Release 5 – June 2, 2024

Recommenders Can Designate Assistants (Delegates) for Recommendations

This enhancement is automatically available for use by all CASs and participating programs. No action is required on the part of any association, school, or program.

CASs can choose to opt out of this enhancement; contact a member of your account team for more information.

Recommenders (i.e., evaluators, references) can now designate assistants or "delegates" to help them submit their letters of recommendation on their behalf through Liaison Letters. Recommenders are still responsible for writing an applicant’s letter of recommendation. Designating a delegate is helpful to recommenders who are busy or less technologically savvy, as delegates can help manage and submit those letters on their behalf and/or transcribe PDFs or paper forms into the online recommendation forms.

To use a delegate, recommenders first must add their delegates in Liaison Letters. Once delegates are added, they’ll receive emails notifying them and links to create their Liaison Letters account.

Within Liaison Letters, delegates can review requests and complete, submit, or decline recommendations. Additionally, recommenders and delegates can easily identify who submitted each recommendation request (i.e., the recommender or delegate).

Delegates receive the same emails that recommenders do, so they’ll be notified when a new recommendation request is sent to the recommender, when the recommendation has been successfully submitted through Liaison Letters, and if an applicant withdrew their recommendation request.

If desired, recommenders can temporarily deactivate or permanently remove delegates from managing their recommendations. Delegates will keep their Liaison Letters account, but they will no longer be able to view or manage the recommender’s requests.

If desired, delegates can save a draft version of the completed recommendation, and the recommender can later review and submit the completed recommendation.

You will still view the recommender’s name when reviewing an application in Liaison Outcomes, WebAdMIT, and the full application PDF.

It's important to remember that Liaison Letters is a universal portal where recommenders can access their recommendation requests from any CAS. As such, recommenders will retain the ability to add delegates within Liaison Letters, even if a CAS turns this delegate feature off. However, if a CAS turns the delegate feature off, then the recommender's delegates will only be able to view the applicant's name on the recommendation request; the delegates cannot view nor complete the actual request.