The Short Coat: An Inside Look at Getting Into and Getting Through Medical School
The Short Coat is an honest and humorous guide to medical school, featuring real students from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. The podcast provides an inside look at getting into and getting through medical school, with a focus on the real experiences and challenges faced by students. It offers a candid perspective that skips the typical gloss and includes plenty of laughter.
Episodes
Medicine is Changing. Step Up and Shape It
As societies and governments wrestle with the rise of artificial intelligence, The Short coats sit down with Dr. Lindsey Knake, a CCOM alum neonatologist and associate chief health information officer, to map out where AI actually stands in medicine right now. M2s Mukund Viswanadha, Deeraj Manika, and Samee Jung sort through the muddle of chatbots, agents, and machine learning, then get specific a
The No-Guilt Summer: Med Students Finally Breathe
It's freeform Friday on the pod, which means the Iowa City parking situation is excellent, the rising M2s are bored and slightly guilty about it, and absolutely willing to tell a full story about a stranded boat. As their first year in medical school recedes into their past, Ellie Johnson, Braiden DeSchryver, Sarvin Mousakhani, Regan DeMaris, and Alana Jones join Dave for an episode that reveals t
Game of Med School — We Actually Made It
Can The Short Coats make a card game that captures the twists and turns of medical school? Well, we've given it a try, and now we finally play it — the Game of Med School, a prototype card-based playthrough of the full medical school path, from premed clubs to residency match. Cyrus Barati, who helped build the game, takes on the Gunner identity and immediately gets routed to clinical years while
Foreign Competition for Residency: The Data vs. The Rhetoric
The $100,000 H-1b visa fee landed in September 2025 like a fire alarm in the hallways of medicine—hospitals panicked, advocacy groups mobilized, and a lot of people predicted the international resident pipeline would collapse. Dr. Bryan Carmody, The Sheriff of Sodium rejoins co-hosts David Lee, Mukund Viswanadha, and Isa Perez-Sandi to ask the question nobody was asking: was the panic grounded in
Med School Stereotypes Shattered: What We’re Really Like Inside (Recess Rehash)
We've all got that mental image of medical students – the type-A perfectionists grinding through textbooks even on the porcelain throne, right? Well, our first-year medical students at Iowa are about to blow up every assumption you've ever had. The people memorizing a zillion anatomical structures aren't exactly who you'd expect.
M1s Chase McInville, Lillian Schmidt, Jonah Albrecht, and Abbie Tow
From EKG Meltdowns to OSCE Roller Coasters (or Treadmills): '25-26 Med School Vibes Recap
The Carver Carnival is the Carver College of Medicine's unofficial exhale — an end-of-year celebration where students who have been running on caffeine and anxiety for nine months can finally look up from their notes. In an unusual move, the Short Coat took its mic into the crowd and asked what these med students actually learned. The EKG crisis that resolved by Thursday, the anatomy confabulation
MD/PhD: The Long Game of Medicine and Research
Riley Behan-Bush found the MD/PhD program through a Google search. Hannah Van Ert had already started a career in nursing before a research lab changed her path completely. Eight years (!) of combined medical and scientist training later, they're in their final stretch — and it often didn't feel like a long slog of schooling. They sit down with MSTP faculty Darren Hoffman, PhD, and Martha Carvour,
Iowa City Haunts and Med School Hot Takes
For the full list of our favorite places, visit https://theshortcoat.com/haunts.
Iowa City is small enough that you can bike from the hospital to a wood-fired pizza place and back before your study group notices you're gone — but it's also weird and big enough that you can spend your first semester missing half of what makes it worth being here. If you're heading to Iowa City this fall, this epi
Medical Students Judge Reddit’s Messiest Dilemmas (AITA)
Dave and his M1 co-hosts Lily Schmidt, Melia Patrick, Jonah Albrecht, and Anna Royer, take a field trip to Reddit's AITA sub— because self-reflection is not usually how people figure out if they're the problem. Four posts, four verdicts, and get genuinely sidetracked in the best way: there's a chlamydia anecdote Dave shares, a philosophical debate about whether watching movies at 2.5x speed makes
Their Last Free Summer: How Four M1s Are Spending It
Four medical students— Lily Schmidt, Melia Patrick, Jonah Albrecht, and Anna Royer— talk through how they landed on their "last free summer ever" plans: research fellowships, a genetics scholars program, global health immersion in Ecuador, Colorado fourteeners, and the lingering question of whether any of it actually matters for residency. Jonah is off to Ecuador in part to avoid a lab. Lily is i
The Doctor Doesn't Know Either: Inside the Diagnostic Crisis
The feedback loop that would make doctors better diagnosticians doesn’t exist.
