For International students: transcript evaluation and costs

[shivaangsharma]

I have a pressing query that is applicable to all international applicants for US courses.

I have an issue regarding the third party course-by-course verification of applications for an MS course. Something like this cannot be avoided and is rather expensive.

Since these third parties charge about $200 for evaluation, its a steep cost.

My questions are as follows:

1) Do they charge the aforementioned (or similar) sum for sending transcript evaluation reports to each university I apply to?

For instance, if I apply to ABC university, they charge $200. If i wish to apply to XYZ uni as well, they charge another $200.

2) Since thee third parties send the transcripts directly to the universities in question, is there any way to know how favorably or unfavorably they have evaluated the transcript?

 

Thanks a million!

Shivaang.

[fuzzylogician]

No school I applied to wanted this outside verification. Are you sure it is necessary? All I did was submit my transcripts (from my foreign university) and the universities did their own GPA conversion. 

As for your questions, I assume the answers depend on the service you choose to work with, and I'm sure you can find the costs on their website.

[TakeruK]

Like fuzzy, all of the schools I applied to also asked for the original transcripts and did not ask for a third party course evaluation. The school evaluated themselves using their own criteria and previous experience.

However, are you talking about cases where the transcript is in another language and it would not be readable by the school? If so, the schools I applied to usually ask for a translation. Sometimes they require a certified translation, however, most are happy with an unofficial translation (or you can do it yourself) for the admissions review process (they might ask for a certified translation if you decide to attend though). 

I think $200 per transcript sounds too high so I would be careful to check what that company is doing. If you are having trouble paying for translation costs, you should talk to the school and see if they will accept unofficial translations until you are accepted.

[DocTa]

Hi there! I'm an international student too and totally understand the frustrations & costs regarding evaluation of foreign credentials.

I'm using World Education Services (WES-Google it!). The process is a bit cumbersome but there is absolutely no way around it, at least on my case (applying for an MPH through SOPHAS). But anyway, the initial 200 bucks or so is for the evaluation of your transcript as well as a fee for sending out a copy to your desired institution and one for your own keep. Additional reporting will cost more money about $30 per duplicate, much less than $200!

Hope that helps!

[asurachm]

Another option, check out ECE (ece.org), cheaper than WES (by $50). The school that I am applying to also using SOPHAS for the admission system and it directed me to WES for third party evaluation of academic transcript. I talked to the program and they allow me to look for alternative third party for the evaluation. Talk to your program whether they requiring you to have evaluation from specific third party.    

[bioconfused]

This might be too late, but out of the programs i I was looking at, this verification is definitely required by Mount Sinai, Johns Hopkins, CMU (Biological sciences).

I had to jump through a lot of hoops to get it done, and it is quite expensive! which was why i was doubtful about doing it. 

The first part has been answered by DocTa, but I had to pay 30$ to send it one university. The 200$ was only for my copy, plus shipping internationally cost more as well. This is an extremely expensive process and should be avoided if possible. But if its absolutely necessary for your program, the consolation is that the transcripts are reviewed favourably. 

I am from India, and not from one of the IITs (which seem to be the only place that people in the US recognise). I sent in a copy of my syllabus as well. My GPA was bumped up  as compared to the direct conversion where you divide a 10 point GPA by 2.5.

There also seemed to be trouble because WES mentioned they need degree certificates and a complete transcript. And im still in my undergrad. But i got a letter from college stating when my prospective graduation date is and sent in my transcript along with this letter and the syllabus copies. And got the results in 10-12 days.