The Short Coat (Audio): An Inside Look at Getting Into and Getting Through Medical School

Our planned show fell through, so Dave pivoted to hypotheticals with Esha Patel, Nikki Chang, Moesha, and a rotating cast of M1s (flexibility is a medical skill, allegedly): what changes if everyone wakes up six inches taller (more presence, fewer step stools, capris, heels, five extra minutes of sleep), who do you want when a flight attendant asks for a doctor (a 70-year-old psychiatrist, a dentist, or a veterinarian), and would you rewind to age ten or ten years with everything you know now? Also, which one sense would you let everyone perceive as terrible (sound, apparently, which led to a pretty good Dance Mom impression), what happens when your car becomes a human roommate for four years, and would you take $100,000 to have skin a color outside human variation (hot pink, traffic cone orange, glow-in-the-dark)? Also, $10 million to give up one ordinary human ability: embarrassment goes first, overthinking is a closer call. Also, Dave’s mother made him take down his political attack-ad parody.

What does research actually do for a medical student, and who is it really for? The Short Coats--M2s Jonah Albrecht and Regan DeMaris, and M4 Radha Vellamuri--sit down with Donna Santillan, PhD and Mark Santillan, MD PhD to talk about the value of research in medical school (think quality, not quantity, heavily weighted toward quality). The Santillans (married, if it wasn't clear) have mentored many aspiring researchers in their careers; Radha even took a class they taught when she was an undergrad. We discuss the common perception that there is a research arms race when it comes to medical students trying to match into their specialties, a 13-fold increase in med student publications from 2014-2022. Some even want to ban medical student research, although it's perhaps not surprising the Santillans don't agree: from their perspective as scientists in obstetrics, you can't fully understand what is good research and what isn't unless you participate. The factors they blame: schools moving toward pass/fail grading and virtual residency interviews. The former makes it harder for students to distinguish themselves with grades, and the latter means more students applying to programs they don't really care about. Both end up putting more pressure on students to increase the number of publications to stand out in the most competitive specialties. Also discussed: shallow research contaminating AI training data, ERAS changes Radha's had to navigate, and how students can sidestep the arms race. Also, we learn that Radha can beatbox, something she refuses to demonstrate unless Dave is interviewing her for a residency position. Huh.

It's Blechardy, the trivia game with jelly beans, and it's a total rip-off of other games that don't have jelly beans. Dave Etler hosts, producers Winnie Gavin, and Evie Lee run the show, and the contestants are split into Team Beadle'Shea (Tom O'Shea, director of administrative and student services for the physician associate program, plus Abbie Beadle, Boulware Community and curriculum manager of the first semester of the M2 year, both from the Office of Student Affairs and Curriculum) and the Beanie Boys (first-year medical students Ben Fisher, Max Holmes, and Drew Szalat). The rules: pick a category and a point value, answer the question, then eat a jelly bean. Yummy, you keep the points. Gross, you get nothing. That is a life lesson, though Dave isn't sure which one.

Does Your Personality Pick Your Medical Specialty? The guy who discovered handwashing prevented deaths after childbirth was kind of a jerk, calling everyone who didn't believe him "murderers." Did his personality prevent the adoption of one of the most important innovations in medicine ever? New co-hosts Olivia Masterson and Caroline Van Bell, along with returning co-hosts Lilly Schmidt and Melia Patrick, talk with Dave about personality. Or at least, the pop-psych version. Carver College of Medicine admissions is running free virtual sessions for anyone thinking about becoming a physician. Get your questions answered! The next one is Tuesday, October 6th at 6 p.m. Register at https://theshortcoat.com/applying!

M3 Jacob Thompson, M2s Charis Edwards and Cyrus Barati, and Dr. Katie Imborek talk about being LGBTQ+ in medicine: coming out over and over to preceptors and patients, going back in the closet on a rural rotation, what "safe" actually means for queer med students, and why doctors should ask every patient about sexual orientation and gender identity. Also, Iowa is not the potato place. Thinking about medical school? Carver's admissions team is hosting a virtual info session Tuesday, October 6, 2026 at 6 p.m. Central. Register at https://theshortcoat.com/applying.