12661 St. Rt.

669 NW
Crooksville OH, 43731
October 8, 2014
Ohio University Dublin
P.O. Box 3158
Dublin, OH 43016
Dear Physicians Assistant Selection Committee::
I believe that my acceptance into the physicians assistant program will allow me to meet
my career goals. One of my career goals is to provide healthcare to as many residents in my
hometown as I can. Physicians assistants deal with many patients every day so this goal will
easily be met. Another goal of mine is to give the same care to my patients that a physicians
assistant gave to me. I was involved in an accident that required hospitalization, the physicians
assistant at the hospital gave me excellent care and really made me feel like things would be
okay. The way this physicians assistant cared for me really inspired me to want to do the same
for as many people as I can. Another career goal of mine is to constantly grow as a professional.
With the medical field always evolving and becoming more advance, I feel like this is a perfect
program to help me meet this goal.
I chose this program for a variety of reasons. One is the location of the campus.
Something that is very important to me is family. The Dublin campus is only about an hour from
my family. This would allow me to meet my career goals while staying close to my family.
Another reason this program is appealing to me is because they offer laboratories that are
exclusively used by Ohio University P.A. students. One of my favorite parts of undergraduate
school was the laboratory classes. I really enjoyed getting to work with chemicals and actually
seeing science in action. Exclusive access to a laboratory is very appealing to me. The fact that
the program is very new is another reason I would like to be accepted. Since I would be one of
the first graduates, it would give me a great pride to represent Ohio University Dublin in
practice. This would give me even more motivation to become the best P.A I can be and
represent the school to the best of my abilities. Another reason I would like to become a P.A is it
complements what I studied in undergraduate school very well. In undergrad I studied nutrition.
Included in the curriculum for nutrition was human anatomy, biochemistry, organic chemistry,
and a variety of nutrition classes. Some nutrition classes such as medical nutrition therapy
prepared me to take care of patients with diseases ranging from obesity to cardiovascular disease.
As a P.A. student I will have to learn a great deal about these diseases. I believe my background
in nutrition will help me succeed as a P.A.
My strengths are my hard working attitude and my drive to help others. I know in P.A.
school and in practice it will take extraordinary determination and hard work. I have always had
a very good work ethic and always make sure I do my best possible when it comes to my work.
This drive will help me graduate from the program and help me become a great professional.

My skill of always wanting to help others will also help me in this program. When I help
someone accomplishing something or just help somebody in general it gives me a great feeling.
When I see that I have helped someone I get a feeling of accomplishment and gratitude. As a
P.A. I will get this opportunity every day at work. This drive and skill will help me immensely
as a P.A. Some areas that I need improving in are my presentation skill and confidence. I realize
these skills are important, as I will be required to take the knowledge I know and then present it
to my peers and patients. The hardest part for me is actually articulating the information. I may
know the information extremely well, but I am not strong at articulating the information to
others. During P.A. school this skill will be improved because I will be working on a medical
team and have to articulate to them what I know. Getting to practice articulating what I know to
the team will help me improve this skill. Another skill that I need improvement on is my
confidence. To be a highly efficient P.A., confidence will be a crucial skill. I will need the
confidence to tell a physician what I believe is the right course of treatment. I will need
confidence in myself to perform some of the procedures that P.A.s have to perform. In P.A.
school I will have the opportunity to talk to many patients and perform different procedures on
these patients. I know I have the ability to perform these task, I am just lacking the confidence.
When I actually start to treat patients and see them get better, I believe this will be a big
confidence booster. Getting to see the patients get better and knowing that I was a part in this
will really improve my confidence.
I have had the opportunity to have hands on work experience as a laboratory assistant.
For two years of undergraduate school I attended Ohio University Zanesville. Here I was given
the opportunity to be a lab assistant in the biology lab. The professor and I studied giardia and
cryptosporidium. We studied the prevalence of giardia and cryptosporidium in the soil of nearby
high schools. Some laboratory duties of mine where to run a polymerase chain reaction
machine, perform gel electrophoresis, stain soil samples, and check the soil samples for bacteria.
Another duty of mine was to prepare the lab for my professors anatomy and physiology class. I
would set out anatomy figures and get the lab materials ready. I also had the opportunity to gain
clinical experience as a nutrition student. For five weeks I got to work alongside of a team of
registered dietitians. I was given the responsibility of looking through a patients chart,
calculating a patient's energy requirements, calculating enteral feedings, and helping the dietitian
decide what the best course of treatment would be for a patient. I also got hands on experience
with patients at the hospital. When I would go to observe the dietitian provide education to a
patient, some patients would ask me questions. The dietitian would then allow me to offer my
advice to the patient. I also have experience in working through cases and documentation.
During my undergrad in nutrition I had to work through numerous case studies. During the case
studies I worked with a team to successful diagnosis the patient and recommend the appropriate
care. I also have experience with medical documentation. Studying nutrition I was taught how
to document using SOAP notes and the ADIME documenting system. Although the ADIME
system is specific to nutrition documenting, I believe that the experience in documenting in
nutrition will transfer over to documenting as a P.A. Since I have worked in a laboratory before,

I will know the basics of how a lab is ran. My clinical experience will help me once I am in the
hospital. I have already seen how a hospital runs and how the charting system works. I also
have some experience with talking to patients. This work experience will help with clinical work
because I have prior knowledge of what goes on in a hospital. My nutrition background
experience of working through case studies and medical documentation will allow me to excel in
P.A school. With my skills, work experience, and career goals, I will make a great physicians
assistant and represent the school to the best of my ability. Thank you for considering me for the
Physicians Assistant program, I am looking forward to hearing back from you.
Sincerely,
Brandon Cavinee