Update Letter vs Letter of Intent: PT, OT, Pharmacy

Update Letter vs Letter of Intent: PT, OT, Pharmacy

Send an update letter when you have a new fact and the program accepts mail; send a letter of intent to one program only, and only if you will enroll there if admitted. After you submit, PTCAS, OTCAS, OptomCAS and PharmCAS lock most of your application and tell you to send other updates "directly to your programs", while three vet schools we checked accept nothing outside the application at all.

Most advice on this question is written for medical school. Allied health differs in two ways: the CAS help pages say what still moves through the portal and what goes to the program, and PTCAS tells every program that admits you how many offers you hold. This page sorts the three letters, quotes each CAS rule, names the schools that say no, and gives constructed versions. If you are drafting one now, the letter of intent and interest rubric reads exactly this kind of letter.

Every CAS, ACAPT and program page quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026. Where a program page states no year, we say so.

On this page: three letters · CAS rules · schools that say no · offer visibility · timing · constructed letters · decision procedure

Three letters, three jobs

An update letter can say "I remain very interested." It cannot say "you are my first choice" unless it goes to one program. The full medical-school version of this split, with school policies, is in intent vs interest vs update letters for medical school. If you are on a DPT waitlist, the PT school waitlist letter of continued interest covers the third row.

Is a letter of intent binding? No CAS or association rule we found makes it a contract. Our view: it is a promise, so keep it. The ACAPT applicant rules say "Each applicant shall provide accurate and truthful information in all aspects of the application, acceptance, and admission processes", and a letter of intent is a statement inside that process.

What each CAS lets you change after submitting

The four Liaison-run help centers for PT, OT, optometry and pharmacy use the same sentence. From the PTCAS help center:

"Once you submit your application, most sections are locked to prevent edits."

A short list stays open, mainly new achievement entries and optional documents; the guide to updating PTCAS, OTCAS and OptomCAS after submitting walks through each portal step. The page ends:

"If you have updates for other sections of your application, submit these updates directly to your programs."

Grades are the exception. They move through the Academic Update, once, inside a fixed window:

What this means for your letter:

• New grades: submit them through the Academic Update, then send one line telling the program they are in. The letter points at the verified record; it does not replace it.
• New hours, a new job, a new certification: these are "other sections", so they go to the program directly, by email or through an optional-document slot if the program's page tells you to use one.
• Vet applicants: VMCAS is closed for this cycle, so every update is a question of what the school accepts.

Schools that say no

Three veterinary schools state on their admissions pages that they read only what is in the application:

• University of Arizona (FAQ): "We do not accept letters of intent or updates."
• Colorado State (DVM application): "Once the VMCAS and CSA applications are submitted, you cannot modify your application. Please do not send application materials or transcripts outside the application; only what is included in your application will be reviewed."
• University of Florida (DVM application): "All materials should be submitted to VMCAS; please do not send any materials to the College of Veterinary Medicine."

At these three schools, send no update letter and no letter of intent. What you can still do: answer any email the school sends you, accept or decline by the date your offer states, and put new results into your file for other schools that do read updates. Arizona also says "We will not rescind any offers until April 15, since that is the deadline to accept or decline", so April 15 is the date that matters there. The vet school waitlist letter guide covers the schools that do accept a letter.

Pharmacy has a softer version of the same rule. Pitt's PharmD application page says "Applicants to Pitt Pharmacy are not required to complete the Spring Academic Update unless advised to do so by the Admissions Committee." Pitt tells you what it wants; wait to be asked.

Our view: a school that says "do not send" means it. Sending anyway shows you did not read the page.

PTCAS shows programs your offers

Before you submit PTCAS, you sign this, quoted from PTCAS application prep:

"I acknowledge that a program that makes an offer of acceptance to me will also know the number of offers I have received and accepted at other programs in PTCAS."

Programs see a count, not names, while the cycle is open; the DPT deposits guide quotes the rest of the certification, including what becomes visible after the cycle ends.

Two consequences for letters:

1. A letter of intent goes to one program. If two DPT programs each receive "I will enroll if admitted" and both admit you, each can see that you hold other offers. The promise you then break is visible to the program you break it with.
2. Hold your offers honestly. ACAPT's rules for programs set January 15 as the earliest date a DPT program can require a deposit and $1,500 as the most it can require. The deposits guide covers that calendar.

We found no matching offer-visibility statement on the OTCAS, OptomCAS or PharmCAS help pages we checked. Apply the one-program rule to them anyway; it rests on honesty, not on what the portal shows.

Timing

Program pages publish their own decision windows, and those set the clock:

• SUNY Optometry (2026 guide): "You can expect to receive the Admissions Committee's decision within 1-2 weeks from your interview date". Its committee can "accept, provisionally accept (in the event there are any pending pre-requisites), place application on hold, or deny admission."
• Pitt PharmD: the committee "will review applications within two weeks of interviews."
• Columbia DPT (no year stated): "Applicant decisions are made on a rolling basis and no later than November 1st". For this cycle that date has passed.

Our recommendation: send nothing inside a program's published decision window unless you have a new fact. After the window, or after a hold or waitlist notice, send one letter: an update if you have news, a letter of intent if you have decided. Then stop until something new happens.

The countercase: a program that interviews in October and decides in March. There, one update in January with fall grades is reasonable even if nothing else has changed, because the record the committee reads in March is three months older than you are.

Unknown: whether any of these programs counts or weighs letters. None of the pages we checked says.

Constructed update letter and letter of intent

All three are constructed examples, written by us, not real applicant letters. Names and programs are invented; brackets mark what you must fill in from the program's own pages.

Constructed example: PT update letter

Context (invented): Lior Nwosu interviewed at a DPT program in October, has fall grades and new observation hours, and has not heard back.