Louise walked five minutes. Then her legs turned to stone. She stood at the side of the road, waiting for them to work again—and nobody figured out why for thirty years.
Author and New York Times Health and Science Opinion Editor Alexandra Sifferlin has spent years as a journalist fielding emails from patien
Blechardy Returns: Trivia, Wet Dog Beans, and Bad Guesses
When the prize for a correct answer might be a poop-flavored jelly bean, getting it wrong is the best strategy.
What if you answer a trivia question about 2,600-year-old cataract surgery correctly, and your reward is reaching into a box of jelly beans that might taste like dead fish — and you can’t lie about it? Ah, the question no one asked. Well, the answer is here!
Blechardy is
"Ego Death?!" M4s Talk Audition Rotations
How Away Rotations play into getting that dream residency
Among all the strange things about medical school, there’s the so-called “away” or “audition” rotation. Recently matched M4s Aditi Katwala, Hend Al-Kaylani, Lena Volfson, and Kristin Davis talk about what it’s like to leave CCOM for weeks at a time to visit another hospital. Maybe they want to experi
What are Med Students Reading: Book Club!
If reading makes better docs, these guys will be incredible.
What if the cure for doctor-speak was actually just… reading more books? This week M1s Anna Royer, Sophia Hueser, Gwen Sewell, and Ellie Johnson have a genuinely great conversation about what it means to be a reader in med school. They dig into audiobooks vs reading brain research (turns out your brain basically doesn’t ca
Medical Student Identity: What the White Coat Means
The Hippocratic oath moment that turns anxious students into future physicians—even before they’ve treated a single patient
You’re on stage at the “White Coat Ceremony,” putting on that short coat for the first time, and honestly? It feels kind of weird. Like you’re playing dress-up in someone else’s costume. That’s where M1s Jonah Albrecht, Anna Royer,
From Fire Hose to Final Decision–How Med Students Choose Careers (Recess Rehash)
[Last week was Spring Break here at Iowa. It was also Match Week, so this rerun from last year is worth a second look!]
Picking a Career in Medicine is Insane.
All of med school leads up to one moment: Match Day. But how do get there?
Dave Etler sits down with graduating M4s Mallory Kallish (surgery), Matt Engelken (OB/gyn), Jacob Lamb (radiology), and Will Sai (famiy medicine) to unpa
Step Exams: Ready Or Not Here They Come
Three exams that might drive you crazy.
If you’re a pre-med, you may have heard about Step exams. But what are they? When the hell are you supposed to start studying? Should you be doing Anki cards in the womb? And are your scores actually going to determine your entire future? This episode is basically your reality check from people who’ve either survived these medical licensing ex
The Med School Traditions That Make Lifelong Bonds
Building community through experiences
Tradition is a big part of medical school–med students willingly tie themselves to comedy shows, charity 5Ks, and yearly ceremonies when they’re already drowning in anatomy and mechanisms of health and disease. This episode pulls back the curtain on the weird, wonderful, and occasionally dark traditions that make medical school way more than ju
Things You Can Do To Prepare for Med School (and One Thing You Shouldn’t!)
Prioritize Fun!
What should you do with the time between getting accepted to medical school and orientation week? Fallon Jung, Anna Royer, Jonah Albrecht, and Charis Edwards tell their stories about finding out they got in (including one bathroom cry session and a Colorado NICU celebration), what they actually did to prepare, and why you absolutely shouldn’t pre-study. If you’re he
Choosing a Professional Identity: Beyond Medical School Classes
How medical schools help students figure out what kind of doctor they’ll be.
Looking at medical school and wondering what you’ll actually *do* with all that training? Like, you know you’ll doctor…but in what way? What will that look like for you?
