The Short Coat: An Inside Look at Getting Into and Getting Through Medical School
The HONEST guide to medical school, featuring real students from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine–skip this show if you’d rather not know (and hate laughter)!
The Med School Traditions That Make Lifelong Bonds
Mar 12, 2026
Show notes
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 just textbooks and exams. M2s Riley Dean and Megan Perry, M3 Fallon Jung, and M1 Isa Perez-Sandi, along with special guest Nit Anantharaman from Pitt Med reveal the traditions that bind students and their schools. Med school comedy shows like CCOM's Frolics and Pitt's Scope and Scalpel sketch nights to medical student philanthropy events that involve bench-pressing competitions and 5Ks. Whether you're navigating pre-med student life or already deep in the weeds of medical training, you'll walk away understanding why these seemingly random traditions aren't just fun—they're survival mechanisms that transform classmates into lifelong colleagues.
Things You Can Do To Prepare for Med School (and One Thing You Shouldn’t!)
Mar 05, 2026
Show notes
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 NICU celebration), what they actually did to prepare, and why you absolutely shouldn't pre-study. If you're headed to medical school next year, this episode is basically your older sibling giving you the honest advice nobody else will—like why floor time in windowless study rooms is underrated, how to fill your cup before classes start, and the surprising truth about how much fun you can still have during M1 year. You'll hear why these students think the admissions committee already believes you can do this, practical tips on setting up your study space without buying every resource known to humankind, and honest talk about mental health, sleep, and remembering why you wanted to be a doctor in the first place.
The crew plus show photographer David Lee also debuts a med school edition of "That Escalated Quickly."
Choosing a Professional Identity: Beyond Medical School Classes
Feb 26, 2026
Show notes
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—formal project-based programs that let med school students dig deeper into teaching, research, humanities, global health, service, or healthcare leadership while they're grinding through anatomy and clinicals.
Med Students on Long Distance Love: Does It Last?
Feb 19, 2026
Show notes
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-timers Elizabeth Meyer, Margaret Huang, and Jonah Albrecht — each bringing a completely different version of the long-distance story. Liz is making it work with her boyfriend Riley, who logs most of the miles so she can keep studying. Jonah is bracing for the moment his girlfriend Victoria leaves for PA school hours away, still figuring out the logistics while trying not to be, as he admits, aggressively Type B about the whole thing. Cory brings the perspective nobody wants but everyone needs — the relationship that didn't make it through the distance — somehow managing to be funny, honest, and more or less at peace about it. And Margaret? Well, she opens with "I catfished you guys" and proceeds to deliver an unexpectedly beautiful take on love, friendship, and a 15-year long-distance best friendship that started on Skype in fifth grade.
Medical Students and Love: Do Their Spouses Really Know Them?
Feb 12, 2026
Show notes
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 others prove they actually know their medical students pretty well. Mostly. There's a Punsesee...Puncsa...Punxsutawney Phil appearance, some passionate love for hobby farms, and one unfortunate name mix-up to kick off the whole episode.
Med Students React: Social Media from Helpful to Hogwash
Feb 05, 2026
Show notes
On this episode, M3 Fallon Jung, M1s Alexis Baker 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 we smell bad, Colonel Sanders warning you about non-biodegradable supermarket fruit, and those unhinged animations where a screaming spine demands you fix your posture. Some of it's nonsense, some of it's accurate, and all of it leads to tangents about fake vomit made from chunky soup, whether the triage nurse should tell you "good news, you're not dying," and the eternal question every clerkship student faces: "What specialty are you going into?"
The Surprising Connection Between Hobbies and Medicine
Jan 29, 2026
Show notes
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 study and practice of medicine has to offer--but they can even make you better at surgery or how positively your patients view you. Also, the crew answers a question from Nicole, a mother of three little ones and military wife who, at the ripe old age of 35, is contemplating how she can pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a doctor.
Med Students Take the Hot Nugget Challenge
Jan 22, 2026
Show notes
What happens when medical students, extremely spicy chicken nuggets, and microphones collide? Regret. M1s Reed Adajaar, Trever Maiers, Ben Cooper, and Matt Taylor take on a Hot Ones–style challenge featuring progressively hotter sauces on chicken nuggets. Confidence is high at the start. That does not last.
Tips and Tricks for Crushing it in Clerkships
Jan 15, 2026
Show notes
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 M3s Fallon Jung and Zach Case to talk about this important milestone. What are clerkships like? How will students know what to actually do? Who will they be working with? What are residents and attendings looking for when they evaluate a clerkship student? How should they react when a patient says something out-of-pocket?
There’s so much to be learned in clerkships…including that they really are prepared to enter the real world, even if they don’t yet feel it!
The views and opinions expressed on this podcast belong solely to the individuals who share them. They do not represent the positions of the University of Iowa, the Carver College of Medicine, or the State of Iowa. All discussions are intended for entertainment purposes only and should not be taken as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Nothing said on this podcast should be used to diagnose, treat, or prevent any medical condition. Always seek qualified professional guidance for personal decisions.
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They Way Most Docs are Paid Doesn’t Lead to Healthier Patients (Recess Rehash)
Jan 08, 2026
Show notes
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-for-service traps, and the real reason your doc is rushing through your visit (hint: it’s not personal, it’s math). We dig into ChenMed’s wild idea: what if clinics got paid to keep you out of the hospital? Turns out, when money flows toward health instead of procedures, everyone wins. Except maybe the $400M proton beam facility (for the record, we love proton beams, but you might not need them if you can avoid cancer altogether). Is concierge-style medicine only for the wealthy? What happens when you build “rich person care” for low-income seniors? And how many patients can a doc see well before it all breaks? If you're dreaming of a career where you actually help people instead of just clicking boxes—this one's a wake-up call. Also: Love calls, RVU debt, and why pajama time should be illegal.
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