 On 22 June 1943, while still living in the dormitory, Shanina was accepted into the Vsevobuch program for universal military training.After Shanina's several applications, the military commissariat finally allowed her to enroll in the Central Women’s Sniper Training School, where she met Aleksandra "Sasha" Yekimova and Kaleriya "Kalya" Petrova, who became her closest friends, with Shanina calling them "the vagrant three".Honed to a fine point, Shanina scored highly in training and graduated from the academy with honours.