Summer 2012 Connections to PEPP Alumni

It's been said that PEPP is much more that just a 4 week summer program. As a participant in the program, you become a part of the "PEPP family". We continue to work with our alumni throughout undergrad and even into professional school. Brandon McGeorge (PEPP 2009) shares his PEPP story and how the program impacted his life (below). He spent the past three summers in ULSOM Minority and Rural Affairs Programs (SMDEP 2010; MCAT-DAT 2011). When it came time to decide what to do during break this year, he chose to come back to Louisville and serve as a Student Development Assistant for the 2012 PEPP program.  

Speaking of family, we often have siblings participate in PEPP across the years. Last summer, PEPP 2007 alumni Ben Cocanougher served as a Student Development Assistant. This summer we're glad to have his sister Sarah as a participant in the program! Ben is finishing his first year of medical school at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. Here's Ben's story below.

2012 PEPP Schedule (tentative)

Want to know just what we will be doing this summer? Here is the (tentative) schedule for summer 2012!

PEPP Success Story- Jessica Wood

Here is another video from PEPP 2007 alumni Jessica Wood. Jessica is currently a first year at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. She's remained in close contact with our office over the years, and we know she will make a fine physician one day! Jessica was also selected to the Trover Rural Track program, where she will spend years 3 and 4 of medical school training in Madisonville, KY. Learn how PEPP helped Jessica achieve her dream of becoming a rural physician.

Community Service

We get a lot of questions regarding pre-health students and community service. Students must display a strong academic background and exam scores, but that alone will not get you into professional school. Students must display a clear motivation toward a health career (we'll address that in a future blog) and demonstrate humanistic/altruistic values. The number one reason students say they want to pursue a health career is to "help people". Thus, students should display a long track record of activities where they are helping others.

This can be accomplished in many ways. Sometimes students perceive that service must take place in a health care setting (ex: nursing home, clinic, medical missions, etc.). This isn't the only type of service that "counts". Just find something you like to do and demonstrate a commitment to it. That can be tutoring other students, volunteer activities through religious organizations, being a big brother/big sister, involvement in community initiatives- really any type of community service will do. You also do not need to have a "laundry list" of activities. Consistently volunteering your time to one cause is better than just showing up for one hour at multiple places. The bottom line- find something you like and stick with it!

It is also important to note that students need to have significant volunteer experience throughout college. While service work in high school is great, high school accomplishments should not be the focus of professional school applications. You need to demonstrate a commitment throughout college. Activities that take place the summer before college will count, as it is after your high school graduation- and yes, we do a few service projects during the PEPP program!

Finally, keep track of all the service activities/project that you are involved in beginning after your high school graduation. I recommend that students start an excel spreadsheet that records the following fields for each event: organization, activity, contact person, location, and hours. This will make it super easy to complete your professional school application later on.