Volume 6, Issue 1

Page 2 A Letter from the Editors by Parker, Jeffrey, Andrew A., Andrew G., and Sam

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In This Issue

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Faculty Profile of Elba Munoz, Assistant Director by Andrew Gurewitz………………………………………………………………………………....…....... Page 4 UC Davis Conference Highlights

by Parker Sheldon………………………………………………………….……………........................….... Page 5 Second Year Wisdom by PPC Alumni ………………………………………………………....………………....…..……..…....... Page 6 Mark’s Motivational by Mark Krstyen………………………………………………………………………………………….....Page 7 First Annual PPC Census by Andrew Alix ……………………………………………………….…………..…….……………....….. Page 8 Perhaps Another Day

by Sara Littrell …………………………………………………..………………….…...............................… Page 9 Where Are They Now?

with Courtney Hanlon and Janet Lee………………………….………………….…............................... Pages 10-11 A Word from Your Fearless Leader

by Laura Cantu…………………………………………………..………………….…..............................… Page 12 About The Editors

by PJAAS…………………………………………………..………………….….............................................Page 13

Pages 10-11 Where Are They Now? by PPC Alumni

Introducing the PPC Class of 2016 by Joon Kim

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Introducing the PPC Class of 2016!

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Dear KGI Family,

It is my absolute pleasure to share with you our largest class of PPC students in the history of our school. Although the majority of our 58 students are from the Golden State, they are among the most diverse in terms of work, academic, and life experiences. All have come to KGI to move closer to their dream of becoming medical doctors!

The program has grown by over 700% in just 5 years! This success can be attributed to multiple factors, including the students themselves. The type of students drawn to KGI has been those that are willing to venture outside of their comfort zone, committed to developing new skills, pursue learning for the sake of learning, and of course, commit themselves to becoming leaders. The opportunities at KGI to work in teams provide an excellent source to further interpersonal skills that are necessary for success in medical school. The exclusive course designed specifically for postbac students helps to elucidate a confusing and unpredictable process.

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Through relevant topics and assignments, students are well prepared to create their best application when they apply.

Lastly, strong commitment to co-curriculars have contributed to the program's success. These include, visits to local and out-of-state medical schools, MCAT preparatory course, financial and debt education, mock interviews, network opportunities with medical school admission officials, strong sense of community and individualized advising and mentoring. This year the PPC program welcomed its first ever Assistant Director, Elba Munoz. She came to KGI from California State University Los Angeles where she served as advisor to their pre-health and postbac students. We are thrilled to have her join us. Believe it or not, we're at the halfway point of the academic year. We've all accomplished so much this fall semester, but there's still much to look forward to in the spring. Enjoy the holidays and use this time of year to rest and celebrate with family, safe travels to everyone!

Seasons Greetings,

Joon Kim, Ed.D.

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A Letter from The Editors

Dear PPC Family 2016, In a previous life, the PPC Journal had been many things: amongst others, a place to examine the healthcare

systems of the world, a zeitgeist of the times for PPC cohorts past, and even a scrapbook of photos as reminders of

travel. This year, it is our vision that the PPC Journal may not only uphold this rich tradition but also serve as an

accessible platform to promote a sense of community, not only between members of the current PPC Class of

2016, but also between us and the PCC cohorts of years past. Perhaps you can imagine Volume 6 as an expanded

Sakai Forum of sorts, but with special guest appearances and with less typos! Because the inspiration for our

content is to ultimately speak to you, we cannot create it without your input. That’s right, if you find something

striking, particularly interesting, or see an ecospace in the biome of the Journal that must be filled (as Dr. Rothfeld

would say), please do not hesitate to make it known! It is our sincerest hope that the PPC Journal Volume 6 will be

a product of not only our class, but of the PPC and KGI community at large. 118 days down and only T-116 to go,

make em’ count. Together we roll down this unfamiliar road, but through it all, just know that you’re not alone:

we’re gonna’ make this place our home.

Your Editors, PJAAS (Parker, Jeffrey, Andrew A., Andrew G., and Sam)

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An Interview with Elba Munoz, Assistant Director of the PPC Program by Andrew Gurewitz

Elba joins us from Cal State Los Angeles, where she was a pre-health advisor. Her road to KGI has not been a clear path. Originally she wanted to become an FBI agent. In fact, her undergraduate degree was in Criminal Justice with a minor in Sociology. This makes one ponder, would she rather be out catching criminals than in her post at 215? Well, not quite. Elba relays to us that she experienced a life-changing accident while skiing and later realized that a career in law enforcement was not for her. Following this realization, she worked a number of different jobs ranging from loss prevention specialist to a counselor at a mortuary. At the mortuary, she was involved in helping the families of the deceased to deal with the recent loss of their loved ones. After gaining such experience, she found a job working in the advising office at Cal State LA, which then turned into an opportunity at the post-bac pre-health advising office.

