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

Medical Students and Love: Do Their Spouses Really Know Them?

Feb 12, 2026

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Samantha Gardner, a second-year med student balancing clinics and relationships; Sarah Upton, a second-year sharing clinical anecdotes; Alexis Baker, a second-year reflecting on med school life. They play a couples compatibility game, debate optimist versus realist views of training, confess squeamish limits around gore, and riff on how they'd spend extra time, hobby farms, and disastrous portrait attempts.

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ADVICE

Accept School’s Dominance—Create Switch Rituals

Do accept that medical school will dominate many conversations and plan shared rituals to switch topics.
Use listening and curiosity to stay connected when partners repeatedly discuss clinical details.

ANECDOTE

Granular Excitement Keeps Partners Engaged

Kyle says Sarah often talks about med school for hours with granular detail he enjoys hearing.
He tolerates jargon gaps and reminds her when terms need simpler explanations.

ANECDOTE

More Wakeful Hours For People Time

When freed from sleep, Alexis would spend more time with friends and family rather than study more.
Cade agreed she would prioritize people and shared activities over extra work.

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The Heart Wants What It Wants. 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. Whether you’re a pre-med wondering how people maintain relationships during the madness of medical school, or you just want to hear some genuinely funny banter about med school couples, M1 Anna Royer and M2s Samantha Gardner, Sarah Upton, and Alexis Baker (and spouses Nathan, Nick, Kyle, and Caleb–er, Cade) are here for you. You’ll hear how these medical students actually talk to their partners about school (spoiler: sometimes too much about bones), what they’d do with more time in their day, and why you should never ask a them to draw your portrait. It’s proof that love can absolutely survive medical education. Episode credits: Producer: Dave Etler Co-hosts: Samantha Gardner, Sarah Upton, Anna Royer, Alexis Baker 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! We do more things on… Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshortcoat YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theshortcoat You deserve to be happy and healthy. If you’re struggling with racism, harassment, hate, your mental health, or some other crisis, visit http://theshortcoat.com/help, and send additions to the resources there to theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love you.