Shavira, Manitoba PA-S1

Shavira is a successful Manitoba MPAS applicant who completed a Bachelor’s and Master’s before successful gaining admission to PA school.

Shavira’s Pre-PA Stats

Accepted: 

• Manitoba Master of PA Studies

Education:

• Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) Genetics (honours), minor in mathematics

  • Honours thesis project completed through CancerCare Manitoba (CCMB) on the genetics of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, for which I received a first-author publication in BMC Cancer

• Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Biochemistry and Medical Genetics

  • Thesis project completed through CCMB on the genetics of non-small cell lung cancer, for which I received a first-author publication in the Journal of Cancer

Other Work Experiences:

• Women’s Health Clinic volunteer counsellor for ~5 years

• Instructor, dance representative/manager, choreographer at the India School of Dance

  • Trained Kathak (style of North Indian classical dance) dancer

  • Completed group and solo graduations, making her the first professionally trained Kathak dancer and performer in Manitoba

• Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) at CCMB for the two years between my M.Sc. and starting PA school

  • Helped re-establish this department after a lag of ~2 years

  • Facilitated meetings with different disease site groups

  • Produced tools and guideline documents that will be publicly available on the CCMB website

GPA:

• 4.25 out of 4.5 on the Manitoba GPA scale

About Shavira

Growing up, I was always interested in a career in the medical field. This led me to explore several options, including genetic counselling and research.

I first applied to PA school years ago and when I did not make it off the waitlist, I pursued my M.Sc. associated with Bioinformatics research since it was something I wanted to accomplish after completing my B.Sc.

Afterwards, I kept on being drawn back to the PA profession because it encompassed many qualities that I wanted in a profession, such as working directly with people, undergoing a condensed timeline/learning plan, the ability to switch specialties and begin learning about an entirely different area of medicine, and the work-life balance.

I also felt connected to it in my role as a women’s health counsellor but appreciated that it would allow me to do more in the treatment and management of patients.

Standing out when re-applying to PA school

Although I am not entirely sure what helped me stand out, these are some points that I feel were different from my previous application:

• I began volunteering at the Health Sciences Center hospital when I was 14 years old and since then I always had some volunteer connections in healthcare.

• Pregnancy counselling in unique scenarios (e.g., language barriers) and experience helping clients navigate the healthcare system.

• Community involvement: being a Kathak dancer keeps me connected to my heritage as a Canadian-born child of immigrant parents. It also allows me to nurture the growth and development of young children in my community and promote my culture to all Canadians.

• Being a team player: I did not talk about my work in CPG a lot, but it does demonstrate healthcare-related work and being a team player.

• Talking about obstacles I’ve overcome, whether in my personal or work life.

My tips for Canadian Pre-PA Applicants

• Connect real-life examples to your statement of intent and interview questions

• Connect real-life examples to why you want to be a PA and the PA role (e.g., I compared my role as a counsellor to what I learned through shadowing a PA)

• Don’t be afraid to talk about any obstacles you have overcome and what you have learned from them

• Show that you are a continual and lifelong learner

• Don’t be discouraged by previous class statistics, whether it’s age or GPA. Just apply, and if you don’t get in or are put on the waitlist, take the next year to improve your application and try again!