While at Cal State LA, Elba became aware of KGI and specifically the PPC program when Joon sent out a request for interviewers for the MMI practice. She came and interviewed the students and was impressed, not only by the professionalism, but also by the level of preparation that they had. Over the summer, Joon was looking for an assistant and he remembered her and got in contact with her. The rest is history, or more specifically, a history still in the making.

Elba has a different advising style and a different personality than Joon. I was genuinely curious about this

aspect of her advising style. Here, Elba believes that her job is not only to affirm her students’ desires to attend medical school, but also to provide them with other viable options in the healthcare professions that align with the central philosophy of helping others in need.

In keeping with our theme of entertainment we shall dig a little deeper into the woman who lives in the corner office of the 215 building. Her favorite ice cream is Cookies and Cream. Her favorite band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers. She was born and raised in the Inland Empire. Elba is also the first in her family to attend college. She has children and lives in the Inland Empire herself.

All said and done, go and see her, even to just say “Hi”. She usually has office hours in the morning. If she is busy, shoot her an email she gets back pretty quick. After the interview was over she had me play with some weird puzzle where you try to make a cube from a rope with beads on it and get some weird linked keys unstuck from each other. I found this really interesting and was probably my favorite part of the interview. I was really curious as to why she had this and she said it was for interview preparation. In fact, interview preparation is one of her favorite parts of helping students. So whether you have an interview coming up or just would appreciate the advice of a wise soul, drop on by her office!

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Attending the pre-med conference at UC Davis proved both overwhelming and helpful, as anticipated. Over the course of the two days I found myself buzzing over the immense number of opportunities offered to gain insight into this crazy process of applying and gaining admission into Medical School, and challenged by integrating all the information I was soaking up. There were some workshops that flopped, some that sparked novel thoughts, and a whole bunch that there was no time to attend. However, I found the most informative meat to chew was gleaned from the medical admission panels. Here are a few highlights I found worthwhile to ponder when putting your application materials together.

KNOW THE SCHOOLS

Now, we will all get the nuts and bolts about what medical admissions committees look at most critically to gain an understanding of what kind of candidate we are and how well we stack up from a numbers perspective. But, “knowing schools” goes beyond the numbers. Almost every panel member gave some sort of iteration of the same general comment, understand where you’re applying to and why you’re applying

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there. Look at the mission statement of the school, look at the types of academic tracks they offer and know how it fits into your plan. Did you ever think about how the school is funded? That can tell you a lot about their priorities as an institution. How might that affect you? These kinds of questions and subsequent understandings, when re-iterated on applications and in interviews, can help demonstrate how serious and how prepared you are as a candidate. You can be the brightest student in the class, but if you don’t do your homework, you probably won’t get an A in the class, and we know Med Schools like A’s. Schools will tell you what kind of future physicians they train. So, if you want to provide care to underserved rural communities, you’ll probably want to look for schools that find this objective important too, and have access to those sorts of environments locationally (i.e. NOT Keck School of Medicine, not matter how much you want to be a trojan). Of course, not every school will align perfectly. We will be applying to a lot of schools to help our overall chances of gaining admission, but it cannot be stressed enough, know the schools you are applying to. It sounds like nothing can kick you out of the process quicker, than expressing something completely tangential to the school's mission in a secondary or in an interview.

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BE OPEN

This brings me to the next takeaway. Be open to schools you haven’t thought about. This is something that, personally, I find to be difficult. When I get something in my mind, I tend to put blinders on and perform a heat seeking mission. Some of us, for example, find “location” to be our top priority when picking medical schools, to stay near family, to stay out of the cold, or to stay in an urban environment. But there are plenty of really great medical schools around the country that you probably didn’t think of, that probably align very well with exactly what you want out of a medical program. And guess what, if we abide by the first idea (KNOW THE SCHOOLS) you are probably more likely to be seen as an high qualified candidate for that school.

RELATIONSHIPS

This one is intimate and something that I thought could be most important when putting together our applications. When you sit and take a hard look at how you came to be sitting -or standing- where you are right now, you will likely find that there were a lot of people involved.