Luckily, most schools have something like the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine’s distinction tracks—fo
Med Students on Long Distance Love: Does It Last?
When medical school forces couples apart, students face tough realities
Medical students dish on the messy, tender, and surprisingly philosophical reality of long-distance relationships during med school, from navigating five-hour drives and FaceTime rituals to deciding whether love can survive diverging lives on opposite sides of the world. Dave is joined by co-host M1s Cory Karasek and first-
Medical Students and Love: Do Their Spouses Really Know Them?
The Heart Wants What It Wants.
In this Valentine’s Day episode, four medical students sit down to play the ultimate compatibility game—answering questions their partners answered about them ahead of time. From whether they’re optimists or realists about med school (some hedging here), to what their dens would look like as animals (things got weird), these spouses and significant oth
Med Students React: Social Media from Helpful to Hogwash
Slather some beef tallow on it.
On this episode, M3 Fallon Jung, M1s Isa Perez-Sandi and Cory Karasek, and M2 Maria Schapfel let loose on the internet’s wildest health content. We react to AI-generated videos claiming cortisol is why Dave smells bad, Colonel Sanders warning you about non-biodegradable supermarket fruit, and those unhinged animations where a screaming spine demands you fix
The Surprising Connection Between Hobbies and Medicine
Don’t give up the outside activities that’ll make you a better doc
As Dave has observed many times, medicine will take everything you have, if you allow it to. What this means is that you have to carve out time for your own interests, whether you’re a physician or a medical student. These are the things that not only keep you sane–an outlet for all the intensity that the
Med Students Take the Hot Nugget Challenge
[Content warning: Dave did his best to remove sniffles.]
Spicy chicken nuggets, bad decisions, and what happens when medical students test their heat tolerance on mic
What happens when medical students, extremely spicy chicken nuggets, and microphones collide? Regret.
M1s Reed Adajaar, Trever Maiers, Ben Cooper, and Matt Taylor assigned themselves a Hot Ones–style challenge featuring pr
Tips and Tricks for Crushing it in Clerkships
What to expect for med students moving from classroom to exam room
The beginning of clerkships mark a medical student’s progress from theoretical learning to practical application of what they’ve been taught. This past week, our M2s received a 4-day long orientation to clerkships (we call it “transitions week”), and M2s Samantha Gardner and Alexis Baker were joined by M
They Way Most Docs are Paid Doesn’t Lead to Healthier Patients (Recess Rehash)
[ICYMI, here’s a rerun of a show released earlier this year. We’ll be back with new shows starting next week!]
How the system pays doctors can change healthcare outcomes—sometimes in scary ways.
The way docs are paid can make patients sicker…or can lead to healthier ones. The payment schemes most docs work under incentivize them to fix patients, while others motivate them to prevent i
Demand to Be Called ‘Doctor,’ or Let It Slide (AITA)? (Recess Rehash)
[It’s winter break, and everything has come to a halt here, including podcasting. We’ll be back soon, promise!]
Reddit’s “Am I the Asshole?” makes us question everything
Reddit’s “AITA?” brings out the best and worst in people—and this week, we’re analyzing some choice cases through the lens of med school. M1s Srishti Mathur, Sahana Sarin, Maria Schapfel, and Mahaasrei Ghosh deb
Another Path to Med School: Masters of Clinical Anatomy
An alternative to postbac programs?
Postbac programs are okay, but what if there was another path to medical school? M2s Sarah Upton, Alec Marticoff, and Kevin Gubner host the program directors of the Carver College of Medicine’s Masters of Clinical Anatomy Program. Interestingly, each co-host decided to get a MCA to make up for some shortcomings in their med school applications, whether
The Unexpected Power of Student Doctors (Recess Rehash)
[We weren’t available to record a new show for you this week, so enjoy this rerun instead!]
Clinical students are sometimes the only ones who have time to listen
In the clinic, med students can feel like bystanders, but they can make all the difference for patients. M3 Jeff Goddard, M3 Tracy Chen, M2 Alex Nigg, and M4 Matt Engelken recount stories of the patients that stuck with them—s
How to Survive The First Semester of Med School
These M1s say it wasn’t easy…but it was FUN?
