Someone asked you to write them a letter of recommendation for the PharmD program at a pharmacy school and now you’re looking at an email from Liaison Letters asking you to complete it. Keep reading for the lowdown on PharmCAS and how to even write the letter.
Table of Contents
- Who is Applying for Pharmacy School?
- Write and Format the Letter of Recommendation for your Pharmacy School Applicant
- How to Navigate the Letters of Recommendation Portal
- Upload Your Letter
Who is Applying for Pharmacy School?
What do you know about them? Ask them for a copy of their resume or CV, transcript, and letter of intent. Most applicants for a PharmD degree program aren’t required to submit a letter of intent or essay but this can give you inspiration for what to talk about in their letter of recommendation.
Whatever you think you remember or know about this person can only be supplemented by a recent copy of their resume. If they don’t have a letter of intent, ask them a few questions. Some examples are:
- Why do you want to go to pharmacy school?
- Which schools are you applying to and why?
- Do you have any ideas about what kind of pharmacist you want to be after graduation or where you would like to work?
Write and Format the Letter of Recommendation for your Pharmacy School Applicant
Okay now let’s talk about the actual letter. You can create it using your company letterhead if it’s available to you. We do not recommend simply finding the logo from an internet search and pasting it into a Word document which will become your letter. Please don’t do this. If you don’t have access to stationary that your company has created and approved, then please don’t create your own. Many companies, organizations, and universities have guidelines for branding which often includes their logo and colors and you want to be compliant and accurate when representing them. It’s not necessary to use your company’s letterhead but if you can get it, we think it’s a nice touch.
How many different formats of letters do you know? If you’re new to writing formal letters or business letters, there are a couple different basic letter formats. One of the most common is block style and this is what we recommend. A quick internet search will give you templates and examples for writing a block style letter so we won’t restate that all here. But yes, hiring managers like a crisp, organized, well formatted letter. And we do recommend the whole business letter format including: left justifying, sender’s address, date, recipient’s address, salutation, body, and closing.
Pharmaccel Online™ offers self-paced, digital courses written by an associate professor of pharmacy with 20+ years of experience and a proven record of helping students and technicians simplify studying and pass exams the first time. Make sure your own application or portfolio is ready for the next opportunity with our course on Resume & CV Writing Certificate Masterclass for Pharmacy Jobs [insert link to resume course] or our course Letter of Intent and Cover Letter Writing Course for Pharmacy Jobs, Residencies, and Fellowships insert link to letter course]
How to Navigate the Letters of Recommendation Portal
Now, use the link in the email you received. The title will be something such as “You have a PharmCAS applicant evaluation request”. The link will go to a website which asks you to create an account using a password. Then it will require you to provide your occupation, organization where you work, job title, and a phone number.
Related: 3 Things to Check on Your Pharmacy Resume or CV Every Year[insert link to other blog post]
If you already have an account with Liaison Letters, you can press the “login” button at the upper right. Once you log in, you will see all of the requests you have received with an area at the top to filter or sort the applicants by options such as status. You can decline or press “Continue” on the applicants.
If you choose to submit a recommendation for an applicant, the next screen will have fields for you to enter your information as the Evaluator and then an area to rate the applicant in several areas on a Likert scale. The bottom of the website will then have space to upload the letter you typed. The file must be in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), PDF, Rich Text Format (.rtf), or Plain Text File (.txt). The size must be less than 15 MB. And the file name must be less than 95 characters.
Upload Your Letter
The very last portion of the recommendation you’re submitting through Liaison Letters is to upload the letter you wrote and submit it. You will get a confirmation email from them. You’re now done. Cheers to you for helping with their application!
How was your experience with recommending an applicant through PharmCAS? Tell us on Instagram and share your tips to help other students & professionals accelerate their careers @PharmaccelOnline
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