UC Davis Conference Highlights

by Parker Sheldon

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And that will lead you to think about something else, how were you involved in getting others to where they are sitting or standing today? These relationships can help to frame your “med school narrative” and when analyzing these relationships, the attributes and the experiences you bring to the table and why they will make you a good physician begin to surface. Maybe instead though, you discover that actually, there weren’t a lot of people to help you get to where you are today. For some of us, that is the case. Guess what! That is a different kind of strength that can be conveyed in your narrative. Think about how you can turn those experiences into something positive. Indeed, you have a sort of resilience that your peers may not because you weren’t given some of the same support or opportunities that your peers received, but how have you reflected on that? Is that what caused you to pursue a medical career? To provide support to others?

COMPREHENSIVE, COMPLETE & GENUINE

It is all about cohesion! As Joon has said many times in class, committees want the whole story and want to see how well you can tell the narrative. A gentleman from South Florida’s School of Medicine could not iterate this enough. He didn’t seem to care too much about all the individuals components of a student’s application. Instead, it was all about gestalt, the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. How does it all work together, and fit together to explain to an admissions committee why you will be a great physician. And this is where we bring together ALL THE THINGS. When you look at the relationships you have forged and those that have forged you, and identify your strengths as a person and the career goals you have, does it all make sense and do you mean it?

Ten Curated Tips from 2nd Years:

1. Park in the same spot everyday. If not, you may walk outside after a long week and never find your car.

3. Joon is always right.

4. If you haven't started your personal statements yet, better decide whether you're coming back for the MS or the MBS.

5. Use the Facebook store to barter and trade second years for their used goods.

6. Make America great again.

7. If you play Jeopardy for extra credit in Bain’s class, always bet it all on final Jeopardy.

9. It's not that hard to do the weekly Sakai posts for PPC class. Just do them. Stop being lazy.

10. Don't be too hard on yourself if you forget to do a weekly Sakai post.

12. Go to wine club. 14. Fellas, get your business clothes tailored.

Contributors: Kyle Medina, Jason Wang, Claire Whiteside, Rob Unger

Second Year Wisdom

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Mark’s Motivational by Mark Krstyen

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Fellow PPC students, I hope you will indulge me as this is my first attempt at writing anything even remotely like this. I hope you are as excited as I am that our first semester has come to an end. But if, by chance, the workload and team projects have gotten you down, the daunting MCAT prep has you scrambling to manage it all, you’re nervous about taking the huge risk of applying to medical school, or any number of the other day to day stressors is threatening to overtake your mental, physical, and emotional stability, I hope this article provides the pick-me up you may be searching for. I would like to offer a few quotes from my favorite motivational speaker, Les Brown.

“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” – Les Brown

Many of us are afraid of our inadequacies. We are afraid to take risks, to try, to give all we have because we are afraid to fail. Letting fear rule our lives is a dark hole that only has one exit strategy; test the waters and take a risk, hence this article. For a long time I have wanted to express something motivational but up until now, I have been too afraid to pick up the pencil. This is a baby step towards achieving a bigger goal of mine and I welcome any feedback you might have. Just like writing this article is a

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small step for me, the only way any of us can achieve our dreams is to take appropriate small steps. Biting off more than we can chew won’t get us anywhere, instead start somewhere small and work hard to succeed. Seems simple enough, but when we are “living our fears” this becomes a mountain too massive to climb. Why are we afraid? We all have different reasons for our fear and that is ok but for many of us, we are afraid because at some point life knocked us down.

“When life knocks you down, try to land on your back, because if you can look up, you can get up.” – Les Brown

We have all been knocked down by life. Some of us have applied to medical school without admission, others have been knocked down by personal trials and silent suffering, which few if anyone know about, and others have been knocked down by internal negativity. We have all experienced failure and sometimes it is a blow that is too much to bear. The one thing that all of these trials have in common is that they promote fear. Now let’s remember something, fear is okay, what is not ok is staying stuck where we are, allowing fear to make decisions for us. After all, Failure is only final if we quit and fear will only control us if we let it. Fear will beat us down if we don’t beat it back. How do we

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beat fear? Let’s establish a little known fact, fear is afraid of something. Fear is afraid of effort, hard work, and small steps. Has everyone heard of the snowball effect? Let’s play a game. If we want an A on the next midterm, we must raise our hand in class. Maybe we’re afraid to look ignorant or silly in front of our friends, maybe we’re so lost we don’t even know what to ask to get back on track, or maybe we think class is dull and boring, but let’s establish right now that if we want that A, I mean really want that A, then we must raise our hand in class, because that is where it starts. It may seem small but it can become powerful and fear knows that, fear is afraid of that, so fear will keep our hands down unless we decide to put them up. Raising our hand leads to paying attention in class, our brain starts to notice and begins to commit information to memory, our thoughts reflect on what we have learned and start to make new connections, and pretty soon we are at home studying, not because we want to get an A, but because we want to know the information. Just like a snowball rolling down a mountain we will gain speed, we will gain strength, we will gain “belief in ourselves,” and we will become a vicious circle, a force so powerful that our fears cannot stop us from “looking up, and getting up.”

