Kristine’s Pre-PA Stats

Accepted:

McMaster PA Education Program

Education:

Dip. Fitness & Health Promotion, St. Lawrence College – Kingston
(In Progress upon Acceptance) BHSc Health Sciences, Queen’s University

GPA:

3.63 out of 4.0 on OMSAS scale

Health Care Experience Hours:

< 400 hours

During my 2-year college program we had two 200-hour mandatory placements of our choosing. I have always been interested in the functionality of the human body, inspired by my mom’s influence as a physiotherapist, piqued by a high school exercise science course, and encouraged as I navigated the fitness industry. As a result, I was keen to intern at the Royal Military College as a Student Athletic Therapist. Within this role I practiced taping before and after play, ensuring that athletes were prepared, and injuries were managed. We also acted as emergency first responders at practice and games and had extensive training to handle emergencies if they arose. Where possible I also shadowed and assisted any manual procedures my supervisor performed, within their scope and military regulations. Due to the ongoing nature of this placement, I accumulated slightly over our required hours, finishing with roughly 250 hours.

I also had less recent (and less involved) healthcare experience in a physiotherapy clinic in my hometown. Here I accumulated 100 volunteer hours performing basic clinic duties (sanitation, escorting patients to clinic rooms, laundry, etc), as well as minor treatment modalities such as soft tissue ultrasound and muscle stimulation with exercises. Despite these roles, I would describe this as more of a “hands-off” experience as I had no formal training or experience, and it was relatively short-term

Reflecting on these experiences I can appreciate that they did not make me a strong contender for PA Consortium (in terms of HCE) considering most applicants have well over the pre-Covid HCE hours (910+), thus having the learned experience to excel in this mostly online healthcare program. Taking the time to acknowledge this helped to soften the blow of rejection from UofT. That being said, HCE is only required at UofT and I know I demonstrated other qualities that made me desirable to McMaster PAEP.

Note: McMaster’s PA program does not require or review health care experience hours.

Interests:

I have been training/”competing” in CrossFit for the last 7 years, working sporadically for the last 6 years and consistently for the last 18 months (prior to summer’21). The discipline and perseverance to train at a competitive level helped me immensely beyond the gym, and I am confident that the people skills developed during this employment

Other Notable Activities:

Teaching Assistant at Queen’s University
Peer Health Educator for Student Wellness Services at Queen’s University
Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach – Kingston Jr. Ice Wolves
Member of Exercise is Medicine Canada – St Lawrence College Chapter

Why I decided to pursue the PA profession

My lengthy journey through undergrad gave me a LOT of time to reflect. My initial desire to pursue MD was driven by external motivation and ego. It took me a long time to understand this and then even longer to accept it. This was part of the reason I gave up on school and became very confused about my future. There were still a lot of aspects of medicine that inspired and excited me and I knew I wanted to continue to learn. When I did finally come across PA, I knew this was the career for me.

From childhood and into my early post-secondary education, I always dreamed of going to medical school. I excelled in class but also showed a great passion for learning, which is why I imagine many people encouraged this career path.

However, after an emotionally exhausting first year of university I not only gave up on the med school dream but gave up on school altogether. I dropped my enrolment and took some time to find where my passions lie. Turns out a passion project takes longer than a year; more like 3 years, another attempt at university, and then a college diploma until I started to find my groove. This journey speaks to the diversity, change, and challenges that I strive for which made it very difficult to settle on a specific career path when there are SO many exciting options out there.

Point #1 in favour of PA: Lateral Mobility

Being able to explore different areas of medicine is of huge importance to me and makes me feel less “locked-in”, creating less anxiety and more work-life flexibility within this career path.

I went to college for fitness and health promotion with an emphasis on the fitness portion. The end goal was to become a strength and conditioning coach; I wanted to expand my knowledge of programming as I was already confident in my physiology and anatomy knowledge. While studying and working within the fitness industry, I was overwhelmed by the health inequities and lack of health knowledge in many populations. This redirected my passion from fitness to health access and promotion.

Point #2 in favour of PA: Spending more time with patients

The average doctor’s visit is 15 minutes and beyond the patients’ chief complaints there is so much information for so little time. The role of a PA excites me as it introduces opportunity to talk about health beyond the clinic and emphasizing the importance of physical activity for health (where appropriate). I could talk for hours about the perceived and real exclusivity of the fitness industry and helping individuals overcome this fear would make my heart so happy.

Finally, my most recent education venture has been Health Sciences at Queen’s. They have done a phenomenal job at creating a multi-disciplinary program that encompasses the many layers of healthcare. In addition to the more science-focused courses, we also explored the social aspects of health and healthcare which offered an informed look at Canadian healthcare and where we still experience shortcomings.

Point #3 in favour of PA: Pioneering a new profession

Canadian healthcare still faces many inequities and the introduction of PAs into regular practice offers a unique opportunity to change the landscape of healthcare and create better health access.

Standing out on PA Admissions involves careful self-reflection

“Why I stood out on PA Admissions?” is very tough question to answer, and I know I am not alone in underselling myself. It is challenging to recognize our accomplishments and efforts when it is so much easier to dwell on failures and shortcomings.

Introspection and reflection were so important for embarking on this journey, and I believe creating a story for how my life ran in parallel with the PA profession not only gave me confidence but helped me to be genuine on my application.

As you can see above, I have created a lengthy narrative for why PA is important to me, and I think this was very apparent throughout the application process.

More specifically, I have a lot of experience in a person-focused environment as a CrossFit Trainer. Being able to attend to 10+ athletes at a time in varying capacities gave me the confidence that I can rise to any challenge, handle adversity, and constantly improve myself.

I think it is also unique in that it is not a healthcare field but there were so many important life lessons and skills I learned that shaped me into the person I am today.

A very special shoutout to my Queen Street family in Kingston who carried me physically and emotionally through my volatile undergraduate experience and helped me discover the best version of myself, I am forever grateful for my time there.

Kristine, McMaster PA-S1