The CASPA Application Cycle: Submission, Verification & Rolling Admissions
CASPA stands for Central Application Service for Physician Assistants. The CASPA application cycle opened April 30th 2020 and closes April 15th 2021 for the 2020-2021 cycle. Currently, 257 accredited physician assistant programs as well as 21 developing programs participate in CASPA.
Once all sections of CASPA have been completed, transcripts received, letters of recommendation submitted, and personal statement finalized, you will go ahead and submit your CASPA application. Each application gets submitted one at a time. Once your application is submitted you may not change any part of your application, only add new entries such as new test scores, experiences, or certifications. Also, once you submit one application, you will be able to finally view your whole breakdown of CASPA calculated GPAs, including cumulative GPA & cumulative science GPA.
Once submitted, the application status “In-Progress” will change to “Received” or “Complete.” The CASPA website states that an application is considered “complete” when it fits all of the following criteria:
All official transcripts have been received and posted to your application
At least 2 of your evaluations have been completed and submitted to CASPA
Your application fee payment was submitted and marked as received.
You submitted your application and received an email confirming it was successfully submitted.
Your application Program Status is "Complete."
Once your CASPA application has been paid for, submitted and determined to be “complete,” it will be placed in line to for verification. There is a difference between submitting your CASPA application and the application being verified. This is important when it comes down to program deadlines. Some programs list a “submission” deadline and some list a “verification” deadline. This means that your application either needs to be submitted and paid for by that specific date, or needs to have been submitted, paid for, AND verified by the date stated. You must keep track of these deadlines! CASPA recommends submitting and completing your application at least 6-8 weeks prior to program deadlines. Note that this may take a few weeks, but the average time it takes for your application to be verified is two weeks.
CASPA defines verification as follows: “Verification is the process used to ensure all of your coursework was entered correctly and consistently. Since credit values, grade values, and course subjects vary widely from school to school, your programs need some type of standardization so they can accurately compare applicants. This standardization is achieved by using your coursework to create a standard set of GPAs, ensuring you are compared to other applicants fairly and equally.”
Let’s say the program you are applying to has an August 1st deadline for your application to be verified. It is best to aim to have your application submitted a few weeks prior to this deadline, so that by the time that August 1st deadline rolls around your application is submitted AND verified. Give yourself extra time in case there is a delay in the verification of your application. A delay can be caused by an issue with payment, transcript entry mistakes, etc. After correcting any application mistakes the application will be “redelivered” for verification. CASPA states that “redelivery of your application does not change your submission date, but it does affect the date your application is considered complete. If you notice errors in your application before verification, contact customer service to undeliver your application so you can correct it. This will delay your application, but verification will resume sooner than if you waited for the errors to be found during the verification process.”
Another significant factor to consider about the application cycle is when exactly to submit your applications. Submitting applications as early as possible for schools that utilize rolling admissions can help your chances of receiving an interview invites. Rolling admissions means that programs are actively reviewing applications as they are submitted and, usually, extending interview invitations sooner than later. Programs will typically wait for your submission of both the CASPA application & their specific supplemental application (if they have one) to review your application as a whole and decide whether to invite you for an interview. It is KEY to submit your application as early as possible for programs that utilize rolling admissions. Once your personal statement is finalized, your transcripts received by CASPA, letters of recommendation submitted, & all other information filled out on CASPA, review it until you feel 100% confident and submit it.
When it comes to how soon exactly to submit your apps after CASPA opens, it depends on you and your individual timeline. Early to mid-June is a good goal to have your applications ready to submit. Although program "deadlines" may not be until later in the fall, programs that utilize rolling admissions will already be reviewing applications and filling seats in early summer.
In an interview I attended, the admissions director explained that their program application deadline is in November, but since their programs utilize rolling admissions, most of the class is already filled months before that deadline. She said that the program will receive over 1,300 applications, but she will only have to review ~300 applications to find great, qualified PA school candidates and fill the whole class. People do forfeit their seats sometimes to attend a different program, so the chances of receiving an interview to get into PA school if you apply later in the year are still possible.
Take away from this blog post: be diligent about completing & submitting your application so you can put yourself in the best place possible as a PA school applicant!
