Do you think this is ridiculous?

[squaresquared]

So, I need some outside opinion/thoughts regarding credential evaluations for international transcripts. A school I applied to is requiring I have a course by course analysis completed of my transcript and the cost of this is $160 USD. Now, I understand why this might have to be done if you were coming from a school where your items are not in English...but I'm not in that situation since I'm coming from an english speaking country. I checked out what the course by course analysis is, and it is basically them re-typing out my transcript but including course titles in addition to adding up all the credits and calculating a GPA. They also include information like 'completed bachelors in XXXX year with major in Y'. I have already sent specific info identical to this to the department itself (writing out course titles etc), but the evaluation is being required by the graduate college and they are holding my transcripts/GRE hostage in the meantime so the department is unable to view it.

Including this fee, the application to the one school would be approximately $300 dollars.

Do you think paying such a high application fee is worth it? I'm debating withdrawing my application, but I'm a bit torn.

Any thoughts/insight is welcomed.

Edited February 23, 2011 by squaresquared

[waddle]

Ridiculous. Don't do it.

[neuropsychosocial]

Does the admissions office know that you attended school in an English-speaking country? Usually, translations of credentials aren't required from CAN/UK/IRE/AUS, etc. It might be worth double-checking with a high-ranking human in admissions, and perhaps seeing if your department had advice, too.

[wtncffts]

I would also say it's not worth it, but only you can decide how confident you are in your other applications and whether you'll potentially regret not doing it.

[surprisecake]

I had to do it for my dream school. They basically want to put all their international students on a comparable scale.

[squaresquared]

Does the admissions office know that you attended school in an English-speaking country? Usually, translations of credentials aren't required from CAN/UK/IRE/AUS, etc. It might be worth double-checking with a high-ranking human in admissions, and perhaps seeing if your department had advice, too.

Yes they do know this -- I was in contact with them because they originally had me down for needing to take the TOEFL too. They said they require the evaluation from any international university no matter what. The department didn't seem to know about the requirement, because they didn't understand why they weren't able to access my information until they also contacted admissions.

[squaresquared]

I would also say it's not worth it, but only you can decide how confident you are in your other applications and whether you'll potentially regret not doing it.

This is the thing -- I haven't been accepted anywhere. Waistlisted yes. So that is why I'm a bit confused as to what to do. I really can't see spending so much on a single application, especially when the thing I am paying for is a total ripoff AND when it is only required by the grad admissions -- not even my specific department! Very frusterating.

Edited February 23, 2011 by squaresquared

[qbtacoma]

I had to do it for my dream school. They basically want to put all their international students on a comparable scale.

What! That's stupid logic. If they are trying to privilege domestic students then they should just say so (so people could call that out for what it is). Obviously some international applicants will have advantages over others, advantages comparable to domestic students, and they shouldn't be punished for where they happened to live just because other international students might have to work harder to get to the same place.

[SimilarlyDifferent]

Do you think that the school would accept you, and do you really want to go there given the choice?

If it is a second, third choice, or backup school that you aren't sure you want to go to anyway, then don't do it. If it is your dream program, you think you have a shot, and it is worth the price to you then do it.