Tag Archives: student loans

Short Coat Podcast

Med Student Leaders: Juggling Roles at School and Home

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Is work-life “balance” the right framing?

Is “work-life balance” 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 want to start a new thing, and somehow they say yes. even if they say no. It’s a mystery how that happens.

We break down what happens when “getting involved” becomes “drowning in responsibility,” especially with that otherwise pretty sweet 18-month preclinical timeline that makes succession planning feel like a game of musical chairs with first-years who are still learning how to med school.

But here’s where it gets interesting. These aren’t just resume builders—our students are genuinely passionate about their causes, from organ donation advocacy to single-payer healthcare organizing to…podcasting! They’re learning that leadership isn’t about balance; it’s about accommodation. Sometimes the leadership thing gets bumped for the anatomy exam. Sometimes you’re editing a newsletter while your kid bounces off the walls. Sometimes you realize you’re not actually superhuman, and that’s okay.

Also, Short Coat listener Evan asks us how do we manage a parenting, marriage, and medical school without losing your minds? Our conversation gets brutally honest about the reality of parenting through M1 year, the myth of work-life balance, and why some students might feel “infantilized” by the medical school experience while others are changing car batteries in business attire between classes or trying to meal prep while being tutored (that doesn’t work, BTW).

Episode credits:

  • Producer: Zach Grissom
  • Co-hosts: Zach Grissom, Megan Perry, Sarah Upton, Chase Larsson

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 Med Student Leaders: Juggling Roles at School and Home →
Short Coat Podcast

From Broke to Bank: Money Lessons Med School Skips

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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 prestige.

We talk always-on-the-verge-of-disappearing Public Service Loan Forgiveness, we drag lifestyle creep, go full scorched-earth on bad budgeting, and explain why even a half-million bucks a year won’t automatically save you from living paycheck to paycheck. If you’ve ever looked at an attending and thought “they must have it made,” this episode will explain why they often don’t.

Learn what to do before residency, how to prep for your 4th-year expenses, why disability insurance might be more important than your board scores, and whether that $15/month budget app is actually worth it. Spoiler: Tyler prefers sticky notes on mirrors.

Oh—and if you thought $275K was a lot, wait until taxes take their cut.

Episode credits:

  • Producer: Jeff Goddard
  • Co-hosts: Luke Geis, Trent Gilbert
  • Guest: Tyler Olson, Olson FP

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

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 Broke to Bank: Money Lessons Med School Skips →
Short Coat Podcast

If you’re asking, you might be the a**hole (Recess Rehash)

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[Because of Spring Break, instead of a new episode you can enjoy this re-run! If NPR can do it, so can we. We’ll be back next week.]

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? And isn’t an Eagle Scout the same as a doctor when you get right down to it? Let’s talk about all that!

From the discussion:

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 want to know more about you: Take the Listener Survey

Continue reading If you’re asking, you might be the a**hole (Recess Rehash) →
Short Coat Podcast

If you’re asking, you might be the a**hole

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:09:10 — 63.3MB)

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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? And isn’t an Eagle Scout the same as a doctor when you get right down to it? Let’s talk about all that!

From the discussion:

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 want to know more about you: Take the Listener Survey

Continue reading If you’re asking, you might be the a**hole →
Short Coat Podcast

Recess Rehash: Med Schools Hate When Students Have Jobs. Some People Take the Risk Anyway.

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Perhaps no school would recommend working during med school, but plenty of people do it.  

[We’re on a break! But we’ll be back with a new episode on August 11, 2022. Enjoy this re-run!]

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 the choice to work, and some jobs might even help your chances.
reject photo

Eliza wrote to us at theshortcoats@gmail.com because, as an older, married medical student with a young child in an expensive city, she wondered what our thoughts were on students who work during medical school.  We invited her on the show so M3 Nathen Spitz, M4s Abby Fyfe and Nick Lind, and M1 Grant Stalker could find out more about her choice to work as a therapeutic yoga teacher, and discuss some of the equity issues surrounding work during medical school.  And Nathen offers some ideas about paying jobs that can actually be a benefit to medical students in their academic lives.

We also discuss the Biden administration’s new mental health-focused initiatives, especially those focused on healthcare workers, as outlined in the president’s state of the union address. 

We Want to Hear From You

How’d we do on this week’s show? Did we miss anything in our conversation? Did we anger you? Did we make you smile? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime  or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  It’s always a pleasure to hear from you!

Continue reading Recess Rehash: Med Schools Hate When Students Have Jobs. Some People Take the Risk Anyway. →
Short Coat Podcast

Med Schools Hate When Students Have Jobs. Some People Take the Risk Anyway.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:38 — 50.9MB)

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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 the choice to work, and some jobs might even help your chances.
reject photo

Eliza wrote to us at theshortcoats@gmail.com because, as an older, married medical student with a young child in an expensive city, she wondered what our thoughts were on students who work during medical school.  We invited her on the show so M3 Nathen Spitz, M4s Abby Fyfe and Nick Lind, and M1 Grant Stalker could find out more about her choice to work as a therapeutic yoga teacher, and discuss some of the equity issues surrounding work during medical school.  And Nathen offers some ideas about paying jobs that can actually be a benefit to medical students in their academic lives.

