CASPA Update After Submitting: What You Can Change

CASPA Update After Submitting: What You Can Change

After you submit CASPA, most sections are locked. You can add new entries, request up to 5 evaluations in total, add programs until each program's deadline, and, once you are Verified, mark in-progress terms complete. Those new grades are not verified and not added to your CASPA GPA.

That last point changes the plan. CASPA's help center describes no separate academic update window, so there is no CASPA equivalent of the dated update periods other Liaison applications run. Everything CASPA will not take goes to programs directly, as a short PA school update letter, and some programs will not take it either.

Every CASPA Applicant Help Center page quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026, for the 2026-2027 cycle. Each line notes the page's own "last modified" date where it gives one, because Liaison edits these pages during the cycle.

The editable-fields table

The CASPA help center's Updating Your CASPA Application page (last modified April 22, 2026) says it plainly: "Once you submit your application, most sections are locked to prevent edits." It then lists what you can still do. The table puts that list beside the rules on the evaluations, programs and experiences pages.

The help center's Submitting and Completing page (last modified November 5, 2026) gives the same rule from the other side: you can add new items "but you cannot edit existing entries", and "All other sections are read-only." After you change anything allowed, you click Update My Application to send it to programs. For the rest, the update page says: "If you have updates for other sections of your application, submit these updates directly to your programs."

Is there a CASPA academic update window?

No window appears anywhere in the CASPA help center. The comparison that shows why this matters sits on the same Liaison help site.

Sources: the AACOMAS Academic Update page (last modified August 4, 2026) and the CASPA update page above.

Our view: treat your CASPA GPA as fixed at verification. Fall grades you add reach programs, but your CASPA GPA stays the one CASPA calculated. If your fall grades are strong, add them anyway, and tell your top programs in one sentence that they are there. The CASPA page says programs "may choose to update your GPA locally"; whether one does is the program's choice.

The countercase: if your fall grades are weaker than your verified record, the local recalculation cuts the other way, and you still owe programs an accurate record. Programs can also ask for the transcript itself: "some programs may ask you to send them to CASPA or directly to the program." Weak grades are a reason to plan the explanation, not to skip the update.

Fall grades after verification: the steps

From the CASPA update page, in order:

1. Confirm your status is Verified in the CAS Status section.
2. Open Academic History, then Transcript Entry, then Courses next to the school.
3. Click the pencil next to the term and change Planned/In Progress to Completed.
4. Enter courses, credits and grades, then Save.
5. Click Update My Application so programs receive it.

You must move the whole term at once: "When you submit an update, you must move the entire term from in-progress to complete." You "cannot update terms that are already verified or add terms from previous years". If the GPA math is what worries you, our CASPA GPA recalculation guide explains how the verified GPA is built.

Patient-care hours after submission

The answer here is short. The Experiences page (last modified April 22, 2026) says: "Enter only current and in-progress experiences (not planned experiences)". You cannot list projected hours, and once you submit you cannot edit the hours on an entry you already made.

What you can do is add a new entry for a new role. A new ER tech job that started after you submitted is a new experience. Five more months at the same scribe job is not; those hours stay where they were on the day you submitted.

Some programs close the door completely. Duke's PA program admissions page (checked November 7, 2026) counts its 1,000-hour patient-care minimum as of May 1 of the application year and says it accepts no updated hours, and no updates of any kind, after CASPA submission. The PA school update letter guide quotes the rule.

If you are unsure which category a new role belongs in, the PCE vs HCE guide walks through CASPA's definitions. Write the new entry with the same care as the originals; our 600-character experience description examples show what a reader looks for in that field.

Letters of recommendation after you submit

The Evaluations page (last modified September 25, 2026) sets the limits: "You are required to request at least 2 and may request a maximum of 5 evaluations." After submitting, you can add requests until you reach 5 and edit or delete requests that are still incomplete. To fix a wrong evaluator email, you delete the request and add it again.

Two rules catch people. "Many programs have strict guidelines and completed evaluations cannot be removed or replaced." And: "We will not notify applicants about missing evaluations." Track your own requests. The PA letters of recommendation guide covers who to ask.

Adding programs late, and removing them

The Selecting CASPA Programs page (last modified October 28, 2026) says: "After submission, you can continue to add and apply to programs until the final deadline date." It also warns: "Some programs fill their classes prior to their posted deadline, even if they do not specifically state they offer rolling admissions." CASPA cannot refund a program that has already filled.

Removing is not possible. The Deleting CASPA Programs page (last modified October 27, 2026) says: "Once you submit your application to a program, you cannot remove it. To withdraw yourself from consideration for admission to a program, contact the program directly."

