Kevin Sexton says he hears the same thing about himself in his hometown of Annville in Jackson County. So do dozens of other students from other rural Kentucky counties enrolled in PEPP, the University of Kentucky's Professional Education Preparation Program. Since 1982, its goal has been to seek out the best and brightest students from 69 medically understaffed counties and help them become doctors and dentists so they then can go back and serve their home communities. From one end of Kentucky to the other, it's an idea that continues to generate plenty of interest, participants say. This is the way it works.
Students attending the UK program are on campus now.
In the programs, they attend lectures, seminars, hear guest speakers and get a first-hand look at what medical and dental school will be like. After finishing the introductory summer program, it's off, at their own expense, to the undergraduate school of their choice hopefully followed by being admitted to medical or dental school, either at UK or elsewhere. Each year, about 180 students apply for PEPP, Snyder said. About 40 are accepted. As many as 75 percent of those who participate in both programs will be accepted to a medical or dental school, Snyder said.