We also discuss the Biden administration’s new mental health-focused initiatives, especially those focused on healthcare workers, as outlined in the president’s state of the union address. 

We Want to Hear From You

How’d we do on this week’s show? Did we miss anything in our conversation? Did we anger you? Did we make you smile? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime  or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  It’s always a pleasure to hear from you!

Continue reading Med Schools Hate When Students Have Jobs. Some People Take the Risk Anyway. →
Short Coat Podcast

How A Young FAmily Should Think About The Risks Of Med School

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No doubt about it, this road to becoming a physician has financial risks

risky photo
Photo by anathea

It feels risky to go to medical school, and for someone with a young family, like our listener who sent us their question to theshortcoats@gmail.com, those risks can feel existential. After all, if things don’t go as planned, the financial payoff of this calling might not be realized and the debt would be crippling. And Dave, as an inveterate catastrophizer, has sympathy for that worry. But is it the right way to be thinking about this endeavor? Brandon Bacalzo, Mariam Mansour, Levi Endelman and co-host newb Elias Kovoor are here to tell you why it can be better to go for it without fear. (We have done other episodes that focus on the concerns of parenting in medical school from a mom’s perspective and from a dad’s).

Another listener question (Dave forgot to make up names for these anonymous submissions) asks, how the heck are you supposed to “do the research” when looking for a medical school? We have some good suggestions for that, too.

And Dave, aware the his med student friends are always looking to save money at the grocery store, puts together a taste test–can the co-hosts distinguish between store vs. national brands, and which do they think is better?

We Want to Hear From You

Any responses to the stuff we talked about? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  Do all three!

rerun, Short Coat Podcast

Recess Rehash: Here’s Vomit In Your Eyes

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mad scientist photo
Photo by glen edelson

[Dave’s out of town this week, so enjoy this rerun!]

Admissions counselor Megan Kosovski joins the fun to help LJ Agostinelli, Aline Sandouk, and new co-host Armin Avdic answer some listener questions.  Claire, for instance, wants to know if she needs to quit her job as a radiation tech to fulfill pre-med requirements like shadowing and volunteering.  And Elizabeth wants to know what colleges typically do when personal difficulties arise between one’s peers and mentors.

Plus, Dave satisfies his pretensions to be a medical educator by giving the crew a pop quiz.  Can they discern which strange research project is the actual strange research project and not one Dave made up?

Buy Our Merch and Give At The Same Time

You care about others, or you wouldn’t be into this medicine thing. Our #merchforgood program lets you to give to our charity of the semester and get something for yourself at the same time!

This Week in Medical News

The AAMC offers insight into a ‘new’ trend in medical education: the three-year fast-track MD degree program. It’s been tried before in times of shortages…is the time right to roll it out again to address physician shortages and high student debt?

We Want to Hear From You

The Short Coats offer free advice! Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com!  We’ll try to help!

Continue reading Recess Rehash: Here’s Vomit In Your Eyes →

Short Coat Podcast

Here’s Vomit In Your Eyes

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:20 — 78.8MB)

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mad scientist photo
Photo by glen edelson

Our charitable mission is supported in this episode by CommonBond.  Be sure to pay them a visit to learn more about their new medical school loan, and tell ’em we sent you!

Admissions counselor Megan Kosovski joins the fun to help LJ Agostinelli, Aline Sandouk, and new co-host Armin Avdic answer some listener questions.  Claire, for instance, wants to know if she needs to quit her job as a radiation tech to fulfill pre-med requirements like shadowing and volunteering.  And Elizabeth wants to know what colleges typically do when personal difficulties arise between one’s peers and mentors.

Plus, Dave satisfies his pretensions to be a medical educator by giving the crew a pop quiz.  Can they discern which strange research project is the actual strange research project and not one Dave made up?

Buy Our Merch and Give At The Same Time

You care about others, or you wouldn’t be into this medicine thing. Our #merchforgood program lets you to give to our charity of the semester and get something for yourself at the same time!

This Week in Medical News

The AAMC offers insight into a ‘new’ trend in medical education: the three-year fast-track MD degree program. It’s been tried before in times of shortages…is the time right to roll it out again to address physician shortages and high student debt?

We Want to Hear From You

The Short Coats offer free advice! Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com!  We’ll try to help!

Continue reading Here’s Vomit In Your Eyes →

Short Coat Podcast

Don’t count on Public Service Loan Forgiveness

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:00 — 78.3MB)

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The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is Broken

loan photoFormer co-host and now PM&R Doctor Cole Cheney returns for a discussion of what he’s discovered about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which rewards careers in public service by forgiving student loans after 10 years of qualifying work.  The first 11 years have passed since its inception, and you’ll never guess how many people have had their loans forgiven.  Aline Sandouk, Dylan Todd, Brady Campbell, and financial aid counselor Chris Roling were on hand for a discussion of why you’ll want to have a backup plan to pay off your med school debt.

This Week in Medical News

A study looks at whether we’re ready for whole genome sequencing as a screening tool for newborn babies.  We discuss whether teenagers are capable of withstanding the rigors of medical school.  And an we explore the ‘confidence gap’ between men and women in medicine and whether it’s even important.

We Want to Hear From You

Are you a woman who has been counselled to lean in and act more confident? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  We’d love to hear from you!

Continue reading Don’t count on Public Service Loan Forgiveness →