Reference Letters Requirement

Two letters of reference are required for admission into the Master of Physician Assistant Studies program. These letters are normally required to be from academics familiar with your work but may be replaced with relevant professional references for some course-based professional master's programs. If accepted, professional references can be submitted according to the following schedule:

1. For applicants who completed their undergraduate (or related graduate) degree within the past three years: Two academic references.
2. For applicants who completed their undergraduate (or related graduate) degree three to five years ago: a) one academic reference and one relevant professional reference, or b) two academic references.
3. For applicants who completed their undergraduate (or related graduate) degree more than five years ago: a) two relevant professional references, or b) one academic reference and one relevant professional reference, or c) two academic references.

Reference letters are provided in confidence to Dalhousie University for the purposes of determining your suitability for admission to the MPAS program and will be kept confidential.

Reference letters can be submitted through the electronic reference system in Slate for Section 1 of the application. If not using the online portal, the confidential reference form [PDF - 160kb] in a sealed, stamped envelope can be mailed to the MPAS Admissions Office. If the reference letter is provided directly to you, please do not open the envelope. The referee may also email the reference letter directly to the MPAS Admissions Office at pa.admissions@dal.ca.

E-reference submission

Make sure to have the email addresses of your referees ready to list when completing your online application. Dalhousie University will only accept university, teaching hospital, and government email addresses (i.e. not personal email addresses, such as Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, or business addresses).