The Med School Years

Medical School Headquarters
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Medicine
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Join Deana Golini from Medical School Headquarters in our newest podcast, Med School Years! Med School Years is the essential podcast designed to guide medical students through the highs and lows of medical school and confidently match into their dream residency programs. Each episode features insightful conversations with successful medical students, experienced residency program directors, and experts who have navigated the path you're walking now. Gain practical strategies, powerful advice, and inspiring stories to help you thrive academically, manage challenges, and secure your future in medicine. Subscribe now, and make your med school years the best years yet! Check out all of the podcasts Medical School HQ has to offer at medicalschoolhq.net!

  1. 1d ago

    Scotty Jones, DO, PGY-1 in Emergency Medicine at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center

    What does it take to walk away from a 16-year career and start medical school in your mid-30s? Join host Deana Golini as she sits down with Scotty Jones, DO, a recent graduate of Lincoln Memorial University's DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine and PGY-1 in Emergency Medicine at Baylor Scott & White in Temple, Texas. Scotty traces a path almost two decades in the making, from growing up on a rural Texas ranch to 16 years in the fire service as a firefighter, paramedic, and EMS captain, to finally becoming a physician. He talks about applying to medical school in 2013, getting zero interviews, and why he's now grateful it didn't work out then. He shares what it was like to be one of the older students in his class, showing up on day one with a spiral notebook while everyone else had iPads, and how he rebuilt his study system around an iPad, note-taking apps, and ChatGPT the moment it launched at the end of his first semester. He gets honest about the toll medical training takes on a family, and how a supportive spouse made the difference, and he breaks down the systems that carried him: the stack-of-pancakes approach to daily workload, a schedule built around morning time with his two daughters, and seven passes at every lecture. He explains how 16 years of prehospital medicine and thousands of clinical hours prepared him for rotations, why he chose Baylor Scott & White for its longitudinal pediatric exposure and because it brought his family home, and the fire-station ritual he uses to leave stress at the door. He closes with advice for osteopathic students heading into the residency application process.

  2. Oct 22

    Sam Ndukwe, MS4 at Duke University School of Medicine

    What does it actually take to thrive once you're inside a school like Duke? Join hosts Deana Golini and Carlos as they sit down with Samuel Ndukwe, a fourth-year medical student at the Duke University School of Medicine, to talk through the realities of medical training and the mindset that carries him through it. Sam opens up about the journey to Duke, a school that takes roughly 123 students from over 9,000 applicants, including the post-bacc he chose over an expensive special master's, the self-assessment that told him his GPA wasn't where it needed to be, and why there is no foolproof plan anyone can hand you. He reframes the tired fire-hose analogy for med school, describing it instead as learning to surf waves that keep coming, some calm, some typhoons that wipe you out before you climb back on the board. He gets honest about the stamina and consistency med school demands when there is no syllabus telling you what to do, the daunting trust patients place in you as a student, and the danger of hiding behind the med student title and wasting a rotation. He shares the systems that keep him going: entering every rotation with a clear vision of why he is there, setting small daily goals and rewards to get through rotations he does not love, refusing to compare himself to anyone but his past self, and protecting the parts of his life outside medicine. He also talks about founding Black Men in White Coats at Duke and why staying connected to community is what reminds him who he is.

  3. Oct 14

    Katelyn Addison, MS2 at UC Davis School of Medicine

    What does it take to navigate the path to medical school when you're the first in your family to do it? Join host Deana Golini as she sits down with Katelyn (Kate) Addison, a second-year medical student at the UC Davis School of Medicine, first-gen American, and the oldest of 10 kids. Kate opens up about the imposter syndrome that comes with entering medicine without the hidden curriculum that classmates with doctor parents grow up around, and the specific tactics she used to close that gap. She credits her pre-health sorority for teaching her how to ask the questions she was afraid to ask, and building an Instagram page to stay accountable while studying for the MCAT, which connected her to a community of free resources and other students. She talks about working her way through college with a string of jobs, including driving a bus, instructing marching band at her old high school, and working as a medical assistant, and how each one built the balance and discipline she leans on now. She shares her volunteer work at UC Davis student-run clinics serving the unhoused and migrant farm worker communities of the Sacramento area, and why mission fit, not prestige or cost, is what she tells people to chase first. She also pulls back the curtain on serving as an MMI rater on the admissions committee, how being on the other side eased her own imposter syndrome, and what actually makes an applicant stand out once the stats are handled. She closes with the mindset that carries her: picture the person you want to be at graduation, and act accordingly. If Kate's story reframes what it takes to belong in medicine, hit the like button, share your reflections in the comments, and subscribe for weekly conversations tracing the realities of the medical journey.