You know medical school is hard, but what does that mean? That idea has no emotional connection to anything until you are IN IT, and these M1s definitely were.
Jonah Albrecht, Trever Maiers, Alex Johnson, and Chris Ceplecha review the M1 semester and how they survived it. You’ll hear about what habits they had to drop, and whi
Family expectations, culture clashes, and career priorities: Who’s the A-Hole? (Recess Rehash)
[Due to Thanksgiving break, we have no new episode this week for you, but here’s a good one from our back catalog!]
When your boyfriend’s an OB/GYN and your friends can’t chill
We’re passing judgment, because someone has to. This week’s Reddit-fueled medical panel takes on uncomfortable questions that your group chat definitely isn’t ready for: Is dating an OB-GYN inherentl
The Universal Experience that Medicine Hates Talking About Most
[Content warning: this episode contains frank discussions of death and dying that some listeners may want to skip.]
Doctors need to actually ask patients what a good death looks like to them
Medical students learn so much anatomy and pathophysiology, the social determinants of health, and the practice of medicine. Meanwhile managing death—one of two things every single patient experiences—g
Harsh Truth: Most Pre-Meds Don’t Get Accepted
Three med students who didn’t get in at first talk about why.
Thousands of med school applicants are going to feel the sting of rejection at the end of this cycle. We hope YOU aren’t one of them, but if you are, take heart–this is but one year among the many years you’ll be working toward your goal.
In the meantime, co-hosts M2 Daniel Haws, M3 Fallon Jung, and M2 Ca
The Rural Doc Crisis and the Med Students Who Plan to Be Where They’re Most Needed
The Truths and Solutions for Small-Town Healthcare. We’re talking about rural medicine, where the needs are huge, the systems are broken, and sometimes, you just have to trust the process. Did you know that rural Americans have only 13.1 docs per 10,000 people compared to 31.2 in urban areas? Yeah, the need is real. But why are these students signing up for the challenge? And what the heck does a
Med Student Leaders: Juggling Roles at School and Home
Is “work-life balance” is a myth in medical school? What do successful students do to manage leadership positions, marriage, kids, and academics? Our co-hosts–M2s Zach Grissom, Megan Perry, Sarah Upton, and Chase Larsson–lead specialty interest groups, student government, advocacy organizations, and their learning communities; all of their roles compete for their time. Then someone asks if they wa
Med School Stereotypes Shattered: What We’re Really Like Inside
Turns out medical students are regular humans who happen to need to memorize the Krebs cycle. We’ve all got that mental image of medical students – the type-A perfectionists grinding through textbooks even on the porcelain throne, right? Well, our first-year medical students at Iowa are about to blow up every assumption you’ve ever had. Turns out the people memorizing a zillion anatomical structu
My Family Thinks I’m a Doctor Already
What med students wish their families actually understood about medical school. Your family means well… but when you start med school, suddenly every ache, rash, and conspiracy theory in the house is your domain! In this episode, the Short Coat crew gets real about what it’s like to be seen as a doctor when you’re really drowning in flashcards. M2s Srishti Mathur and Nick Abouassally, and M1s Anna
From Bartending to Bedside: What Our Pre-Med Jobs Taught Us About Medicine
No med student starts with a blank slate. If you’re thinking of starting over and going to med school, you might wonder what your previous jobs have done to prepare you for it. Good news: your old jobs and activities might matter more than your GPA ever will. In this episode, M2s Samantha Gardner, Sarah Upton, Nick Lembezeder, and Srishti Mathur unpack the skills they didn’t know they’d use in med
Federal Loan Caps & Medical School Debt: What Future Doctors Need to Know
Medical School is Now More of a Gamble thanks to the “Big Beautiful Bill.” We sit down with Chris Roling, University of Iowa’s financial aid guru, alongside M1 students Anna Royer and Isa Perez-Sandi, and M2 Maria Schapfel, to break down the most significant changes to medical student financial aid in decades. The new federal loan cap of $200,000 sounds generous until you realize the average four-
PA Week: Don’t Sleep on this Career!