Check the deadline color before you add a late program. Per the Participating Programs page (last modified April 29, 2026), a blue deadline needs submission by 11:59 PM ET, an orange deadline needs the application, payments, transcripts and two evaluations received, and a green deadline needs the application verified, for which CASPA says "try to complete your application at least four weeks before the deadline." Programs still open this cycle are listed in our PA schools still accepting applications page.

Mistakes you find after submitting

CASPA will not reopen a locked section for you. If the error is in a verified term, an existing experience or your essays, the fix is a short, factual email to each program. The CASPA Admissions Code of Cooperation, published by PAEA, asks applicants to "Provide honest, accurate, and complete application information", so a wrong hour count you know about is worth correcting even though the entry stays as it is.

Keep the email to the facts: what the entry says, what it should say, and why. Do not use it to add news. The Customer Service page lists what programs, not CASPA, answer, including "Status of your application after it has been verified".

Verification timing and "complete but no interview"

The status page (last modified October 29, 2026) says an application in Completed status "can take up to 10 business days to move to the Verified status." Transcripts and test scores take five business days to post after receipt; evaluations post as soon as they arrive. It also says: "Notifications are not generally sent for any missing items."

Once you are Verified, CASPA is done with your file. The same page: "Once your application is verified, you should direct any questions about its status to the program(s) you applied to." A verified application with no interview invite is a question for the program, not CASPA.

Constructed example: one applicant's four changes

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's record. Context (invented): Wren Kowalczyk submits CASPA on July 10, 2026, with fall 2026 Organic Chemistry and Genetics listed In Progress, 1,100 hours as a scribe, and three evaluations. She is Verified on July 22.

Three of the four changes go through CASPA. The growing scribe hours, the one that feels most like an update, is the one CASPA does not take.

A five-question check before you contact anyone

1. Is the change in the table's CASPA column? Make it in CASPA, then click Update My Application.
2. Is it a new role, award or document? Add a new entry.
3. Is it an edit to something already there? Email the program.
4. Does the program's own page refuse updates, as Duke's does? Send nothing.
5. Are you Verified and asking about status? Ask the program.

Questions about updating CASPA after you submit

Can I update CASPA after submitting?

Yes, in limited ways: contact details, completed in-progress terms after Verified, new entries, evaluations up to 5 and new programs before their deadlines. Everything else is locked.

Does CASPA have an academic update like AMCAS or AACOMAS?

The CASPA help center describes none. You can add finished in-progress terms after verification, but CASPA does not verify them or recalculate your CASPA GPA.

Can I update patient care hours after submitting CASPA?

Not on an existing entry. You can add a new entry for a new role. Otherwise, tell programs directly, if they accept updates.

Can I add a letter of recommendation after submitting CASPA?

Yes, if you have requested fewer than 5. Completed evaluations cannot be removed or replaced.

How long does CASPA verification take?

Up to 10 business days once your application is Completed, per the status page.

Get a free review of your experience descriptions

Get a free Quick Review of your CASPA experience descriptions against GradPilot's CASPA experience descriptions rubric. It checks whether each entry makes your own duties and level of responsibility clear and whether each claim stays inside the work you did. For the email that carries what CASPA will not, use the update letter rubric, written for medical school letters and the closest fit for a PA update: it checks that the letter names what changed and what it adds.

More PA application guides: what CASPA is and how it works, and the medical and health school essays hub.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted. "Last modified" dates are from each help center page's metadata.

• CASPA Applicant Help Center (Liaison), Updating Your CASPA Application (modified April 22, 2026): locked sections, allowed changes, coursework not verified, GPA unchanged.
• CASPA Applicant Help Center, Submitting and Completing Your CASPA Application (modified November 5, 2026): new items only, read-only sections.
• CASPA Applicant Help Center, Experiences (modified April 22, 2026): no planned experiences.
• CASPA Applicant Help Center, Evaluations (modified September 25, 2026): 2 to 5 evaluations, no replacing completed ones, no missing-letter notices.
• CASPA Applicant Help Center, Selecting CASPA Programs (modified October 28, 2026) and Deleting CASPA Programs (modified October 27, 2026): adding until deadline, no removal.
• CASPA Applicant Help Center, Participating Programs and Eligibility (modified April 29, 2026): blue, orange and green deadlines.
• CASPA Applicant Help Center, Checking Your CASPA Notifications and Status (modified October 29, 2026) and CASPA Customer Service (modified September 23, 2026): verification time, posting times, who answers status questions.
• AACOMAS Applicant Help Center (Liaison), Updating Your AACOMAS Application (Academic Update) (modified August 4, 2026): 2026-2027 update windows and verification, for comparison.
• PAEA, CASPA Admissions Code of Cooperation: applicant accuracy responsibility.
• Duke University School of Medicine, PA Program Admissions: no updated hours after submission.