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The First Annual PPC-Wide Census

Results Prepared By Andrew Alix

0

5

10

15

20

21 22 23 24 25 26 28 31 Num

be o

f Stu

dent

s

Age

PPC Age Distribution

Mint 15%

Chocolate 17%

Coffee 15%

Cookies 13%

Nuts 15%

Fruit 10%

Vanilla 13%

Ice Cream Sandwich

2%

Favorite Ice Cream

21

15 11 0

10 20 30

Yes

No Maybe

MS/MBS Continuation

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Clinical

Medical Mission

Research

Mentor/Tutor

Music

Athletics

Leadership

Greek

Number

AC

tivi

ty

Extracurricular Activities

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Perhaps Another Day by Sara Littrell

A Hop and A Skip Away - The Alma Maters

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Where Are They Now?

Courtney Hanlon PPC ‘14, MS’15 Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Class of 2019 How has your PPC/KGI experience impacted your career path and where you are at today?

The first time I applied to medical school (I have applied a total of 2 times), I applied to 20+ MD schools, had only 1 interview and was waitlisted at the school. Knowing I needed to markedly improve my application before reapplying, I decided to apply to the PPC program. The weakest part of my med school candidacy was my undergrad GPA/MCAT; improving my academic standing by working hard at KGI was the best way for me to show med schools I was ready for their curriculum. At KGI I was involved in a TMP, won a national research fellowship under Dr. Ian Phillips, worked as an orphan drug designation writer for Cote Orphan Consulting and as a health educator at the 5C health center, and retook the MCAT. I decided to stay for my MS while reapplying to further prove my dedication to my schooling and my career in healthcare.

On my second attempt, I applied to 30+ MD schools and received 5 interviews. I was about to submit my DO applications when I received acceptances to 2 of my top schools. Ultimately I received 3 acceptances and 2 waitlists. I would not recommend applying to that many schools, but as I was more of a "character applicant" than an applicant with impeccable academic standing I felt I needed to try my luck at a variety of institutions. I decided to attend Dartmouth Medical School because of their focus on healthcare delivery science, emphasis of humanism in medicine, and because it would give me the greatest chance to match to a successful residency program anywhere in the US.

If you had to offer one piece of advice to your past PPC self, what would it be?

Do not just attend KGI. This will not get you into medical school. You are here to work as hard as you can, to show you are ready to thrive in a rigorous academic environment. Be collaborative with your classmates and help each other to succeed (their success does not diminish your own). Stay team-oriented. This will serve you well once you make it to med school.

Would you be receptive to being in contact with current PPC students?

Yes absolutely! I would love to talk to any and all PPC students who have questions. The best place for anyone to reach me would by my school email: chanlon.med@dartmouth.edu

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Janet Lee PPC Rep ‘12 Western University of Health Sciences, Class of 2017 How has your PPC/KGI experience impacted your career path and where you are at today?

I'm sure someone has already mentioned the importance of teamwork and how it has become an essential skill to have in the field of medicine, so instead, I'll talk about how KGI helped my personal growth. Being thrown into projects and having to self-organize as well as setting your own expectations and limits helped me know and accept my limitations and abilities. I could even argue that it made me more capable of being an efficient teammate, student, and person. It comes in handy when that analogy of medical school being equivalent to drinking from a firehose is entirely too accurate.

If you had to offer one piece of advice to your past PPC self, what would it be?

Schedule time off throughout the week and stick to it no matter what; everyone needs that recharge time without feeling guilty for not accomplishing what you set out to accomplish during the week. We worked as hard as we could and we deserve it. *Also, to my inner fat child - eat out with your friends when they ask; food is delicious.

Would you be receptive to being in contact with current PPC students?

Yes, current students can always contact me via email: leejs@westernu.edu

Where Are They Now?

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A Word From Your Fearless Leader

Yo!

We’re already halfway into a big year. For some of us, this is the last step on our way to med school applications. For some of us, this is the first step on our way to an MBS or MS.

No matter what reasons brought you here or where you’re going after – this year is the opportunity you deserve to make big strides in your career path.