MDs have main character energy, but don’t ignore Physician Assistants. We talk a lot about medical students on this podcast, but at Iowa we also have a physician assistant program, one that’s very well regarded, nationally. So to kick off national PA Week, we’ve got a bunch of PA students to talk about their profession. PA2s Emily Mazzeo and Abby Crow, and PA1s David Walker Hofbauer and Jake Groh
From Broke to Bank: Money Lessons Med School Skips
Med School ROI: Still Worth the Debt? Doctors make bank, so why do they feel poor? We’re breaking down the brutal reality of medical money myths—starting with the lie that your six-figure salary will solve everything. With financial advisor Tyler Olson, M4s Jeff Goddard and Trent Gilbert, and M2 Luke Geis ask whether med school is still a good investment or just an expensive trap wrapped in prest
Going on Leave: The Power Move No One Talks About in Med School
What med schools don’t tell you about hitting pause. Turns out, pausing med school can actually be the smartest career move. Whether you’re spiraling in burnout, floundering in step prep, or just eyeballing that MPH, here’s an option you should consider: taking a leave of absence.
MD/PhD student Riley Behan-Bush, and M2s Srishti Mathur, Megan Perry, and Jay Miller take on the taboo option you’ll
Feedback is Data, Not Devastation.
How to Take Negative Feedback And Use It to Win in Med School! Recently, our admissions coordinator Rachel was surprised by the reaction from an applicant CCOM chose not to admit. She’d set aside time to give the applicant some feedback on their application–an extra service we provide those who weren’t successful in their bid to study medicine here. But instead of a thoughtful reaction to her not
They Way Most Docs are Paid Doesn’t Lead to Healthier Patients
How the system pays doctors can change healthcare outcomes—sometimes in scary ways. The way docs are paid can make patients sicker…or can lead to healthier ones. The payment schemes most docs work under incentivize them to fix patients, while others motivate them to prevent illness—and geriatrician Dr. Jonathan “Nathan” Flacker is here to explain why. This episode rips the curtain off RVUs, fee-f
Family expectations, culture clashes, and career priorities: Who’s the A-Hole?
When your boyfriend’s an OB/GYN and your friends can’t chill, we’re passing judgment—because someone has to. This week’s Reddit-fueled medical panel takes on uncomfortable questions that your group chat definitely isn’t ready for: Is dating an OB-GYN inherently weird? Should your partner be your #1 even when you’re literally delivering babies at 3 AM? And what happens when your parents think takin
From Ecuador to Iowa, Ortho to Community Healthcare: the Last of the Summers
Summer in med school: is it beach vibes or big-doings? Turns out, it’s a weird mix of both—and these M2s made the most of their last summer “break.” In this episode, we get a look at that from second-year med students Tyler Pollock, Cara Arrasmith, Anjali Puranam, and Sophia Nopoulos on how they spent their first “break.” Spoiler: it includes orthopedic research, global health rotations in Ecuador
DNP Doubts, Prepping for Patients, and Smarts Self-Doubt–listener questions answered!
Real answers for your real med school dilemmas. We’ve had some listener question stacking up like it’s the ER waiting room at shift change—and now we’re finally calling some names. This week, we’re clearing the board and giving straight talk on everything from whether Rainey might regret her choice of DNP over med school, Worried Traveler’s fears of surviving their first clinical rotations, and Zi
What Residency Program Directors Actually Want
Why is it hard to get clear advice about applying to residency? Listener Baffled J. Whoseadaddy (not his real name) asked us why his med school kids complain that the residency application process is confusing and “a black hole.” This week, hosts Dave Etler, Chase Larsson, Zach Grissom, and Madeline Ungs unpack why no one can seem to agree on what residency programs want… and what they actually do
Placentas, Prostates, and Purple Goggles (Recess Rehash)
[We're on vacation, so enjoy this recent show in case you missed it!]
Medical students share insights on hitting milestones and navigating transitions. The rollercoaster of medical school transitions is hitting some peaks, from the first nerve-wracking days of clerkships to the unglamorous realities of OB-GYN rotations. M3 Elvire Nguepnang, M2 Gizzy Lundquist, M3 Jeff Goddard, and M1 Katherine Yu
Slap Some Moldy Bread On It: Blechardy! (Recess Rehash)
[We're on vacation, so enjoy this recent show in case you missed it!]
