PTCAS Reference Letter: Guide and Sample
For PTs and professors writing a PTCAS reference: what the Liaison Letters form holds, why hours verification is separate, and a constructed sample.
PTCAS Reference Letter: Guide and Sample
A PTCAS reference arrives as an email from support@ptcas.myliaison.com and is completed in Liaison Letters, one request per program. Depending on the program, the form can hold relationship questions, short essays, Likert ratings, an overall recommendation and one uploaded letter. After you submit, the applicant cannot remove or replace it.
Our view: if you supervised the applicant's observation hours, write about one session you watched, not the hours. Hours are verified on a separate form that PTCAS emails to the supervising PT. The reference is the only place your judgment of the applicant appears, so spend it on what the applicant did with a patient and with your feedback. GradPilot's health professions letter rubric reads a letter the same way: incidents, not duty lists.
Every PTCAS and Liaison Letters help page quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026. None of them states a cycle year, so reread them when the request reaches you.
How a PTCAS reference request reaches you
PTCAS's applicant help page places references in Program Materials, the per-program part of the application, and tells applicants that programs set the rules: "Research each program's requirements. You should determine whether your programs have specific requirements regarding reference roles or relationships before listing references on your application." (PTCAS Program Materials)
| What happens | What the PTCAS help page says |
|---|---|
| Who submits | References "are submitted by the references themselves; they cannot be completed or submitted by the applicant or another party on behalf of the reference." |
| The email | The request "will come from support@ptcas.myliaison.com" |
| What you may be asked to do | "References may complete assessments such as writing essays, completing Likert scales, and/or uploading letters." |
| After you submit | "completed references cannot be removed or replaced." |
| Wrong email on the request | The applicant "must delete these requests and then re-add them with the correct email." |
If the request never arrived, Liaison's first listed reason is that "The applicant may have listed a different email address than the one you used to create your account" (Liaison Letters FAQ). The missing recommendation link guide covers the fixes across portals.
What the PTCAS reference form asks
The questions and the rating scale are set by each program, and PTCAS's help pages do not publish them. PTCAS sends applicants to "the APTA site for more information on each program's reference requirements"; the PTCAS directory at ptcasdirectory.apta.org loaded as an empty script page for our scripted check, so no program's questions or rating items are quoted here.
What the Liaison Letters form can contain, in its own section names (Complete a Recommendation):
- Relationship. "Use the drop-downs and fields to answer questions regarding your relationship with the applicant."
- Essay. "Use the text box to respond to essay/short-answer questions about the applicant." Liaison recommends "typing your response directly into the text box and using simple formatting."
- Likert Criteria. "Click the information icon under each rating to view more details about it." Read each definition before you move the slider.
- Overall Recommendation. "Select your overall recommendation for the applicant from the Recommendation Concerning Admission drop-down."
- Upload Letters. "You can upload one document to support your recommendation of the applicant." The FAQ lists Word (.doc or docx), PDF, Rich Text Format (.rtf) and Plain Text (.txt), a file "15 MB or smaller", and a file name "less than 95 characters". A scanned letter saved as JPG or PNG must be converted to PDF.
Our recommendation: make the ratings and the letter agree. Every criterion you rate at the top should have an incident in the letter that earned it. A top rating with no matching story gives the reader nothing to check it against.
Reuse: one letter sent to many programs
Because PTCAS collects references per program, one applicant can send you several requests, and Liaison Letters offers to submit your first answer automatically for that applicant's later requests of the same type. With reuse on, you "can't review or edit the recommendation before it is submitted for any future recommendation request." The NursingCAS reference guide walks through the setting, its weekly email and the Stop Reusing button.
Our view: turn reuse on only if your letter names no program. If you named a program or answered a program's own essay question, complete each request yourself.
Hours verification is not a reference
PTCAS asks applicants for "the licensed physical therapist/physical therapist assistant who supervised you and can verify your hours." If the applicant picks that option, "PTCAS will email your PT/PTA supervisor instructions for verifying your hours via Liaison Letters." (PTCAS Observation Hours) That request appears in your dashboard as its own type. On it you "confirm that the inpatient, outpatient, and non-clinical settings completed and planned/in progress hours are correct" (Verify Observation Hours).
So the hours already have a form. A reference paragraph that says "she completed 60 hours in outpatient and inpatient settings" repeats what the verification records. The rubric names the same problem: "Tasks, titles, hours, certifications, grades, and test results do not by themselves show how the applicant performed."
The countercase: if you only signed the hour log and never watched the applicant with a patient or saw how they took feedback, you have no session to write about. Tell the applicant, or write a short reference limited to what you saw. The guide to declining a recommendation request has wording for the first option.
Constructed sample from a supervising PT
Constructed example, written by us, not a real reference letter. Context (invented): an outpatient orthopedic PT has supervised a rehab aide for 14 months.
