References, or Letters of Recommendation, When Applying to PT School in PTCAS

An important component of applying to PT school is the reference section, for your letters of recommendation (LOR). Like the personal statement essays, the reference letters are a chance to set yourself apart from other applicants who will mostly have similar transcripts, grades, test scores, and observation hours to yours.

Each PT school in PTCAS has different LOR requirements, which you can see here (FYI the site can be glitchy because there is so much information on it). In general, programs tend to require 1-3 references, mostly from professors and physical therapists. A few schools do not require any LORs, and some allow you to send in more than they request. For example, you can send in an extra reference from a professor or PT if you want. Most schools explicitly state that references cannot come from friends, family members, clergy, coworkers, or politicians, but there are exceptions.

It’s a good idea to choose references who know you well and will be able to paint you in a positive light. From what I can remember, my own references came from a physical therapist at the clinic where I worked for over a year as a PT aide, a professor in my (non-PT related) communication minor who I was close with, and a professor I got to know well who taught my biology pre-requisite.

You want to prepare them for the process by giving them adequate time to write and submit their letter, and also supply them with any additional information they may request of you. Some people will write just write the letters; others will want to see your resume or some other list of your accomplishments. Get their preferred email address and have them look out for a reference request from ptcasinfo@ptcas.org.

The References, or letter of recommendation (LOR) portion of PTCAS can be difficult to navigate. Because of this, I went into my own PTCAS account and sent myself LOR requests to demystify the process.

Here’s what it looks like for you, the applicant:

In PTCAS you have to go to Program Materials, and then add each PT school you’re applying to. Once you’ve selected a program, they’ll each have a tab called, “References.” Here, you’ll find the instructions for each school on how many and which types of references they need. You’ll also find the following guidelines from PTCAS itself, “Once you have saved an electronic reference, an email request will automatically be sent to the referrer on your behalf. Please advise your referrer to look for this email in their inbox, as well as their spam or junk-mail folder, as emails do occasionally get filtered out. Please note: All references submitted within this section of your application are program specific. If you choose to remove this program from your application, please understand your letters will be deleted along with the program.”

You’ll then click, “PTCAS Reference Request,” which has the following instructions, “Once you have saved the reference request, an email request will be sent to the referrer on your behalf. Please advise your referrer to look for this email in their inbox, as well as their spam or junk-mail folder, as emails do occasionally get filtered out. Please note: All references submitted within this section of your application are program specific. If you choose to remove this program from your application, please understand your letters will be deleted along with the program.”

On this page, you’ll fill out the basic contact info for the referrer (name and email), a due date you can choose, and any personal message you want to include. You can (and should) waive your right to access this reference, and then you must give PTCAS and PT schools permission to contact them.

After this, you’ll click, “Save This Reference Request” and then it will say, “Status: Requested” in your application.

Immediately, the referrer will get an email from ptcasinfo@ptcas.org that looks like this:

“Hi [Referrer first Name],

[Applicant Name] is applying to [School Name] and is requesting an online reference from you. [Applicant name] provided the following comments with this request: [Message you write]

Please complete your reference by [deadline you sent]. If you can’t provide your reference by this date, notify [Applicant name] directly.

You can access Letters by Liaison, the Recommender Portal, here: https://recommendations.liaisoncas.com/.

To learn more about the PTCAS reference process, visit the Letters by Liaison Help Center. Here, you’ll find answers to most commonly asked questions. If you need additional assistance, contact Customer Service.

Thanks,

PTCAS Customer Service
letters@liaisoncas.com

Then, they must create an account (if they don’t already have one) and can start your letter of recommendation. But it’s not just a letter of recommendation. They will also have to select from a drop down to answer several questions, including, “How long have you known the applicant?” “How well do you know the applicant?” “Select the role that best describes your primary interaction with the applicant,” (if professor, “list all the courses that you have had the applicant in”), “Approximately how many references do you submit on behalf of physical therapy applicants each year?” “Are you a licensed Physical Therapist/Physical Therapist Assistant?” (if so, enter the program you graduated from, select the state where you are licensed, and enter your PT/PTA licensure number).

They also have to rate you on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), or “not observed,” on you’re the following: commitment to learning, critical thinking, empathy, ethics, interpersonal skills, leadership, oral communication, professional demeanor, response to criticism, responsibility, stress management, team skills, time management, and written communication.

Then they must select either, “I highly recommend this applicant,” “I recommend this applicant,” “I recommend this applicant with some reservations,” or “I am not able to recommend this applicant.”

Finally, they have to upload the actual letter of recommendation, which has the following note, “The file in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), Portable Document Format (.pdf), Rich Text Format (.rtf), or Plain Text File (.txt). File size should be less than 15 MB. File name should be less than 95 characters.”

If the reference’s status says “Requested” or “Accepted,” it is up to you to check in with the referrer and make sure they eventually submit their reference. Sometimes, they might require a polite reminder or two.

The reference writers submit their letters themselves so in most cases you’ll never see them. There’s a waiver in the portal to waive your rights to ever seeing the letters. Most people click “Yes” and agree to these conditions. If you select “No” and do not waive your rights, the writer may share your letter with you at a later date, however, PTCAS notes, “Programs may view this type of reference as a less accurate representation of an applicant’s qualifications.” Once you choose yes or no, you cannot change your response. I, for one, never saw any of my letters of recommendation, and neither do most applicants.

Unfortunately, you might have to repeat this process for each school, so if you use the same referrers for each school, they will get an email for each school, and might have to fill this out several times. It is up to them if they want to submit the same letter to each school or write different ones.

After they submit the first reference, a box will pop up saying, “Would you like to automatically submit this evaluation for the applicant’s other programs?” If they click yes, they won’t have to do repeat this process for each school, but they will also not be able to review or edit it again before it is sent to additional schools.

Once they’ve submitted, you both get an email from PTCAS confirming their submission, and under the reference request, it will say, “Status: Completed” with the date they submitted it.

Keep in mind that if you’re reapplying to physical therapy school, or starting the application a cycle early to get ahead, your LORs will NOT transfer over between cycles. You can, however, add new references after submitting your application. You also should submit your PTCAS application if you have completed your part, but are waiting on references to be submitted.