Hot Tea Straight Off the Kettle from a PA Admission Officer: How Grammatical Errors on CASPA Affect Your Chances of Getting In
Today, I am spilling the tea after an extremely insightful meeting with an influential PA Admission Officer from an accredited PA school. First and foremost, wow - what an inspiring and exciting conversation to get exclusive, behind-the-scenes details from an inside source. Let’s all take a moment of silence to pray for those pre-PA students who haven’t had access to this blog post yet.
The burning question that was at the tip of my tongue the entire meeting was, “what is the most deterring component of an application to you?” The PA Admission Officer all but cut me off mid-sentence with the answer ready in their back pocket, voicing their frustrations like a coffee drinker who got a cold cup of coffee. They report that they have seen a large influx of GRAMMATICAL ERRORS on the CASPA application, showcasing characteristics of “sloppiness, lack of conviction, and lack of discipline to show they can make it in a PA program.”
Now, the first thing that popped into my head after that was: “seriously?” Are we really not going to get into PA school because you threw out a semicolon when it was clearly supposed to be a comma? Yes, pre-PAs, that is the landscape of which many of you are falling short. Research suggests that a significant portion of applications, potentially more than 50%, are likely to have at least some grammatical mistakes on their CASPA application. Coupled with the average percentage of PA applicants that receive an interview being around 50%, which is steadily decreasing as more excitement over the PA career begins to grow and thus more PA applicants, we need to understand that the PA Admission Officers have to make hard decisions and weed out the applications somehow. Sure, the obvious metrics including GPA, letters of recommendation, and well-rounded clinical and volunteer hours are high priority, but fixing grammatical errors is the low hanging fruit that reaps significant reward according to this PA Admission Officer.
No, I am not reading your thoughts, I just know that your next question is going to be “why are there so many grammatical errors?” It does not make reasonable sense that most of you are highly educated, professional applicants making needless errors. I am here to tell you - I understand. CASPA is long, tedious, and stressful. As soon as the application opens, the pressure sets in to get in the application fast, with most applicants submitting their application within the first few weeks of CASPA opening. Rushing through your CASPA leads to inconsistent thoughts and negligent mistakes that reflect poorly on you as an applicant. Not to mention, putting a comma in the right place is likely the lowest on your priority list compared to the magnitude of your future career hanging in the balance.
Listen, this is a professional, graduate school application and your syntax should reflect that. Let a pro help ensure appropriate grammar, punctuation and content are on par with PA program’s values and confidence that you can take on the pressures of PA school. The solution is clear and easy to obtain - I am offering 15 students the opportunity for me to comprehensively review their 2025-2026 CASPA application from start to finish for only $125. The best part? This starts NOW. I have a detailed CASPA application template for you to fill out so that you simply need to copy and paste over the already edited application information to minimize errors and maximize your chances of getting interview slots at your preferred PA programs.
Hand over the fine-toothed comb for me to do the dirty work for you, granted on a first-come, first-serve basis. Now drink your tea, relax, and let's dive in.
Join us next week for more exclusive hot tea on the do's and don'ts of letters of recommendation.
Where there is tea, there is hope,
Rachel Watters, PA-C, MSPA, MHA, MPH BS
Founder and CEO of PA-C By The Sea
