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

Schools want to know that you’ve looked at other careers, otherwise they won’t take a chance on you. TL;DR Listener Preston is weighing PharmD or MD school. How can he choose, and how his process of choosing make schools feel better about him? Brylee didn't get into med school this time around, is facing a tight turnaround for the next application season, and she hasn't even got a compelling gap y...

Medical errors are an unfortunate and sometimes tragic fact of life. Jailing nurses without addressing root causes compounds the tragedy Nurse RaDonda Vaught faces jail time for an error that killed her patient, and the crew discusses what they learn and know about dealing with medical errors. While Vaught (convicted later on the day we recorded this episode) made some pretty terrible errors that...

We live in a world that still believes the disabled are a danger to patient safety. TL;DR An injury during medical school or residency can temporarily or permanently alter one’s career prospects and trajectory. Even serious disabilities don’t have to be career-enders. But in many cases, it’s up to the injured to counter the ableism that still exists in medicine. What unionizing residents might acc...

Perhaps no school would recommend working during med school, but plenty of people do it. TL;DR * Sometimes, you just don’t want to take that extra loan money. One option: a part time job. * But that is risky–the time you devote to that job could have been spent on studying, and perhaps could decrease your chances at those competitive residency programs. * But there are medical students who make th...

The gods of podcasting smote our recording session last week, but at least we can enjoy this rerun. Luckily, it’s a good one! Taking your time may actually be better for your career than rushing through it TL;DR Rushing to med school may be a good idea, but there is a danger of missing experiences that make you a better student and a better doctor. But if you’re going to do it…go hard. Nutrition i...

Med students are usually intentional about everything, even the balance between social and school TL;DR The M4s are picking their favorite residency programs in the hopes that they love the next phase of their training. We discuss the factors they’re weighing now that interviews are done. A listener about to start med school wants to know how students study, and how they also have social lives whe...

Should medical education make a larger space for trainees who don’t want to see patients? TL;DR * Medical schools’ mission is to create doctors that treat patients. In that context, the options provided for trainees who don’t see that as their own mission may be limited. * However, those options do exist–should schools acknowledge them? Should schools even promote those options to their students?...

Med schools denied this listener’s application, so he worries his low-and-not-improving MCAT will mean he’ll have to settle for a non-research career TL;DR “Cuddles” worries that he can’t be a research MD if he doesn’t get into an allopathic med school due to his low MCAT. But is that really the problem? Can osteopaths be academic (research) physicians? Dave gives his co-hosts a pop quiz on old ti...

Don’t let negative feedback from an advisor cause you to self-scuttle your med school dreams! TL;DR Listener Valerie’s pre-med advisor still haunts her years later, despite a stellar recovery from academic disaster. We got hammered by anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers on our Instagram. Will our response get the same result? The co-hosts and Dave celebrate the upcoming Valentines Day observ...

Standing up against health misinformation is great, but will it help people understand? TL;DR * Folk rock god Neil Young and others have removed their music from Spotify, which hosts Joe Rogan’s controversial podcast over his COVID and vaccine discussions with deniers. * Does that actually accomplish anything, or is it too late to win over the hesitant? * We play Kiss, Marry, Kill: Medical Special...

How students should think about reflection when the word isn’t always well-defined. TL;DR Whether it’s a class assignment, a personal statement, or a scholarship essay, students are often commanded to reflect on their experiences. Reflection is can be a useful part of understanding what you are becoming. But what that means and how to do it are frequently not well defined. Our M4 co-ho...

Growth requires embracing unfamiliar and even scary situations. TL;DR Listener Riley wants some suggestions on experiences that will help him grow while he pursues his path to medicine. We discuss some comments from YouTube on female urologists and male patients. That leads to a discussion on why hospitals default to environments for adult patients which are downright hostile. This week we start w...

Good news: medical schools don’t just want perfect people! TL;DR If your undergraduate studies in a different field lacked a certain enthusiasm but you’ve now decided to pursue medicine, it can be difficult to know where you’ll stand with admissions committees. Fortunately, adcomms don’t just look for perfect grades and unwavering and early certainty from med school candida...