  4. Oct 7

    Krupa Patel, MS3 at University of Michigan Medical School

    What makes an orthopedic surgeon put the person before the bones? Join host Deana Golini as she sits down with Krupa Patel, a third-year student at the University of Michigan Medical School and a double Wolverine headed toward a career in orthopedic surgery. Krupa traces her path from an entrepreneurship program she joined purely out of interest, not as a premed checkbox, to founding the Lunar Doula Collective after noticing something on a volunteer shift at the women's hospital: patients giving birth had doulas beside them, while patients losing pregnancies had no one. She turned that observation into Michigan's first pregnancy-loss doula program, secured 501(c)(3) status, built 15 hospital partnerships, and trained over 100 people across the state. She explains how her service work with hospice, veterans, Special Olympics, and adaptive athletes is what actually drew her to ortho, reframing the specialty around restoring a person's independence and identity rather than just their function. She shares the clinical moment that will stay with her forever, when the very first patient of her OBGYN rotation, whose pregnancy she confirmed on her first-ever ultrasound, walked into her psychiatry clinic months later after a devastating loss, and the training from her doula work let her hold that space. She gets honest about the fear of starting clinicals, the power dynamic nobody talks about, taking Step 1 and Step 2 just two months apart under Michigan's compressed curriculum, and why imposter syndrome and burnout only lose their grip when you say them out loud. She also makes the case for orthopedics as a field that needs more women, more mentorship, and fewer toxic rooms. If Krupa's story reframes what a competitive applicant and a future surgeon can look like, hit the like button, share your reflections in the comments, and subscribe for weekly conversations tracing the realities of the medical journey.

  5. Oct 1

    Antony Alvarado, MS3 at UCLA/Charles R. Drew University Medical Education Pathway

    What happens when the patient becomes the medical student, and then sets out to become the surgeon who treated him? Join host Deana Golini as she sits down with Antony Alvarado, a third-year student in the UCLA and Charles R. Drew University Medical Education Program and a two-time survivor of pediatric brain cancer. Antony was diagnosed at nine years old in January 2010, after a week of small headaches turned into an emergency CT scan and an active bleed. He spent nearly a month in the hospital, and somewhere in there decided that if he made it out, he would pursue medicine. He spent years telling his neurosurgeon not to retire before he finished medical school. Then in 2017, exactly seven years to the date of his first diagnosis, a scan found eight tumors across his brain and spine. His surgery was canceled four days before it was scheduled because the treatment would not have left him a good quality of life, and he did 13 months of chemotherapy instead. He has had no progression of disease since 2018. He walks through what it took to keep performing academically through all of it, including the neuropsychological evaluations that secured his accommodations from grade school through the MCAT and now the USMLEs, and the half-day senior year schedule that let him get chemo weekly and still graduate. He explains the UCLA and Charles Drew partnership for anyone building a school list, why he is taking a research year with zero publications to his name, and how founding Latinos in Surgery came out of watching Spanish-speaking patients visibly relax the moment someone on the team spoke their language. He also makes the case for a studio art minor in sculpture and photography inside a biochemistry degree, and how learning to read an image translates directly to reading a scan. If Antony's story changes what you think a future neurosurgeon looks like, hit the like button, share your reflections in the comments, and subscribe for weekly conversations tracing the realities of the medical journey.