They might know the citric acid cycle, but do med students know what ancient doctors used for pain relief, or the shape of wombat poop? Join us for Blechardy! the trivia game show that involves a certain amount of suffering! Contestants answer medical and pop culture questions—but with potentially disgusting jellybeans that make
Medfluencers and Patient Education: Helpful or Risky? (Recess Rehash)
[We're on vacation, so enjoy this recent show in case you missed it!]
How future doctors are navigating social media’s impact on public education. How can a well-meaning medfluencer be sure they’re actually helping? M1 Zach Grissom, M2 Fallon Jung, M3 Jeff Goddard, and M4 Matt Engelken sit down with third-year DO student Nik Bletnitsky to discuss the role of social media in medical education. Cur
She Got Into Med School… But Now She’s Not Sure (Recess Rehash)
[We're on vacation, so enjoy this recent show in case you missed it!]
Turning down that med school acceptance might cost more than you think. Listener “my initials are ARM” got into medical school—cue the confetti—but now that reality’s set in, she’s not feeling great about her only acceptance. The school is small, expensive, and far from home. Should she go anyway or risk reapplying in hopes of a
Sheriff of Sodium: AI Will Replace Doctors (Reality Check!)
Docs are in denial, but the economic incentives make it inevitable. Meanwhile, you’re working hard to become a doctor — and now a bot might take your place? The Sheriff of Sodium, Dr. Brian Carmody, is back on the Short Coat to say what nobody wants to hear but might need to: yes, AI in medicine is real, and the value proposition makes docs’ replacement inevitable. From primary care AI to image-he
How a Walk in the Park Sparked a Health Movement, ft. David Sabgir, MD
A cardiologist ditched the standard lecture and took a walk with his patients. You can too! Cardiologist David Sabgir was tired of telling patients to exercise, so he did something ridiculous…and it spawned a movement. Walk With A Doc began with a simple idea: don’t just recommend lifestyle changes—live them, with your patients, in the wild. In this episode, we unpack the surprising power of walk
AI in Med School: Helpful Tool or Total Crutch?
MD and PA students reflect on what AI gets right—and what still makes them nervous. "How are you using AI in med school?” That’s the question Dave posed to his co-hosts this week. Near-M3s Fallon Jung and Amanda Litka and almost-PA3 Julie Vuong discuss AI-fueled study sessions, and Dave points out a Google tool that turns docs into knowledge. They talk about what helps, what haunts, and what might
Your Thesis Won’t Change the World (and Here’s Why)
The path to discovery is paved with bureaucracy. Einstein was a patent clerk when he first proposed his famous equation that explained our universe…something that could never happen today. This week, we’re calling out the slow, tangled mess that is academic science. Why do some of the best ideas never leave a lab notebook? Why are 20-somethings with world-changing potential still spending 8 years
The One Truth Linking Medicine, Mortality, and Meltdown
Are things getting better or worse? What if your a career in medicine, the collapse of civilization, and the maternal mortality crisis all shared one uncomfortable truth–progress doesn’t guarantee clarity, balance, or justice? In this episode, M3 Zay Edgren confesses he’s feeling a bit doomy about humanity’s chances, and M2 Taryn O’Brian feels frustrated with medicine’s successes with acute care w
Free Lunch, Headaches, and Holding Hearts
[Content warning: this episode contains frank discussions of medical examiner photos our students had to view during lectures, and which some listeners will find disturbing.] How friendships, food, and failing forward gets med students through the first year. No one tells you how much of med school is powered by free pizza and shared panic. As M1s Alexis Baker, Samantha Gardner, Raegen Abbey, and
The Unexpected Power of Student Doctors
Clinical students are sometimes the only ones who have time to listen. In the clinic, med students can feel like bystanders, but they can make all the difference for patients. M3 Jeff Goddard, M3 Tracy Chen, M2 Alex Nigg, and M4 Matt Engelken recount stories of the patients that stuck with them—some painful, some beautiful, and some just plain awkward. From OB-GYN to peds to the ER, they share how
From Broke to Bulletproof: The White Coat Investor’s Advice
