CASPA Evaluation Form: A Guide for Evaluators
For PAs, physicians and supervisors completing a CASPA evaluation: the form's parts, honest ratings, edits after submitting, and the April 5, 2027 cutoff.
CASPA Evaluation Form: A Guide for Evaluators
A CASPA evaluation is an online form in Liaison Letters, not just a letter. Depending on the applicant's programs it can hold relationship questions, short essays, slider ratings, an overall recommendation and one uploaded letter. For the 2026–2027 cycle, the last moment to submit is April 5, 2027 at 11:59 PM ET.
The ratings and the letter go in as one submission, so they have to agree. A top rating next to a letter with no example reads as a rating nobody can check. Rate against a group of people you can name, and make one paragraph of the letter prove your highest rating.
Every CASPA and Liaison help page quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026. The PA applicant's side of the same process (who to ask, how many) is in the PA school letters of recommendation guide; this page is for the person filling in the form.
What the CASPA evaluation contains
CASPA requires applicants "to request at least 2 and may request a maximum of 5 evaluations". The request reaches you from support@caspa.myliaison.com with a link to Liaison Letters. The Liaison guide to completing a recommendation says "Depending on the program(s) the applicant is applying to, you may be prompted to complete one or more of the following assessments":
| Part | What Liaison says it is | What to write there |
|---|---|---|
| Relationship | Drop-downs and fields about "your relationship with the applicant" | How long, in what role, and how often you saw the applicant work |
| Essay | A text box for "essay/short-answer questions about the applicant" | Short answers; paste as plain text |
| Likert criteria | Ratings set with "the blue slider", with an information icon under each rating | Your rating per criterion; comments where offered |
| Overall recommendation | The "Recommendation Concerning Admission" drop-down | One level, matching the letter's close |
| Upload | "one document to support your recommendation" | Your letter as PDF or Word, file name under 95 characters, 15 MB or smaller |
The upload takes Word (.doc or .docx), PDF, Rich Text Format or plain text. If you scanned a signed letter as a JPG or PNG, the Liaison Letters FAQ says to "convert it to a PDF before uploading."
What CASPA does not publish. The CASPA evaluations help page, checked today, does not list the rating criteria or the scale. You see them when you open the request; click the information icon under each one before you rate. This page does not quote a criteria list, because no CASPA help page we checked shows one.
Committee letters. If you chair a committee, you "must then complete the ratings section and upload one letter (that includes the assessments of various committee members)". The people who contributed "may not be used as additional evaluators."
Calibrating the ratings
The free help pages describe the slider, not what each notch means. So the calibration is yours, and it should be visible to the reader.
Our view: pick your comparison group before you touch a slider, and name it in the letter. "Among the 30 PA students I have precepted since 2019" is a group. "Compared with everyone" is not. Then go through the criteria and, for every rating at the top of the scale, find the sentence in your letter that shows it. If you cannot find one, either add the incident or lower the rating.
The basis is the form itself: ratings, a recommendation level and a letter arrive together, and the program can read one against the other. A letter that says "the strongest student I have supervised" next to middle ratings, or the reverse, leaves the reader to guess which one you meant.
The countercase: a supervisor who saw the applicant only in a non-clinical job (a scribe manager, a lab director) cannot rate clinical criteria from observation. Rate only what you saw. If the scale has a not-observed choice, use it; the CASPA help pages do not say whether it has one. In the letter, say what you did not see. Our guide to "no basis for judgment" ratings covers the same choice on graduate forms.
Constructed example: one rating and the paragraph that earns it
Constructed example, written by us, not a real evaluator's form or letter. The criterion name below is invented for illustration and is not quoted from CASPA.
Criterion (invented): Communication with patients. Rating given: the top of the scale.
Weak paragraph: Marcus communicates beautifully with patients and is wonderful with families.
Revised paragraph: In my family-medicine clinic, Marcus worked as a medical assistant for 14 months. I watched him room a Spanish-speaking patient whose daughter usually translated; she was absent. He used our phone interpreter, repeated the medication change back through the interpreter, and flagged to me that the patient had misunderstood the dose. Of the 11 medical assistants I have supervised, he is one of two I would trust to catch that.
The revised paragraph is 70 words. It names the setting, the length of contact, one action you watched, and a comparison group with a count. A reader can see why the rating sits at the top.
Deadlines in a rolling cycle
Three dates can apply to you, and only one is fixed by CASPA:
| Date | Who sets it | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| "Requested By" | The applicant | Their target; it "may or may not be the same date as the actual deadline" |
| Program deadline | Each PA program | CASPA: "the individual program's deadline may differ from the application's cycle dates" |
| April 5, 2027, 11:59 PM ET | CASPA | "The last date your evaluators can submit their evaluations" this cycle |
If the Requested By date has passed, Liaison's answer is plain: "submit your recommendation and contact the applicant to confirm deadline dates." CASPA tells applicants to set that date "before your program(s) deadline", so a passed date does not mean a missed deadline. Ask the applicant which programs are still open, and submit the same day.
