Are you an international student aiming to pursue graduate studies in the United States? American universities tend to rely on specialized credential evaluation services to translate foreign credentials into equivalent US educational system. For this reason, it is essential to understand how American universities evaluate your credentials.
Why Credential Evaluation Matters
U.S. universities receive countless applications from students who have completed their education in over 200 different countries. Each of these countries has a varied educational system, grading scale, and degree structure. For instance, a bachelor’s degree in one country may take three years of study, while in another it may take longer, such as four or five years. Similarly, a master’s degree in one country varies significantly across other countries.
This is where credential evaluation becomes crucial for both the applicant and the institution. American institutions must translate these diverse credentials into US equivalents so they can understand and compare. This is to ensure fairness and consistent admissions decisions.
The Role of Credential Evaluation Services
As most U.S. universities require international applicants to submit their academic documents to evaluation services, these organizations employ experts to do the assessment. Specialized higher education evaluation services employ experts trained in comparative education who analyze transcripts, diplomas, and other academic records from around the world.
These evaluation services offer detailed reports that provide the translation of international credentials into U.S. equivalents. They verify the authenticity of documents and distinguish what level of U.S. education your foreign degree corresponds to. For example, they might confirm what a three-year bachelor’s degree from your country is equivalent to the U.S. bachelor’s degree. In the case that does not have its equivalence, they might determine that additional coursework is needed.
What Gets Evaluated
Professional higher education evaluation services do not only read your documents. They examine several key aspects of international credentials:
Academic Level: Evaluators determine whether a degree is equivalent to a U.S. associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree. This isn’t always straightforward, as some countries offer credentials that does not have correspondence between these categories.
Field of Study: The evaluation confirms the major or specialization and compares the coursework to similar programs in the United States.
Grading Scale Conversion: Different countries use different grading systems. Some use percentages, others use letter grades, and still others use numerical scales. The evaluation services do the job by converting these to the U.S. 4.0 GPA scale.
Accreditation Status: Trained evaluators verify that the institution that issued the degree is recognized by appropriate educational authorities in its home country.
Credit Hours: For course-by-course evaluations, each class is assigned U.S. semester credit hour equivalents.
Types of Evaluation Reports
There are several types of evaluation reports. International students encounter two main types of these:
A general evaluation provides an overall assessment of a degree. As its name suggests, it generally confirms its U.S. equivalency and calculates the approximate GPA. This is often sufficient for graduate admissions.
A course-by-course evaluation offers a detailed analysis of each class taken. This includes credit hour equivalents and individual course grades. At some universities, particularly for certain programs, they require a more comprehensive report.
Preparing Your Documents
Before undergoing through a process of evaluation, students should gather their complete academic records. This includes official transcripts showing all courses and grades, degree certificates or diplomas, and any available course descriptions or syllabi. As for documents that are not in English, these need certified translations.
Talking about preparation, it’s highly important to request these materials well in advance of application deadlines. Obtaining official documents from institutions abroad can take considerable time. Most countries have specific procedures for releasing academic records, which can add weeks or months to the process.
Timeline and Planning
As the process is not a one-night magic, the evaluation procedure itself takes two to eight weeks. The range depends on the service and the complexity of the credentials. Students should consider this in their application timeline, along with the time needed to obtain official documents and translations.
Most of the universities implement specific deadlines by which evaluation reports must be received. These deadlines often fall weeks before the actual application deadline. Failing to submit in this window could mean waiting another year to apply.
Choosing an Evaluation Service
It is good to note that not all evaluation services are the same. Remember to select the service that U.S. universities accept reports from, which are members of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) or the Association of International Credential Evaluators (AICE). Consider that some institutions specify which services they prefer or require. So it is integral to carefully check with target universities before ordering an evaluation.
It is a significant advantage in the competitive world of U.S. graduate admissions to have an understanding of the credential evaluation process. This gives international students the edge to plan accordingly. With the right timing of starting early, choosing the right evaluation service, and securing all documents are properly prepared, students who aim to obtain their graduate studies in the U.S. can present their academic achievements in the best possible light and focus on the other important elements of their applications.
