As former international admission officers, we know how time consuming and difficult it can be to process international admission applications. What equals the grade of “A,” “B,” or “C” in Greece? What documents need to be submitted for me to evaluate a student’s application from Ethiopia? How many years of high school does a student from Cambodia complete, and are they eligible for admission at my institution? These are questions we’ve all asked and have had to research on our own... unless you work with a credential evaluation provider like ECE.
Since joining ECE we’ve created a list of reasons why a credential evaluation is essential for processing international applications in the U.S. or Canada. Regardless of the credential evaluation company you choose to work with, we highly recommend you make sure they provide the services below.
Top 5 Reasons
1. Minimizing paperwork burden
When your students order an ECE® credential evaluation report, we take on the legwork of receiving the student’s documents. Our team does the “chasing” for missing documents, saving you precious time and energy. Once the report is complete, it is visible immediately in your electronic portal, ECE® Dispatch. The report contains the full evaluation and scanned color copies of the student’s documentation, all compiled in one downloadable PDF. Gone are the days of searching through numerous emails, databases, or folders to find what you need.
2. Authenticating documents
ECE has decades of experience in credential evaluation. We boast an extensive research library with over 40,000+ publications and files. We also utilize online databases and internet authentication services in addition to using mailed official documentation. These resources and services allow us to authenticate your students’ educational records and issue accurate evaluations. If any fraud is detected, we immediately notify you and do not issue a report for the student.
3. Taking the guesswork out of determining a student’s academic preparedness
ECE knows that evaluating international credentials can be tricky. Different countries have different educational systems, curricula, and grading scales. A credential evaluation helps ensure that international credentials are accurately assessed and equated to the standards of the admitting institution. Using a credential evaluation service like to provide you with fair, accurate, and consistent evaluations can help an international admissions office to make prompt admission decisions.
4. Transferring in college-level completed coursework
A course by course credential evaluation report gives you the U.S. equivalency for each course taken by your international student. We even give you the credit hour equivalency, grade earned, and GPA. You can utilize the completed report not only to transfer in the earned credits your student deserves, but also to ensure repeated coursework, upper-level courses, and grades are accurately reflected on the student’s academic record.
5. Aiding with academic advising and scheduling of courses
Credential evaluations can provide guidance and support to academic advisors trying to put together a course schedule for a prospective international student. It can help determine the proper academic pathway a student should follow and provide clarity on potential transfer credit. It can help calculate eligibility for honors programs, academic fraternities, or other specialized programs. It can also be useful to determine if a student has completed the necessary pre-requisites for a program or to guide them towards a new pathway if their transfer credits align more closely with a different major. This, in turn, can help the student save time and money on completing their degree program from your institution.
Once you’ve realized the benefits of using a credential evaluation provider, the next step is finding a trusted and reliable organization. ECE has created reports for more than 800,000 applicants from every country in the world, and we work with over 2,000 institutions in both the U.S. and Canada. Our resources, such as the free ECE® Connection and upgraded fee-based ECE® Connection Advantage, are trusted by thousands of education professionals. Our collection of research material is unparalleled. There’s nothing we haven’t seen, and we’re here to help you and your international admissions office in any way that we can.