Don’t be the doctor making $400k with $0 in the bank. You risk your financial future by ignoring this ER doc’s advice — and Dr. Jim Dahle should know. The emergency physician and founder of The White Coat Investor joins M1s Luke Geis, Zach Grissom, Hunter Fisher, and Katherine Yu to share how he got burned early in his career — and what he did to fix it. From why disability insurance should top y
Med School’s Unique Problems (AITA)
Behind every successful doctor is someone who paid their rent or walked their dog. Dave Etler, MD/PhD student Miranda Schene, M1 Jay Miller, and M3 Jeff Goddard blast off this episode with ass-tronaut Katy Perry before diving into Reddit’s finest med school dumpster fires. Should you crush (AKA, be vocally realistic about ) your C-average friend’s medical dreams? Is a boyfriend who gives unwanted
From Perfect Plans to Grease Fires: The Med School Spectrum
Behind the façade lies chaos, confidence, and occasional kitchen fires. What do med & PA students really think about their lives? We check the vibes. Jeff Goddard (M3), Kim Fairhead (M1), Gabbi Bullard (PA1), and Annie Dotzler (PA1) for a game that checks med student experiences on their vibes. The group tackles the truth about reflex hammer skills, confessing to the internal chaos that underlies
Medicine Can Cure TB—But Humanity Won’t
Tuberculosis is curable. We just don’t care enough to cure it. That’s the premise behind John Green’s book, Everything Is Tuberculosis (https://everythingistb.com/). In this episode, M1s Zach Grissom, Kate Timboe, and Tyler Pollock, and Srishti Mathur consider that premise, and what it says about humanity’s stubborn failure to solve a solvable problem. They unpack how cultural narratives, like rom
How Med Students Redefine Ability and Success
Everyone knows med school is hard. For some, it’s even harder. Dave Etler hosts a raw conversation with med students M1 Emily Baniewicz, M3 Jeff Goddard, PA 1 Chloe Kepros, and M3 Madeline Ungs about the reality of navigating disability during medical training. With insights from Jenna Ladd, PhD, CCOM’s recently hired accessibility specialist, they dig into accommodations that range from extra tim
From Fire Hose to Final Decision–How Med Students Choose Careers
All of med school leads up to one moment: Match Day. But how do get there? Dave Etler sits down with graduating M4s Mallory Kallish (surgery), Matt Engelken (OB/gyn), Jacob Lamb (radiology), and Will Sai (famiy medicine) to unpack the uncertainty and pressure around choosing a medical specialty. They share how they landed their matches—not through sudden epiphanies, but through trial, error, and s
She Got Into Med School… But Now She’s Not Sure
Turning down that med school acceptance might cost more than you think. Listener “my initials are ARM” got into medical school—cue the confetti—but now that reality’s set in, she’s not feeling great about her only acceptance. The school is small, expensive, and far from home. Should she go anyway or risk reapplying in hopes of a better fit next year? MD/PhD students Michael Arrington, Shruthi Kond
If you’re asking, you might be the a**hole (Recess Rehash)
Life’s grey areas, offered up for internet discussion! Sometimes, you need someone to tell you if you’ve crossed the line. That’s why Reddit’s Am I The A**hole subreddit exists. M2 Holly Hemann brought some med-school themed samples for MD/PhD students Miranda Schene, Faith Prochaska, and PA2 Julie Vuong to react to. How compatible is MMA fighting and med school? Is it okay to get a secret horse?
Prescribing Meet-ups Instead of Meds…it seems to work!
Can Art, Nature, and Community Replace Pills? What if doctors prescribed a painting class instead of or alongside pills? Journalist Julia Hotz, author of The Connection Cure, joins M3 Jeff Goddard, and MD/PhD student Riley Behan-Bush to discuss social prescribing, a growing healthcare movement that treats patients with art, nature, movement, and community rather than just medication. We look at t
Medfluencers and Patient Education: Helpful or Risky?
How future doctors are navigating social media’s impact on public education. How can a well-meaning medfluencer be sure they’re actually helping? M1 Zach Grissom, M2 Fallon Jung, M3 Jeff Goddard, and M4 Matt Engelken sit down with third-year DO student Nik Bletnitsky to discuss the role of social media in medical education. Current and Future doctors are increasingly using these platforms to shar
Demand to Be Called ‘Doctor,’ or Let It Slide (AITA)?