Subject: Application update, Lior Nwosu, PTCAS applicant

Dear Admissions Committee,

Thank you again for my October 9 interview. I am writing with two updates since I submitted my PTCAS application.

My fall grades are final, including an A in Exercise Physiology, and I submitted them through the PTCAS Academic Update on December 18.

I have also completed 60 additional observation hours in an outpatient pediatric clinic, where I watched a therapist rebuild a gait-training session around a toddler's attention span: three-minute blocks, a toy at the end of each walk. Seeing how much of pediatric PT is pacing is why [the program's pediatric clinical rotation, named on its website] is the part of your curriculum I most want to learn from.

Thank you for your continued consideration.

Sincerely, Lior Nwosu

The body is 117 words. Two dated facts, one of them already verified through the CAS, one observed scene, one real program feature. No ranking language, so it can go to every program that accepts updates.

Constructed example: optometry update after a hold

Context (invented): Mireille Duval was told her application is on hold after her interview at an optometry school, and she has a new result.

Subject: Update on my application, Mireille Duval, OptomCAS applicant

Dear Admissions Committee,

Thank you for letting me know my application is on hold. I want to share one new result: I retook the OAT on January 6, and I have asked for the new score to be sent to you. I remain very interested in [the program], especially [the specialty clinic named on its website], and I would welcome the chance to enroll in the fall.

Sincerely, Mireille Duval

The body is 64 words. After a hold, the letter leads with the new result and says where the school can find it.

Constructed example: letter of intent to one program

Context (invented): Lior Nwosu has decided that one DPT program is the one he will attend if admitted, and he has sent no other letter of intent.

Subject: Letter of intent, Lior Nwosu, PTCAS applicant

Dear Admissions Committee,

I am writing to tell you that [program] is my first choice, and that if I am offered a seat, I will accept it and withdraw my other applications.

Two things settled my decision after my interview. Your first-year students described taking patients in [the program's student-run clinic] in their first year, which is the kind of early responsibility I want. And [a faculty member's research area from the program's website] matches the pediatric work I have been observing since September.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely, Lior Nwosu

The body is 86 words. The first sentence is the whole letter's job: a promise, stated once, that only works because it goes to one program.

Decision procedure: which letter, if any

1. Read the program's admissions page. If it says it accepts no updates or materials (Arizona, Colorado State, UF), stop for that program.
2. Is the program still inside its published decision window? If yes, wait unless you have a new fact.
3. New grades? Submit them in your CAS Academic Update first, inside the window in the table above.
4. New fact the CAS cannot hold? Send an update letter to each program that accepts one.
5. Decided where you will enroll? Send one letter of intent, to that program only.
6. Waitlisted or on hold? Send a letter of continued interest with any new facts.
7. Nothing new? Send nothing.

Questions about PT, OT and pharmacy letters

Can I send a letter of intent to two PT programs?

No. A letter of intent says you will enroll, and you can only enroll at one. PTCAS also shows each program that admits you how many offers you hold.

The program says no post-interview communication. Can I still email?

Not with an update or a letter of intent. Answer any email the program sends you, and use the CAS Academic Update for grades if your CAS window is open.

Do OT programs accept update letters?

The OTCAS help center sends updates outside the Academic Update "directly to your programs", so each OT program decides. Check its admissions page; if it says nothing, a short update with one real new fact is reasonable. SLP and AuD applicants work under a different clock: see the SLP and audiology April 15 rule.

If this cycle ends without an offer, see reapplying through OTCAS, PharmCAS or OptomCAS.

Get a free review of your letter of intent

Get a free Quick Review of your letter of intent against GradPilot's letter of intent and interest rubric. It is written for MD and DO letters and is the closest one for a PT, OT, pharmacy or optometry letter: it checks whether the letter ties a stated program feature to your reason for attending, and whether the commitment it states matches what the letter supports. For an update letter, use the update letter rubric, which checks what has changed since you applied and what that change adds; if you are reapplying to DPT programs next cycle, the PTCAS essay rubric reads your personal statement.

More PT, OT and pharmacy guides:

• PT, OT and pharmacy interview thank-you email: the courtesy note, and why it is not an update.
• Pharmacy school waitlist letter: the PharmCAS spring Academic Update and the letter that goes with it.
• The medical school essays hub groups the allied-health letter guides with the MD and DO ones.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted.

• Liaison, Updating Your PTCAS Application (2026–27 cycle): locked sections, what stays open, updates go to programs, Academic Update window.
• Liaison, Updating Your OTCAS Application (2026–27 cycle): Academic Update window; same locked-sections text.
• Liaison, Updating Your OptomCAS Application (2026–27 cycle): Academic Update window.
• Liaison, PharmCAS Academic Update (2026–27 cycle): fall and spring windows.
• Liaison, Updating Your VMCAS Application (2026–27 cycle): window and October 8, 2026 lock.
• APTA, PTCAS application prep (current cycle): offer-visibility certification.
• ACAPT, Admissions traffic rules for applicants and for programs (adopted October 2, 2015, updated October 16, 2020): truthful information; deposit date and cap.
• University of Arizona College of Veterinary Medicine, admissions FAQs (no year stated): no letters of intent or updates; April 15.
• Colorado State University, DVM application (2026–27 cycle dates on page): no materials outside the application.
• University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, DVM application (no year stated): send nothing to the college.
• University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, PharmD application process (no year stated): spring Academic Update only if advised; two-week review.
• SUNY College of Optometry, Interview Guide 2026 (2026): decision options and 1–2 week window.
• Columbia University Vagelos, DPT admissions (no year stated): rolling decisions no later than November 1.