A Pre-PT’s Guide to PTCAS: Program Materials Section
The Physical Therapist Centralized Application Service or PTCAS can be hard to navigate for anyone, but it is an essential component of the application process. In this post, we’ll discuss what you need to know about the Program Materials Section of PTCAS.
Important note, my knowledge of PTCAS is based solely on the 2021-2022 application seasons. I hope to update my blog accordingly as PTCAS changes throughout the years, but please keep in mind that some things do change from year to year.
There are 4 main sections in PTCAS, and the Academic History Section is second. This is where you’ll enter all additional program materials needed from your programs of interest. The amount of information needed in this section is completely dependent on how many schools you are applying to and what they ask of you.
Note that my section says it has been completed and has turned green. This is because I have already completed my application. New applicants’ sections will not be green. It also contains the schools that I applied to, your’s will look different depending on your schools.
For each school, you could have a series of tabs (this depends greatly on what the schools ask of you): Home, Questions, Documents, References, Kira Assessment, and Prequequites. Keep in mind that some schools can include all of these or just a few of them.
Home
In this section, you’ll program details about your chosen schools. This will include the following:
- Program Name
- Program Information
- School Contact Information
- State
- Program Start Date
- Application Deadline (important)
- Program Location
- Accreditation Status (whether or not your school has met the recognized standards of quality)
- For more information about accreditation.
Questions
In this section, you’ll be able to view and submit the specific requirement of your programs. This could include:
- Student Identification
- Campus Decision
- Interest Essay
- Prompted Essay
- Re-Applicant Questions
- School Specific Questions
Things to keep in mind:
All essay questions have character limits, be sure not to go over the character limit (that includes spaces).
Be sure to answer the prompt!! This information is likely to be at the forefront of your application. Don’t get too focused on writing your story and forget to answer the prompt.
Documents
In this section, you can submit all documents requested by your schools. This could include:
- Resumes
- Curriculum Vitaes (CV)
- Signed forms
- Certifications
- Transcripts
- Literally anything else
Things to consider:
Make sure you follow the format directions.
Review your document after uploading it to ensure the document wasn’t altered.
You cannot re-upload or update documents after submitting your application.
References
In this section, you’ll submit your requests for references (Letters of Recommendation). You’ll need to provide your references’ information so they can submit their letters through a separate portal. Here’s what you need to know:
- References’ contact information
- Write a personalized message to your references
- Provide them with a date that you would like them to complete your reference
- Choose whether or not you would like to waive your access to view it
- Give permission to contact your reference
- Give permission for schools to contact your reference
Things to keep in mind:
Be sure that you are aware of your schools’ recommendation requirements. This should be provided by your schools in the reference tab.
- Check out my post about the Top 10 Things Pre-Physical Therapy Students Should Know About Their Schools Of Interest.
Give your references enough time to write you a top-notch letter. Ask them in person or by email before you add them as a reference as they’ll receive emails from PTCAS.
To ensure everything is in on time, but sure to give your recommender a realistic deadline. That will leave you with enough time to fix any issues before the application deadline. You don’t want to be scrambling at the last minute because a recommender is dragging their feet.
You’ll need to repeat this process for each school.
Kira Assessment
In this section, you’ll complete an online video platform separate from PTCAS called the Kira Assessment. This is an option to submit video interview questions. This is not done by many schools, but your program might require it. For more information, reach out to your programs directly.
Prerequisites
In this section, you’ll assign the prerequisites you entered into the Transcript Entry section. For more information about the Transcript Entry section, check out my post A Pre-PTs Guide to PTCAS: Academic History Section.
For each school, you’ll need to assign which prerequisites match the classes you’ve taken already. You will use the information entered into the Transcript Entry section to indicate which courses satisfy the prerequisites.
You will choose the prerequisite needed and choose “Assign Course”. You’ll then match the prereq to the course listed on your transcript. Or, if you still have to complete some classes during your final semesters, you can choose “I Am Not Matching Any Courses to this Prerequisite”
Some things to keep in mind:
Make sure that your courses will be accepted by your school as a qualifying prerequisite. Check their website to ensure you will receive credit.
I hope you’ve learned something from this and feel better about tackling the PTCAS Program Materials section of PTCAS! If you missed the previous post in this series, check out: A Pre-PT’s Guide to PTCAS: Program Materials Section.
For the next post in this series, check out A Pre-PTs Guide to PTCAS: Supporting Information Section.
Please let me know your thoughts or any questions you might have in the comments!