Your request carries status labels in Liaison Letters: Requested, Accepted (including saved drafts), Completed, Declined and Expired. CASPA says "We will not notify applicants about missing evaluations", so the applicant only learns your letter is missing by checking. Tell them when you submit.
Editing, delegates and missing emails
Editing after you submit. Liaison says: "If available, you can edit completed recommendations by clicking Edit in the top right of your completed recommendation." You can update "comments, ratings, and uploading letters of recommendation", then you "must resubmit your recommendation by clicking Preview & Submit." The applicant cannot pull it back: on CASPA, "completed evaluations cannot be removed or replaced." Check the Edit button before you promise an applicant a revised version.
Delegates. Liaison Letters lets you add a delegate who can "complete, submit, edit, or decline recommendations", and "your name will appear as the author to programs". Liaison also says "the recommender is responsible for the authenticity of the letter." CASPA's own page is stricter in tone: evaluations "cannot be completed or submitted by the applicant or another party on behalf of the evaluator." Our recommendation for CASPA: let a delegate prepare the upload, and click Preview & Submit yourself.
No request in your inbox. Liaison gives three reasons: the applicant used a different email from your account, your inbox is full, or the message "bounced or been marked as spam." Liaison's fixes: the applicant changes the email on their application, or you create an account with the email they listed; for a full inbox, clear it and ask the applicant to send the request again; for a bounced or spam-filtered request, write to letters@liaisoncas.com. The recommender link troubleshooting guide walks through the same fixes on other portals.
Declined by mistake. Liaison says "you cannot undo this action"; the applicant must delete the request and add a new one. If you mean to decline, the guide to declining a recommendation request has wording.
Privacy. Applicants "can view your contact information and any information you add to the Profile page" in their application PDF. The Access field shows whether they waived the right to read the evaluation itself.
Questions evaluators ask about CASPA
Can I edit a CASPA evaluation after I submit it?
Yes, if the Edit button is shown on your completed recommendation. Edit, then resubmit with Preview & Submit.
Is there really a deadline for evaluators?
Yes. The cycle cutoff is April 5, 2027 at 11:59 PM ET. Program deadlines come earlier and differ by program.
Do I have to fill in the ratings if I upload a letter?
Answer every part the form shows you. The parts depend on the applicant's programs.
Can I send one letter that names a specific PA program?
The request lists the applicant's programs under "Applying To." Address the letter to the admissions committee, not to one program.
Where do I write the letter itself?
In the upload field, as one document. The PA school recommendation letter guide covers its structure. Committee chairs: see committee letter rules across services, including the CASPA contributor rule.
Writing for a physical therapy applicant instead? The PTCAS reference letter guide covers the per-program request and the separate hours verification.
The same Liaison Letters portal runs pharmacy residency references; see how preceptors fill out a PhORCAS reference.
If the student later asks to see what you wrote, see applicant asked to read my letter of recommendation?
Get a free review of the letter
Get a free Quick Review of your recommendation letter against GradPilot's health professions evaluation letter rubric, which is written for CASPA, ADEA AADSAS, VMCAS and PharmCAS writers. It checks whether your relationship to the applicant is clear, whether the letter holds the incident behind your highest rating, and whether any comparison names its group and basis. Writing for a medical school applicant instead? Use the medical school letter of evaluation rubric.
The same Liaison Letters portal runs NursingCAS references; see the NursingCAS reference guide. More PA and health-professions guides are in the medical school essays hub.
Sources
Retrieved November 7, 2026.
- CASPA Applicant Help Center, Evaluations (no cycle stated): 2 to 5 evaluations, request email address, committee letters, evaluator-only submission, no applicant notification of missing evaluations, completed evaluations cannot be removed, Requested By date guidance.
- CASPA Applicant Help Center, CASPA Application Cycle Dates (cycle opened April 30, 2026): April 5, 2027 evaluator cutoff, program deadlines may differ.
- Liaison Letters Help Center, Complete a Recommendation: form parts, upload formats and file-name limit, committee letters, Applying To field, applicant view of your profile.
- Liaison Letters Help Center, FAQs: Requested By date, 15 MB limit, scanned images, missing requests, accidental declines.
- Liaison Letters Help Center, Edit Completed Recommendations, Assign a Delegate, Review Your Recommendation Requests and Decline a Recommendation Request: editing, delegates, statuses, declining.
Review the Letter Before It Is Submitted
See how the letter reads against the rubric for its destination.