  6. Sep 22

    Jen Reinmuth-Birch, DO, Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences

    What does it actually take to start medical school two months before your 51st birthday and match into your dream residency at 55? Join host Deana Golini as she sits down with Jen Reinmuth-Birch, a graduating osteopathic medical student at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences and an incoming family medicine resident. Jen walks through a path almost nobody takes. She had been out of school for roughly 30 years, wasn't a science undergrad, had no premed advisor, and opened her laptop and googled how to apply to medical school. She re-enrolled at Oregon State as a non-degree student to knock out prerequisites, taught herself the MCAT from books she ordered online, and got in without ever knowing UWorld or Anki existed. She gets blunt about the comments she fields four or five times a day telling her she stole a seat from someone younger, and how she handles them. She explains why work-life balance in medical school is a fantasy and why setting brutally honest expectations with your family is the single thing that determines whether relationships survive it. She talks about serving two years on her school's admissions committee and what actually made a reader light up, which was never the résumé-shaped activity. She makes the case for rural family medicine in a coastal town of 900 people where the nearest hospital is 45 minutes away, and shares the hospice rotation she forced herself into after her mother's death that turned into a fellowship plan. Her advice on the hardest part of medical school has nothing to do with exams. If Jen's story changes what you think a competitive applicant looks like, hit the like button, share your reflections in the comments, and subscribe for weekly conversations tracing the realities of the medical journey.

  7. Sep 19

    Lindsey Brinkley, MD, PGY-1 in Integrated Cardiothoracic Surgery at University of Utah SOM

    How do you match into one of the most competitive specialties in medicine without losing the person behind the scalpel? Join host Deana Golini as she sits down with Dr. Lindsey Brinkley, a University of Florida College of Medicine graduate and incoming integrated cardiothoracic surgery resident at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Lindsey breaks down what it actually took to land in a field with only 56 positions and 40 programs nationwide, including four straight months of away rotations, a dual application to both cardiac and general surgery, and 22 peer-reviewed publications built alongside her medical training. She traces the origin back to age 12, googling her grandfather's bypass surgery on the family computer, and explains how sitting with dying patients through the No One Dies Alone program shaped the kind of surgeon she wants to be. She gets honest about the parts nobody photographs: tearing her Achilles in her first month of med school, hitting every red light on her drive out of Gainesville after eight years, and finding CrossFit while studying for Step 1 because she needed to feel like an athlete again. She also pulls back the curtain on holistic admissions from the inside after serving on UF's committee, where 5,000 applications get narrowed to a class of 135, and explains why mission fit beats stats every time. If Lindsey's story reframes what a competitive applicant actually looks like, hit the like button, share your reflections in the comments, and subscribe for weekly conversations tracing the realities of the medical journey.

  8. Sep 10

    Binisha Patel, MD, Incoming PGY-1 Internal Medicine Resident at Duke

    How do you translate a personal family mission into an impactful medical career at two of the country's most prestigious institutions? Join host Deana Golini as she interviews Binisha, a recent graduate of Stanford Medicine and an incoming Internal Medicine resident at Duke University. Binisha details her full-circle return to Durham, pulling back the curtain on how her personal experiences supporting her brother fostered a deep dedication to adult disability advocacy. She outlines the sharp transition and systemic gaps that occur when pediatric patients with chronic illnesses transition into the adult healthcare system. Binisha opens up about the immense academic pressures of medical training, sharing a vulnerable story about an emotional breakdown under her desk while studying for Step 2 and detailing why integrating professional therapy and journaling was vital to protecting her identity outside of being a scholar. Finally, she explains how Stanford's flexible curriculum allowed her to leverage institutional power to serve local Bay Area communities by first pausing to ask a single, transformative question: "What is it that you need?" Explore additional resources: Main website: https://medschoolyears.com Apply to be on the podcast: https://airtable.com/app3Id0NacMjivHH... Follow us on IG: / medicalschoolhq

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About

Join Deana Golini from Medical School Headquarters in our newest podcast, Med School Years! Med School Years is the essential podcast designed to guide medical students through the highs and lows of medical school and confidently match into their dream residency programs. Each episode features insightful conversations with successful medical students, experienced residency program directors, and experts who have navigated the path you're walking now. Gain practical strategies, powerful advice, and inspiring stories to help you thrive academically, manage challenges, and secure your future in medicine. Subscribe now, and make your med school years the best years yet! Check out all of the podcasts Medical School HQ has to offer at medicalschoolhq.net!

Information

  • Creator
    Medical School Headquarters
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    40
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Medical School Headquarters
  • Show Website
    The Med School Years

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