A letter of recommendation (LOR), also referred to as a letter of reference or a letter of evaluation, is a critical requirement for application to a Physician Assistant school. Your CASPA recommendation letter will strengthen your application and highlight your abilities as a health care professional in addition to your GPA, previous coursework, and other skills.
Most PA schools participate in the Central Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA) letter of recommendation program, and the evaluations are usually digitally collected by CASPA. This critical document is an evaluation of your performance in an activity that was observed by the evaluator.
A well thought out letter will speak to your professional abilities, attitude, and accomplishments in the workplace. Follow the guidelines below to ensure you acquire quality letters of recommendation from reliable references for your PA school application.
Start Tracking Your Letters Down Early
Because it takes time for your evaluators to write the reference letters and submit them, start asking them if they’re willing to write the letter early and save it on their computers. Having your applications completed earlier will increase your chances of getting into a PA school.
Your evaluator may complete your letter of recommendation and submit it to CASPA before finishing the rest of the application, so there’s no harm in asking for references at any point in an open application cycle. Consider asking your evaluator to complete an evaluation about 4-6 weeks ahead of when you plan to submit your application.
Who Should You Ask?
When choosing someone to write a letter of recommendation, it’s important to ask someone who has known you for a while as one of the questions CASPA will ask your letter writer is how long they’ve known you. Choose someone who also has firsthand knowledge of your qualifications.
Find somebody who practices in some field of medicine and supports you as an applicant. The most desirable person is someone who has witnessed your work with patients. This could be a doctor, NP, PA, DO, etc.
Unless the PA school explicitly requests, letters from relatives, family friends, or public officials are not advised.
Your references should be able to verify your work ethic, your understanding of the clinical environment, and your ability to handle the academic load of PA program. If possible, each of your references should focus on one of these areas.
For example, you can include a professor who will speak to your academic strengths as a student, a supervisor who will discuss your work ethic, and a PA who will evaluate your performance in the clinical environment.
References from different fields will better highlight your consistent performance across the various roles that you have held.
Aim for requesting a letter from someone you’ve known for a long time versus someone you’ve known for a short while. A work supervisor for a non-medically related job that you held for four years is in a better position to describe your character and reliability than a professor with whom you rarely interacted.
It’s inappropriate to ask for a letter from an individual who doesn’t know you even if you’re struggling to find references.
Physician assistants and faculty instructors usually provide useful recommendations for PA school. The reference should have spent enough time with you to be able to comment on your commitment to the profession. They should be able to report honestly on your performance when you were under their supervision.
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Since letters of recommendation are only accepted electronically through CASPA, make sure the reference knows how to upload the letter. Once you provide the references contact information on the application, they will receive an evaluation request and an email with details on how to upload their letter. Contact your references in advance to let them know when you will be submitting their information and their email address so they can gauge when to submit the evaluation. It’s always better to set your own deadline to avoid delayed submissions.
How Well-Written Do Your Letters Need to Be?
You need the best letter you can get. Someone who doesn’t know you well will only speak in glowing platitudes, so be sure to pick someone who can not only write well but will also take the time to write well about you.
How to Go About Getting Recommendation Letters
If you don’t have much experience in the health industry, getting a letter from someone who has witnessed you working with patients can be difficult. Your best bet is to choose someone who can discuss qualities that are relevant to the PA profession, such as your scientific abilities and communication skills.
Choose writers with some seniority who are established in their facility or institution. PA schools care about your character and likelihood to succeed in the program, so opt for references who can best speak to your strengths.
If you’ve decided to apply to PA school despite not having plenty of working experience, your options may be more limited.
How Many Letters of Recommendation Are Required for PA School?
Different programs may have varying requirements, but three or four letters are generally required. Some schools will specify the number of evaluations they need and from what type of recommenders. For instance, you may be required to get one to two letters from someone who taught you in a science course, one to two from physician assistants, and one from a non-science college instructor.
CASPA requires you to request at least three letters and up to a maximum of five. On the CASPA application, you will need to submit the name, title, and email addresses of the three to five people you’ve asked to write your evaluations. CASPA will then send an email to your evaluators, indicating that you’ve selected them to submit a letter of recommendation on your behalf. The LOR must be completed electronically and the assessment uploaded on the evaluator portal. The file uploaded may not exceed 5MB.
You may want to contact the schools to which you’re applying to determine whether they will accept a substitute or an additional letter. If that’s the case, you can send the additional one letter directly to them.
Once CASPA receives the recommendations, they’ll send them to each of the schools to which you’re applying.
What to Include in a Letter of Recommendation?
A reference letter is not something you put off until you’ve completed the rest of your application process. Start the process early so you can obtain quality recommendations from seasoned professionals that will leave a positive impact on your application.
Be sure to inform the recommender about yourself and provide details of the information you feel is needed in the letter. A good rule of thumb is to give them an updated resume, transcript, and a draft of your Personal Statement. Book an appointment and let them know that you are looking for a letter that will support your application to PA school.
Include specifics in your request that will help the evaluator know why you chose them specifically. It also helps to set the tone for what you want to be communicated in the letter.
Your best references may not have much experience in writing recommendations; be prepared to provide additional guidance on what the letter should include demonstrating your eligibility for PA school.
Make your application stand out by understanding the basic structure of a good letter of recommendation. This will help you know what to ask when requesting a letter and help an inexperienced reference provide you a solid letter.
Some of the elements that the writer should include in your LOR are:
Your eligibility for PA school
How the writer knows you and for how long
Medical knowledge and attitude towards the workplace
A willingness to recommend you for PA school and reasons why you would be a suitable candidate
Personal skills and qualities that qualify you to be successful in PA school
Make Sure Your Letters Are Submitted on Time
Check back periodically to make sure your writers have submitted your letters. If they haven’t submitted your recommendation letters, send polite reminders to those who agreed to provide their evaluations by a date upon which you had both agreed.
Waiving Your Right to Review the Letters
CASPA gives you the option to waive your right to read the evaluations. Not waiving your right may imply that you’re not confident that your evaluators will speak well of you. Conversely, waiving your right to view shows that you are confident about what your evaluators say.
Don’t Forget to Thank Your Letter Writers
A thank you note or gift shows your appreciation to your evaluators for their time and effort in writing your letter. Showing your gratitude also keeps you in their good graces should you need to reapply the next year.
If you’re planning on applying to PA school and need more help on submitting winning letters of recommendation for a PA school, visit myPAResource.com. We have all the information you need to get the best letters of reference to impress the admissions committee and increase your chances of being accepted into the PA school of your choice. From writing the perfect personal statement or essay to submitting committee letters, we have all the resources to help pre-PA and PAs.
