What is a letter of recommendation?

A letter of recommendation or reference letter is simply that: a letter, usually from someone who knows you well enough to speak about you in a professional context. This is the way that schools get a sense of how professionals you work with, or the communities you serve, view you. It allows them to get an idea of how well you might represent their institution if you were to be admitted.

Why do they need them?

Usually, schools want letters of recommendation from a licensed Physical Therapist. They want them to attest to your professional potential in the context of PT. However, sometimes they may request a reference from another professional. This may be an academic advisor, a professor, or faculty member that can attest to your ability in the classroom. Finally, some schools also allow recommendations from people of your choosing. 

When choosing, it is important to consider your specific schools you are applying to! PTCAS has a very helpful resource in telling us exactly what each school accepts, requires, and does not accept. You can find it here!

Who should you ask to write it?

Consider all of the academic and professional contacts you have made up to this point. Did you volunteer at a clinic or in your community? Have you connected with a certain professor in your program? Did you complete an internship? Consider clubs/organizations you might have been involved in too!

Remember, the purpose of these recommendations is to share with schools your academic and professional potential in physical therapy. Keep this in mind when you are deciding who to ask!

How Do I Ask Someone?

DECIDE WHO YOU WANT TO ASK ASAP! TIMING IS EVERYTHING WITH RECOMMENDATIONS AND REFERENCES! – See our timeline to apply here!

Make sure to give your references plenty of time to write you a solid recommendation. But don’t be afraid to set a deadline for your writers. Just make sure that they have at LEAST 2 weeks notice before your deadline. Ideally they should have ~3-4 weeks notice, however, most will be able to make 2 weeks work.

When it comes to licensed physical therapists, academic advisors, and some professors, they often have multiple students who will be asking them for recommendations. This means that they will likely be writing letters for several other students as well as you. Make sure to give them plenty of time in advance and come prepared with a list of points you would want them to know about you and that they can potentially touch on in their recommendation.

Pro Tips

This leads me to my next recommendation when reaching out: update your resume, write yourself a brag sheet, create a list of schools you plan on applying to and share all of this with your recommender when asking them to write your letter. Write out all of your academic and extracurricular accomplishments that you can give to your references to go off of when writing their recommendation. Even if they already know you, it can’t hurt to share more of your accomplishments with them. Like I mentioned before, they may have several students requesting a letter of recommendation so the easier you can make it for them, the more likely they are to say yes. 

Actually Asking

Next, is the actual asking part. This can be done in person or even with a professional email. Try to avoid text messages if you can. But, be confident, be professional, and most importantly, be yourself. Let them know that you are planning on submitting your PT school application for the upcoming cycle and that you feel that they can attest to your [insert professional, academic, etc.] ability and you would love for them to write you a reference. Make sure to make the request for each person personalized and unique. Be sure to tell them why you want THEM to write your recommendation letter. 

Finally, fast forward to after they have submitted their references. Send them a personal thank you. You can do this with an email or a handwritten card. Gestures like this go a long way and increase the chance that they agree to write you another reference in the future.

Once schools have responded to you with their decisions, consider sending each of your recommenders updates on where you ended up getting accepted to and/or where you plan on attending for PT school.

Where do I add my references?

This year for the 22-23 application cycle, PTCAS has moved the references section from the “supporting information” section to the individual “program materials” portion of the application. After you add the schools that you want to apply to, you can add your recommendations directly to each school.

When you are ready to request references, navigate to the program materials section and go to references. From here you are able to enter the information of whoever you have chosen to write your reference. After sending the request, the person you have selected should receive an email (make sure to have them check their spam folder) where they can directly submit their reference.

You got this!