International Transcript Evaluation: How US Schools Read Foreign Credentials

If your transcript was issued by an institution outside the United States, the receiving US school will almost always require a third-party evaluation before it can act on your credits. Here is how that process actually works.

Why US schools outsource this

US registrars are trained in US credit hours, US grading scales, and US accreditation standards. They are not trained to read a Bologna Process diploma supplement, an Indian semester-system marksheet, or a Chinese gaokao record. Rather than guess, they delegate to a credential evaluation service.

The major evaluation services

• World Education Services (WES) — the most widely accepted; required by many universities by name.
• Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE).
• Educational Perspectives.
• SpanTran.

All of these are members of NACES (National Association of Credential Evaluation Services). The receiving university decides which one — or which ones — it accepts.

What an evaluation actually contains

1. Authentication that the issuing institution is recognized in its home country.
2. US equivalent of the credential (e.g., "equivalent to a US bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering").
3. Course-by-course mapping with US credit hours and US letter-grade equivalents (this is the more expensive option).
4. GPA conversion to a 4.0 scale.

For transfer credit, you almost always need the course-by-course evaluation, not just the document-by-document one.

What you have to send

• Original transcripts (or certified copies) from every institution attended.
• Degree certificates or diplomas, where applicable.
• Official translations into English, if the originals are in another language.
• Sometimes the syllabus, especially for licensure-track programs.

Documents must usually be sent directly from the issuing institution to the evaluator. A copy you scanned yourself is not enough.

How long it takes

Most evaluations take 7–20 business days from the moment all documents arrive. The longest delays are almost always at the front: getting the original transcript released by the home institution and physically delivered to the evaluator's mailroom. Rush options exist at most services for an additional fee.

Common rejection reasons

1. The transcript was sent by the student instead of the institution.
2. The translation was unofficial or notarized rather than done by an accredited translator.
3. The home institution is not recognized by its country's education ministry.
4. Coursework is below the level the receiving US school will accept.

What to do first

Before paying for an evaluation, check the receiving university's website for two things: which evaluators they accept by name, and whether they require course-by-course or document-by-document. Paying for the wrong type is the single most expensive mistake international applicants make.