Reddit’s “Am I the Asshole?” makes us question everything. It showcases the best and worst in people—and this week, we’re analyzing some choice cases through the lens of med school. M1s Srishti Mathur, Sahana Sarin, Maria Schapfel, and Mahaasrei Ghosh debate whether people in these scenarios are truly in the wrong or just victims of someone having a very bad day. We break down the pressure on pre-
Slap Some Moldy Bread On It: Blechardy!
They might know the citric acid cycle, but do med students know what ancient doctors used for pain relief, or the shape of wombat poop? Join us for Blechardy! the trivia game show that involves a certain amount of suffering! Contestants answer medical and pop culture questions—but with potentially disgusting jellybeans that make any actual knowledge meaningless.
This week’s medical student co-host
4 Writers Explain How Telling Stories Makes Better Doctors
Writing helps doctors understand their patients—and themselves—better. There are many reasons healthcare professionals write: to process trauma, build empathy, or simply because stories demand to be told. This week we’ve got a thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Carol Scott-Conner, a surgeon, poet, and editor of The Examined Life Journal; Katie Runde, a novelist exploring themes of love and lo
First Semester Med School: What Worked, What Failed, and How We Fixed It.
Anki? Lecture notes? Study groups? Med students spill the truth about what actually works. First semester of med school is like eating a never-ending stack of pancakes—it’s fast, overwhelming, and it doesn’t care if you’re full. Listener G asked us for some tips, and in this episode, M1s Zach Grissom, Megan Perry, Jay Miller, and Srishti Mathur take us through the rough transition from undergrad t
Into the Deep End: Surviving Our First Clinical Rotations (Tips and Tricks!)
What happens when medical students trade books for the chaos of real patient care? They spent months and months learning medicine from books. Then suddenly, they were thrown into hospitals with real patients, real pressure, and only the barest clue what they were doing. In this episode, Dave sits down with M4s Jacob Hanson and Happy Kumar, and M3s Zay Edgren and Tony El-Sokkari to relive their fir
When Your Partner is in Med School… What You Need to Know
Supporting a Med Student is Tough
In this episode, host Dave Etler has been (kidnapped? It’s unclear) and replaced by his grumpy brother Dominic Etler, MD, Harvard, Class of ’96. Confused M1s Megan Perry, Jay Miller, Cara Arrasmith, and M4 Matt Engelken nevertheless buckle down to address listener Giovanni’s question about supporting his fiance during her trip through med school. The group explore
The Secret to Getting Better Health Care: Be Different
Do Patients Have to Perform to Be Taken Seriously in Medicine? How does “respectability politics” play out in healthcare, and specifically, pain management? PA1 Chloe Kepros, M1 Zach Grissom, M1 Srishti Mathur and M3 Jeff Goddard unpack how patients often adjust their behavior and appearance to gain credibility in medical spaces. From the history of pain measurement to the biases in how pain is tr
Placentas, Prostates, and Purple Goggles
Medical students share insights on hitting milestones and navigating transitions.
The rollercoaster of medical school transitions is hitting some peaks, from the first nerve-wracking days of clerkships to the unglamorous realities of OB-GYN rotations. M3 Elvire Nguepnang, M2 Gizzy Lundquist, M3 Jeff Goddard, and M1 Katherine Yu open up about the leap from textbooks to patient care, beginning advan
Shocking betrayals, sure fire blindness, niche community drama (Recess Rehash)
It’s a freestyle episode…can’t we just have a rambling conversation? Sometimes it’s nice to just sit down and have a rambling conversation. That’s this episode, with MD/PhD students Madi Wahlen and Sahaana Arumugam and M3s Jacob Hansen and Jacob Lam. We discuss the non-weighty topics of why people don’t know they shouldn’t stare at a ball of fusion in the sky, niche online community drama, a Texa
New MD and PA Students: Why Medicine? (Recess Rehash)
Med Students discuss their “Why Medicine?” answers. Dave welcomes newly minted medical and PA students at the Carver College of Medicine to share their first-week experiences and the challenges of adapting to medical school. M1s Sydney Skuodas, Michael Arrington, Alex Murra, Luke Geis, and PA1 Harrison Parker discuss what they’ve learned about time management, personal growth during “gap years,” o
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