Last week we had our white coat fitting for our upcoming ceremony in June. As I stood in line with my classmates preparing to try on my coat and deciding how I wanted my name to appear on it (to include my middle name or not to include my middle name), I began to reflect on my last two years in dental school. It seems like just yesterday when I received my acceptance letter and made the biggest decision of my life to move half-way across the country, away from all my friends and family, to attend the University of Washington School of Dentistry. In that time, I have been through a lot…Countless long lectures in freezing cold classrooms, waxing, drilling my first tooth (and then many, many more), studying for the NBDE I, passing the NBDE I, long nights in the lab working on Fixed Prosth projects, working on my very first patient, and much more. I remember so many times doubting myself and wondering whether this is really the right profession for me. I remember doubting my abilities when I became frustrated in lab. However, I also look back and remember how terrible my first wax up was and how sloppy my first composite insertion was. Now, I can proudly say that with each challenge I may have experienced along my dental school journey, I have overcome each of them and have even surprised myself along the way. Every student in dental school experiences challenges, but with time and constant practice (even if it does mean staying in lab after class and on the weekends), those challenges will become easy things that you can do quickly and easily every day. They may even start becoming fun!! I always feel a little intimidated starting a new class or doing a new procedure for the first time, but in these last two years, I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and skill that I didn’t have walking in. With the end of second year in sight and our white coat ceremony in just a few months, I am very excited to put all of my hard work to good use and treating actual patients! I know that there will be more challenges as I transition into the clinic, but I hope to learn a lot in my last half of dental school and to move on to private practice as a competent and confident dentist.