APUSU

Understanding University Document Requirements

U.S. universities will present you with a variety of different requirements for your academic documents.
Some of the terms and phrases you will see in relation to your academic documents include:

Stamped and sealed
Official
Attested
Original
Sent from the institution
NACES certified
Credential evaluation
Course-by-course credential evaluation
and more

To understand what you need to send a university, you must first understand the differences between:

Translation a conversion of your document from the non-English language that it is written in to
English. Whatever is written on your academic document will be literally translated into English
following the documents format as closely as possible.

All universities will require your academic documents to be in English, but some may also request a
native language version as well.

Translation services include:
EducationUSA Advising Centers (select centers only https://www.educationusa.info/)

National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) Members:
Academic Evaluation Services (http://www.aes-edu.org)
Foundation for International Services (http://www.fis-web.com)
Josef Silny & Associates (http://www.jsilny.com)
SpanTran Educational Services (http://www.spantran-edu.org)



Attestation a stamp, signature, or other official seal placed on a photocopy of your academic
documents. By stamping, signing, or placing a seal on the photocopy, the attestation agent/agency is
stating that the photocopy was made from an original version. An attestation is a verified photocopy of
your original academic documents.

An attestation would fulfill the requirement for a stamped, official, or attested document. Attestations,
however, are not always considered original.

Attestation services include:
EducationUSA Advising Centers (select centers only https://www.educationusa.info/)

Various ministries, consulates, or other governmental departments in your country might also be able to
attest your documents.




Credential Evaluation an assessment of your academic documents that recalculates and converts
your academics studies and performance to the U.S. educational equivalents. A credential evaluation
takes your academic documents from home and changes them to the U.S. equivalent. The equivalencies
are based on the U.S. 4.0 grade point average, and the U.S. semester credit system for university studies.

Credential evaluations also give general comparisons of your studies based on the U.S. educational
system. For instance, if your studies are equal to a U.S. high school diploma, bachelors degree, masters
degree, two years of undergraduate study, one year of graduate study, etc. Credential evaluations will,
often times, also present the admissions requirement for the studies you completed at home, such as
national exams, years of schooling, or an entrance examination.

Different types of credential evaluations exist. It is important that you review each universitys
application requirements to ensure that you order the correct credential evaluation. The primary options
you will see are:
o Basic, General, or Document-by-Document
This type of evaluation will offer a general equivalency for your academic documents
such as, equivalent to a U.S. bachelors degree. Depending on the credential
evaluation service, you may get some additional information, but these types of
evaluations are very simple. Be sure that a university will accept this type of evaluation
before ordering.
o Course-by-Course or Detailed
This type of evaluation gives specific equivalencies for each and every course you
studied. Each course will be identified along with its U.S. semester and grade
equivalents. A cumulative U.S. grade point average will also be calculated. The
evaluation also includes the information that you would receive in a basic evaluation.
This is usually the type of credential evaluation that a university requests or requires.
WES ICAP Evaluation
World Education Services (WES) offers a special kind of course-by-course
evaluation, where they also send an attested copy of your original transcript
along with the credential evaluation. If you are applying to a school that wants
both an evaluation and a transcript, this could be a good option for you.
Currently WES is the only company offering this service.

Credential evaluation services include:
National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) - http://www.naces.org/
American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) -
http://ies.aacrao.org/

You must be very careful in your research so that you know exactly what each university needs to fulfill their
admission requirements. Some universities will only accept transcripts sent directly from your home school,
while others will accept a transcript from you. Some universities will accept any credential evaluation, while
others want an evaluation from a NACES certified service, and still others will only accept an evaluation from a
specific company.

Similar to universities, credential evaluation services have rules and regulations about evaluating academic
documents. Some are very strict about documents being sent to them directly from your home school or
ministry, while others will accept documents from you.

While submitting transcripts and academic documents seems like it is a simple process, based on all of these
requirements, it might not be. It is important for you to research university, and other, requirements long before
the application deadline so that you can create a plan to fulfill those requirements on time.