College transcript analysis

[Son of Clyde]

Don't see this in the Wiki.

My wife wants to have her college transcripts analyzed to determine if her credits will transfer to the US.

Can someone post a list of the companies doing this work?

If they are not in the Wiki I can try to put them there.

[Vaughn]

Clyde, apparently Jet and some others aren't here this evening. Look
back in the Wiki, under Services, then under Translators. I don't know
if W.E.S. and the others handle transferability, but it's probably a good
place to begin looking.

Edit: after a second look, I believe it was Jet who highly praised the
work of Josef Silney & Associates who are also listed there....

Vaughn

[Bruce]

These days I believe the one they should use is
wes  .

[Jet]

Clyde, Try here: National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES®)

Incidentally, W.E.S. is also a member of NACES along w/ Silney and Assoc. There are actually a number of companies all over the US doing this sort of thing.

Clyde be advised that this can run upward of $200 for the evaluation alone, and some outfits require you to have the information translated beforehand while others insist on doing it "in house" at an addition fee (usually substantial)

We chose Silney for 2 reasons
1)They were local to us - which meant if they required anything additional we could get it to them on the same day

2)They were one of the few that does not require the school in Russia to send the transcripts to them directly. We could submit the original copies we had on hand.

[Simoni]

We chose Silney for 2 reasons
1)They were local to us - which meant if they required anything additional we could get it to them on the same day

2)They were one of the few that does not require the school in Russia to send the transcripts to them directly. We could submit the original copies we had on hand.

And that's a biggie.  We spent months trying to get Marina's school in Ukraine to send transcripts to WES.  They never did.  So we went by in person this summer.  It was impossible to get them to send it....Marina finally got a copy of it, but they did not even have a school envelope to place it in.  I designed one and took it to them (and had them seal it and sign it), along with a fedex envelope with billing to my company.  That way it came from the university, which is the WES requirement.

Use Silney...and save yourself this headache.

[Mashaa]

Some US universities have their own evaluation services, so I would check with your local school first.
Some schools have a list of the agencies they work with. If your agency is not in their list you wasted your money and time.
WES is a headache. Silny is OK, but if your wife has a BS degree from a FSU universtiy she will probably get BS at Silny while WES would give her Master's! Some people reevaluate their diplomas at WES or other agencies because they want Master's.
Why doesn't she visit one of RW forums? She can find there tons of info about evaluation agencies and feedback about their services.

[Simoni]

WES is a headache. Silny is OK, but if your wife has a BS degree from a FSU university she will probably get BS at Silny while WES would give her Master's!

Correct, WES is a headache.  They have had Marina's credentials for 5 weeks and we still don't have the evaluation.  This screwed up Marina's fall semester courses...we had to guess what to take once again.  WES says they are waiting for a followup letter from her univ in Ukraine...the idiots must not realize that the univ has no budget for mailing and no "office" that does such work.

[Bruce]

Working with WES does indeed suck.  They are extremely expensive.  However, for my wife to get credit for her degrees here so she could get into the 1 year nursing programs in both the State of New York and State of New Jersey educational system I believe WES is the certifying agency they require, so check with the Universities requirements prior to using one or another certifying service.

[Son of Clyde]

We chose Silney for 2 reasons
1)They were local to us - which meant if they required anything additional we could get it to them on the same day

2)They were one of the few that does not require the school in Russia to send the transcripts to them directly. We could submit the original copies we had on hand.

I went with Silney and unfortunately they would not accept the photocopies of her original documents. I sent the originals off yesterday. My wife thought Silny was the best choice so we went with him.

[Son of Clyde]

To add; Josef Silny & Associates charged $150.00 total.

[Simoni]

I went with Silney and unfortunately they would not accept the photocopies of her original documents. I sent the originals off yesterday. My wife thought Silny was the best choice so we went with him.

But WES requires that the original documents come directly from the university, as is the practice in the US.  But that's a tough task for schools in the FSU.  We had to spend a day at Marina's school to get them to send it, and even had to provide postage and the envelope.  Even at that, WES did not get the job done on time.

[Curious_George]

If you still need this info...

You need to figure out what she wants to do with her Russian diploma before she picks an evaluation agency.

If she needs it for work, I am not sure whether an official evaluation is required. If she has a diploma, she probably can just indicate this on her resume.

If she wants to go to school, she needs to pick a school BEFORE she picks an agency. The trick is that every college has a specific evaluation agency that they work with. A lot of colleges work with WES, but some colleges REQUIRE that students send their transcripts to other agencies (i.e. ECE, Silny).

As for WES, the rules have recently changed. Now, applicants are required to contact the ministry of education in Moscow and have their documents properly certified and sent directly to WES. So, it is my understanding that WES no longer accepts any documents from the applicant. They accept the documents from the ministry of education.

[Son of Clyde]

I would not recommend Silney, they lost her original documents and the Post Office could not find them. They gave us three transcript evaluations for my wife to use and charge $30.00 for any additional copies. Is this the standard practice? I would think after we paid up front for the analysis, all copies should be free or reasonably priced.  Silney is not cheap.