We, as a class, can succeed by helping and supporting each other through the KGI craziness as the rest of this semester, and next, unfold. Together, I believe we can capitalize on everything our program has to offer; from the new extended MCAT class schedule, to relationships with med schools, and access to an awesome masters’ program.

Our success as a cohort of talented, driven individuals is important to my own measurement of success. When I picture my future-self checking off all my goals, I envision everyone else checking off their respective goals too. So come talk to me! E-mail or text me. Ignore the coffee I'm clutching and have a cuppa with me. Chances are, you have an idea or a question that I need to hear to get us what we need to have a dope year!

Your friendly neighborhood representative,

L.C.

by Laura Cantu

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About the Editors

Parker Sheldon

Co-Managing-Editor

Prior to making the decision to pursue a career in medicine, Parker was on his way to pursuing college golf at a small school in Colorado Springs. Regardless of what those around him think, Parker says that he was fortunate to pick up the game. It can teach a young person the virtues of practice, discipline and poise. Unfortunately, performance plateaus exist and persist. Instead, he applied to the University of Colorado at Boulder and packed his bags for a traditional undergraduate academic experience. Parker is a newcomer to the world of newsletter editing. He enjoys challenges though so what better way to hone a new skill than practicing first hand.

Jeffrey Wu

Co-Editor-In-Chief

Jeffrey is a native of Southern California who hails from Pasadena. For college, Jeffrey attended Princeton University, where he served on the staff of the Daily Princetonian and gained invaluable experience editing publications, yet, in another dimension, was vastly unprepared for the gastronomic wasteland that is central New Jersey. After experiencing the brunt of two winters chilled by the Polar Vortex, camping out more than once at Newark International, and begrudgingly ordering his submarine sandwiches as “hoagies” and “heroes” for an indeterminate period of time, Jeffrey is thrilled to return to the land of sunshine, gold, and almonds, and is thrilled to have a hand in editing this year’s paper.

Andrew Gurewitz

Co-Editor-In-Chief

Andrew is from UC Santa Cruz. Originally from Southern California he is a true Southern California kid, riding his bike or rock climbing. His road into medicine has been curved to say the least. He applied to college late because he was all set to be a firefighter. In undergrad he was a biology major and an anthropology minor. In the mornings, he spent time researching elephant seal mating habits on the frigid beaches of Northern California and in the afternoons, learning about cultural heritage issues. But mostly he rode his bike and was even on the cycling team- reppin’ the Banana Slugs. He has never worked on a newsletter before but looks forward to the challenge of working on it.

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7C Resources

Student Health Services

First Floor of Tranquada Student Services Center

Hours

M,T,F: 8 am - 5 pm

W: 8 am - 7 pm

Th: 9 am - 5 pm

Appointments scheduled free of charge at:

Phone: 909-621-8222

Monsour Counseling and

Psychological Services (MCAPS)

First Floor of Tranquada Student Services Center

Hours

M-F: 8 am - 5 pm

Phone: 909-621-8202

After Hours Emergency: 909-607-2000

The New KGI Writing and

Tutoring Center (WTC)

Building 535, The Writing Center

Sign up for a one-hour slot:

https://kgi.mywconline.com/

Department of Campus Safety

Pendleton Business Building

150 East Eighth Street, Claremont, CA 91711

Hours

Open and Staffed 24 hours a day/7 days a week

Phone: 909-621-8170

After-hours emergency: 909-607-2000

Andrew Alix

Co-Managing-Editor

Andrew hails from Irvine in the heart of Orange County, California. Just how OC is he, you ask? Andrew is so OC they actually based a character from the show off of him. No, not that brooding whiner Seth Cohen. It was confident, charming, and dashingly handsome Luke (he played water polo just like Andrew). Growing tired of beautiful, yet spoiled girls, he decided to devote his life to more meaningful pursuits: a career in medicine and finding the perfect chicken wing. If you can aid him in either quest, he will be forever grateful. Andrew enjoys live music, English soccer, and Mexican food. He will gladly hang out with you to discuss either topic while stuffing his face with tacos.

Sam Arcas

Photography Editor

Sam is just a small town boy, living in a lonely world. He took the midnight train to KGI to photograph for the PPC newsletter. Well, truthfully, Sam came to KGI to get one step closer to becoming a doctor. A native of West Covina, California, Sam has spent his years pursuing his passion for medicine, as well as making time for his other passions like photography, cinema, and great food. Although new to newsletter editing and writing, Sam has longed for years to be part of a newsletter, and hopes that his enthusiasm and knack for photography will make this newsletter something that everyone at KGI looks forward to reading.

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To err is human; to forgive, divine.

- Alexander Pope