up here, there is definitely an interest in giving back to the state by working to meet local healthcare needs,” she says. “If my path to medicine has taught me anything, it’s to keep an open mind about where the future can take me, but I can easily see myself practicing in Georgia.”

Whiting’s next four years will be filled with historic firsts and milestones. But beyond the fanfare that comes with being a member of the inaugural Class of 2030 at the School of Medicine, she and her fellow classmates are focused on what brought them here in the first place—becoming exceptional physicians.

“I think in some ways, I’m still processing the magnitude of this experience because each of us is in medical school for the first time,” she says. “That sounds obvious, but I mention it because every institution-wide milestone is also an individual milestone that we’re celebrating on a personal level, too. It’s exciting to know that my class gets to help create traditions, expectations, and opportunities for all the classes that come after us.”