Transcripts

HOW TO GET YOUR TRANSCRIPTS EVALUATED?

As a student, when you apply for admissions in a college or university abroad, they ask you for educational transcripts. This evaluation is also known as credential evaluation or Educational Credential Evaluation (ECA). After submitting those transcripts, they need to be evaluated sometimes. Generally universities have their own process of evaluation via internal transcript team. However, there are also certain organizations that are specifically authorized to carry out the evaluation. Sometimes universities/colleges require your academic transcript to be evaluated by an international transcript evaluation organization. The university you want to apply to might or might not require your transcript to be evaluated. Please check the application guidelines for detailed information regards the same. These evaluations are also carried out for immigration or work visas abroad.

 

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In the case that the university you are applying to requires your transcript to be evaluated, it will also provide a list of organizations which it recognizes evaluations from. As a student, you would have applied to various universities and courses; we suggest you go through the lists cumulatively; post that select the most suitable evaluation organization. The largest and most reputed organization for such services is the World Education Services (WES). A large majority, almost all, colleges accept WES transcript evaluations. Each transcript evaluation organization has its own process of how you need to send them the transcript; and how long would it take for the evaluation report to be sent to you. While some organizations also perform this through an online upload of your documents, most organizations (including WES) require you/your university to send them a physical copy of the required documents via mail. The detailed instructions for the transcript evaluation process can be found at the website of the organization you decide to get your transcript evaluated by.

WHY DO YOU NEED A TRANSCRIPT EVALUATION?

Every country has its own grade system and marking schemes. The educational standards, mandates, curriculum, marking patterns and procedures are specific to countries internally. Grading is, in fact, an abstract concept which we attempt to quantify In order to understand what your grade in your country equates to in comparison to grades in their country, transcripts evaluation is carried out.

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF TRANSCRIPTS EVALUATION?

There are two kinds of Transcripts Evaluation:

• Document by Document
• Course by Course

For College admissions: Colleges and Universities would be required to provide Course by Course report. Every course you have taken during your college is converted into an equivalent GPA and Grade Scale.

For immigration: Document by Document is typically used for Immigration purposes. For instance, if you want to immigrate to USA, they assign points for Bachelors, Masters, and Ph.D. But, the degree should be equivalent to Degree awarded in USA.

FROM WHERE CAN I GET A TRANSCRIPT EVALUATION DONE?

Apart from WES, there are also other organizations that can perform a credential evaluation for your transcript.

The top amongst them (in no particular order) are:

1. Comparative Education Services (CES) - University of Toronto

2. International Credential Assessment Service of Canada (ICAS)

3. International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS)

4. International Credential Evaluation Service (ICES)

5. Medical Council of Canada (for Doctors - specialist physician, general practitioner, family physician)

6. Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (for Pharmacists) As an alternative to WES, we suggest that IQAS and CES are good. However the processing time with them is more as compared to WES.

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WHAT DOES A TRANSCRIPT EVALUATION ANSWER?

A transcript evaluation from any listed organization provides answers to these basic questions:

1. What level of education did the student complete in their native country?

2. What diploma/degree (if any) did the student earn?

3. Did the student attend a legitimate and recognized institution?

4. How do the student’s transcripts equate in another educational system (such as the U.S. educational system)? 5. How does the student’s grade point average translate to the other educational system?

WHAT DOES A TRANSCRIPT EVALUATION INCLUDE?

A transcript evaluation assesses the level, scope, intent, and equivalence of educational transcripts. The items contained in the transcript evaluation may differ depending on where you are getting the evaluation conducted. In general, a transcript evaluation report includes the following:

• Name of transcript
• Name of previous institution
• Accreditation status of institution
• Entrance requirements for pursued course of study
• Dates of attendance ? Date of degree award (if any)
• Length of program ? Field of study
• U.S. equivalent degree
• U.S. equivalent grade point average (GPA)
• U.S. equivalent semester credits

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO RECEIVE A TRANSCRIPT EVALUATION?

On average, most transcript evaluation organizations take about 2 weeks to complete a general evaluation. Most course by course evaluations take 2-3 weeks to complete. Rush services are available for an extra charge. WES evaluations take around one month. However processing time for other organisations is more compared to WES. IQAS takes about 6 months’ while CES takes around 4 months’ time to provide ECA once documents are received by them.