COVID taught many employees what their employees think of them. Doctors are no different. TL;DR Most people don’t see themselves as partners in success, but as hired hands. Doctors are employees, too, and have similar issues with their employers! 30% of administrators reported losing physicians during the pandemic. Either an exit from healthcare or a mass shift of physicians from low-engagem...

TL;DR Medical school is all-consuming, but sometimes you need to take time to deal with the slings and arrows of life. Don’t be afraid that you’ll jeopardize your career by taking a leave during medical school. Better to do it before your situation causes harm to your test scores or grades. A Brown University study finds that schools are failing in their diversity goals for admitting URMs. We’re o...

Among the many choices med students make is between community medicine and academic medicine. TL;DR Doctors who practice community medicine make more than academic physicians (sometimes lots more). As it often does, the question of which to choose depends on which aspect of each you can live without. The co-hosts also visit with Santa, because Dave’s been naughty, to answer pop quiz questions on h...

You can ‘do’ research in med school or undergrad, but no one’s going to just give you the opportunity TL;DR If you want to be an author on a publication, you’ve got to be open with your lab about your goals. Go into research with the aim of improving your skills, and know exactly what skills you want to work on. Some kinds of research are easier to do and get published in m...

[Our Thanksgiving break involuntarily continues because a couple co-hosts were out sick on recording day. Rude. Anyway, enjoy this rerun!] Screw these up, and you may not get in! TL;DR Our expert looks at the mistakes that can keep you from landing your spot in med school Give the admissions committee what it needs to assure them you want this more than anything, and that you’ve done your ho...

Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, we weren’t in the studio to record a new show last week. Instead, enjoy this rerun! Med school life hacks are all about maximizing efficiency, minimizing friction. TL;DR Eliminate unnecessary friction to the completion of a taskPaying others to do other life tasks can be helpfulSaying no is as important as maximizing efficiency. Today we explore the things th...

Any job can be a good premed job, but what about for the future physician scientist? TL;DR Happy Thanksgiving! We discuss the MD/PhD life, and the jobs that will prepare a hopeful MD/PhD student while also giving the admissions committees something to love. We diss Thanksgiving while still loving it, including a special Turkey Day pop quiz. Happy Thanksgiving! Now, settle down, we don’t mean to po...

A cancer surgeon’s stories offer lessons of humility and grace TL;DR Medicine is filled with both the momentous and the prosaic.  Yet every interaction is a chance to process and understand the impact one person can both have and be subject to. Dr. Campbell suggests students start journaling their experiences early.  Not only might this lead to a lovely book of essays near the end...

More tales from Residency Interviews TL;DR Puzzled by the interviewer’s question? You can fumble around with the answer, or answer a question that wasn’t asked. Did the Electronic Residency Application Service screw some applicants (again)? We get to know this week’s cohosts using interview questions they might actually enjoy answering. This episode is sponsored by Panacea Financ...

Stop gatekeeping yourself TL;DR A question Dave found on reddit inspired this week’s topic: is there any program or school that is “out of your league?”Co-hosts recap their recent residency interview experiences. We practice answering absurd residency interview questions. Today’s episode is sponsored by Panacea Financial, a division of Primis, Member FDIC. Check out their PRN Per...

Hot sauces rule TL;DR We discuss the many uses (real or potential) of capsaicin as we taste hot sauces from some random multipack co-host AJ had lying around. The co-hosts fight each other with words in a game of Megabattle. Warning: cartoonish violence is described. If you don’t like the thought of being stabbed by flaming antlers, you might want to skip this one. This episode is sponsored by Ens...

Are there parallels between medicine and Squid Game? TL;DR The experience of job hunting for a residency position is unlike any other. It’s way easier to donate bone marrow than many think. Dave stuffs the episode with Squid Game references in the hopes that various algorithms love us. This episode is sponsored by Enso Rings, makers of soft, safe, attractive silicone rings. Listeners get 10% off r...