Tag Archives: Sahana Sarin

Five Med Students on Thriving in Clerkships

Audio September 17, 2026 Dave Etler

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:09:35 — 97.1MB)

Podcast (video): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:09:35 — 10.3GB)

Five M3s explain what actually happens when preclinical learning meets real patients.

Dave sits down with a crew of M3s and one asterisked MSTP M4 — Riley Behan-Bush, Samantha Gardner, Srishti Mathur, Sahana Sarin, and Sarah Upton — to talk about the actual experience of clerkships: what the jump from three semesters of preclinical book-learning into surgery, psychiatry, emergency medicine, and family medicine really feels like, why the first two weeks can swing from “best of med school” to “worst of med school” depending entirely on the rotation you land, and how you’re supposed to figure out your place on a team that changes every two weeks. They dig into the actual mechanics of honoring a clerkship — shelf exam cutoffs that can sit at 90%+, evaluations that make up 70-80% of a grade, and the particular indignity of missing honors by a single point after doing everything right.

The group works through how to handle conflicting instructions from residents and attendings, how to ask questions without challenging the hierarchy (“for my own understanding, can you explain why you decided…”), and how to actually figure out a specialty when you love everything, including surgery where you’ll stand for hours. Sahana’s pros-and-cons journal after every rotation gets a real endorsement. Also, they answer a batch of questions submitted by their own preclinical classmates: how much free time you actually get (some), whether Des Moines versus Iowa City rotations matter (it depends what you want out of medicine), and what actually makes clerkship life easier — which turns out to be a year’s supply of Costco garbage bags, a cellular hotspot, and, for at least one host, a husband who meal preps.

Episode credits:

Producer: Isa Perez-Sandi
Co-hosts: Srishti Mathur, Sarah Upton, Samantha Gardner, Riley Behan Bush, Sahana Sarin
Production: SCP Media Lab–Anna Royer, Cyrus Barati, Isa Perez-Sandi, Zach Grissom, Sarah Upton, Srishti Mathur, David Lee, and Jacob Thompson

[URL template for episode https://media.blubrry.com/theshortcoat/podcast.uiowa.edu/com/osa/CHANGETHIS.mp3]

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.

We Want to Hear From You: YOUR VOICE MATTERS!

We welcome your feedback, listener questions, and shower thoughts. Do you agree or disagree with something we said today? Did you hear something really helpful? Can we answer a question for you? Are we delivering a podcast you want to keep listening to? Let us know at https://theshortcoat.com/tellus and we’ll put your message in a future episode. Or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.

We need to know more about you! https://surveys.blubrry.com/theshortcoat (email a screenshot of the confirmation screen to theshortcoats@gmail.com with your mailing address and Dave will mail you a thank you package!)

The Short Coat Podcast is FeedSpot’s Top Iowa Student Podcast, and its Top Iowa Medical Podcast! Thanks for listening!

Continue reading →

From the Archives:

Short Coat Podcast

Demand to Be Called ‘Doctor,’ or Let It Slide (AITA)? (Recess Rehash)

Audio January 2, 2026 Dave Etler

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:40 — 61.0MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

[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 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-meds and med students to do research, the value of publications, and the “gunner” mentality. Is bench research a necessary evil, or are pre-meds wasting their time? When is it appropriate to insist on being called ‘Doctor?’ Is it okay to go nuclear to take someone down a notch when they need it? Is a degree in design and marketing as important as an MD? It’s a chaotic mix of ethics, egos, and existential crises—so strap in.

We Want to Hear From You: YOUR VOICE MATTERS!

The Short Coat Podcast is FeedSpot’s Top Iowa Student Podcast, and its Top Iowa Medical Podcast! Thanks for listening!

Continue reading →

From the Archives:

Short Coat Podcast

Feedback is Data, Not Devastation.

Audio September 11, 2025 Dave Etler

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:10:32 — 96.9MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

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 notes, the unsuccessful applicant told her that they “didn’t agree with any of that.”

The problem with this attitude is that in medical school feedback is never ending! Students get notes on interpersonal skills, professional behaviors, clinical skills, your knowledge base. And the feedback comes from everyone involved: simulated patients, actual patients, faculty, residents, nurses, even each other! Sometimes the feedback is formal and written; sometimes it’s verbal; and sometimes all you get is a raised eyebrow or a smile. Sometimes it’s rough, other times it’s SMART.

So M2s Zach Grissom, Sahana Sarin, Srishti Mathur, and Jay Miller give their take on this vital skill in medicine: using feedback as data, as fuel for growth. They share stories of getting useful and useless feedback. And whether you love it or hate it, you’ll leave with a playbook for using feedback to boost your success in medical school and your career.

Also, we discuss a study on AI “de-skilling,” and recent shifts in the amount of research medical students are doing versus the number of service and humanities experiences they’re doing.