The weak paragraph:
Devin completed over 300 hours with our clinic and was always punctual, hardworking and eager to learn. Devin assisted with many patients and would be an asset to any DPT program.
The revised letter (227 words):
Dear Admissions Committee,
I am a physical therapist at Stonebridge Outpatient Orthopedics, where Devin Kaczmarek has worked as a rehab aide under my supervision since September 2025, three shifts a week. I am on site for most of those shifts.
In March, a 71-year-old patient recovering from a knee replacement stopped part of her home program because, she said, the handout did not make sense. Devin noticed her hesitating at the step-up station, asked her to show what she did at home, and saw she was skipping the two exercises printed on the back of the page. Devin told me before her session ended. We rewrote the sheet as one page in larger print, and she did all six exercises at her next visit. Devin did not change her plan. Devin found why the plan was failing and brought it to the therapist.
Devin also uses feedback. When I said Devin was cueing a gait-training patient too often, Devin asked how many cues I would give, cut to one per lap the next day, and asked me afterward whether it worked.
Of the nine aides I have supervised in six years, Devin is one of two I would trust to spot a problem without being told where to look. I recommend Devin for admission to a Doctor of Physical Therapy program without reservation.
Corinne Batiste, PT, DPT
Why the revision works, check by check:
- Relationship: role, setting, start date and how often the writer sees the applicant, in two sentences.
- Incident, not hours: the knee patient shows Devin noticing, asking and reporting. The hours are left to the verification form.
- Scope: "Devin did not change her plan" keeps the aide inside the aide's role, which makes the praise believable.
- Comparison with a basis: nine aides, six years, top two.
- No program named: the letter is safe to reuse across programs.
Before you submit: a checklist
- Open the request and read the Applying To field and any notes from the applicant.
- Check Access: it "indicates whether the applicant waived their right to access their completed recommendations."
- Answer the Relationship questions with your role, setting and how long you supervised.
- Open every Likert information icon, rate, and confirm the letter holds an incident for each top rating.
- Pick the Recommendation Concerning Admission option that matches your last paragraph.
- Upload one file under 15 MB with a file name under 95 characters.
- Decide on reuse: on only if the letter names no program.
- If an hours verification request is also waiting, complete it separately.
Questions about PTCAS references
Is the Requested By date the program's deadline?
Not always. Liaison: "The applicant enters the Requested By date for the requested recommendation. It may or may not be the same date as the actual deadline. If the due date has passed, submit your recommendation and contact the applicant to confirm deadline dates."
Can I edit a reference after submitting it?
Only if the option appears. Liaison: "If available, you can edit completed recommendations by clicking Edit in the top right of your completed recommendation," and you then "must resubmit" (Edit Completed Recommendations). The applicant cannot swap the reference out.
Can the applicant read my reference?
Not through PTCAS. A waiver of "No" "does not allow you to view your reference via the application," and PTCAS adds that an applicant who did not waive "may ask your reference for a copy of the reference." Whether to share it is your decision; the guide for when an applicant asks to read your letter walks through it.
How long should the uploaded letter be?
PTCAS's help pages set no length. One page with one or two incidents is enough for the checks above; see how long a letter of recommendation should be for the published limits in other systems.
Get a free review of the letter
Get a free Quick Review of your recommendation letter against GradPilot's general health professions evaluation letter rubric; there is no PTCAS-specific version. Paste the letter you plan to upload. It checks whether your supervising role is clear, whether each quality rests on a session you watched rather than on hours, and whether your recommendation follows from those sessions. For other letter types, start from the recommendation letter review page.
Writing as the applicant instead? The PTCAS essay guide and the PTCAS essay rubric cover your side of the file.
More health recommender guides:
- OTCAS letter of recommendation guide: the 3-to-5 evaluation rule and an OT sample.
- CASPA evaluation form guide for evaluators: the PA school version of this form.
- PharmCAS letter from a pharmacist: the 4-evaluation cap and committee letters.
- All medical and health school essay guides.
Sources
Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted. The Liaison help pages state no cycle year.
- PTCAS (Liaison), PTCAS Program Materials: references sit in Program Materials, sender address, who submits, assessments, cannot be removed or replaced, email changes, waiver.
- PTCAS (Liaison), Observation Hours: supervising PT verification through Liaison Letters.
- Liaison Letters, Complete a Recommendation: form sections, Access field, one upload, reuse option.
- Liaison Letters, Frequently Asked Questions: Requested By date, file types, 15 MB, 95-character file name, missing requests.
- Liaison Letters, Verify Observation Hours: what the hours verification asks.
- Liaison Letters, Edit Completed Recommendations: editing after submission.
- APTA, PTCAS directory (ptcasdirectory.apta.org): loaded as an empty script page for our check; nothing quoted.
Review the Letter Before It Is Submitted
See how the letter reads against the rubric for its destination.