Moving to the United States with a foreign degree feels like carrying a locked treasure chest without the key. You've spent years—maybe four, maybe seven—grinding through lectures and exams in your home country. Now, you’re standing in a recruiter's office in Chicago or trying to enroll in a master's program in Austin, and someone asks: "Is this equivalent to a U.S. degree?" It’s a gut punch. You know what you learned, but the American system needs a translator. This is where degree evaluation in USA becomes the bridge between your past life and your future career.
Most people think it’s just a translation. It’s not.
Translation is about words; evaluation is about weight. If you have a three-year Bologna Process degree from Europe, does it count as a four-year U.S. bachelor’s? If you studied at a premier institute in India that doesn't use a GPA system, how does a hiring manager know you were top of your class? The process is dense, bureaucratic, and honestly, a little bit expensive. But without it, your hard-earned credentials are basically just expensive wallpaper in the eyes of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) or state licensing boards.
Why You Can't Just Skip the Evaluation Process
The U.S. doesn't have a central ministry of education. This is weird for people coming from countries where the government controls everything from primary school to PhDs. Here, the power is decentralized. Every university and every state board makes its own rules. Because of this chaos, private agencies have stepped in to provide "Credential Evaluation Services."
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These agencies, like World Education Services (WES) or Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE), act as the unofficial referees of the academic world. They look at your transcripts, check if your school was actually accredited, and then run the math. They compare your credit hours and grades to the American standard.
If you're applying for an H-1B visa, the Department of Labor needs to know that the "specialty occupation" you're filling actually requires the degree you hold. Without a formal degree evaluation in USA, your visa application is likely to hit a wall. It’s the same for professional licensing. Want to be an engineer or a nurse? The state boards won't even look at your resume until a NACES-member agency (National Association of Credential Evaluation Services) gives you the green light.
The NACES vs. AICE Debate: Choosing an Agency
Don't just pick the first name you see on Google. That’s a mistake.
There are two main bodies that oversee these evaluation companies: NACES and AICE (Association of International Credential Evaluators). Most universities and employers prefer NACES members. WES is the big player here, the "Amazon" of the industry. They’re fast-ish and widely accepted, but they can be incredibly strict about how they receive documents.
I’ve seen people lose weeks because they sent a "certified copy" when WES specifically demanded an "original transcript in a sealed envelope directly from the registrar." It’s annoying. It's frustrating. But if the seal is broken, they’ll reject it. Period.
Then there are smaller firms like Josef Silny & Associates or SpanTran. Sometimes these are better if you're in a rush or if you have a "non-traditional" educational background. Some agencies are better at handling degrees from specific regions, like Eastern Europe or West Africa, because they have more specialized researchers on staff who understand those specific grading scales.
Understanding the "Course-by-Course" vs. "Document-by-Document" Split
You have to choose your weapon.
A Document-by-Document (DbD) evaluation is the basic version. It says, "Yes, this person has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Nairobi." It gives you the U.S. equivalent title and that’s about it. This is usually fine for immigration purposes or for some general jobs.
But if you’re going back to school, you need the Course-by-Course (CbC). This is the deep dive. The evaluator breaks down every single class you took, assigns it a U.S. semester credit value, and calculates a 4.0-scale GPA.
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Imagine you took "Advanced Structural Mechanics" in Dubai. The evaluator has to decide if that matches a junior-level or senior-level course in an American civil engineering program. If they decide it’s only a 200-level course, you might end up having to retake it at a U.S. college. It feels unfair, especially when you’ve already mastered the material, but that’s the reality of the transfer system.
The 3-Year Degree Headache
This is the most common "gotcha" in degree evaluation in USA. Many countries, including the UK, India, and Australia, offer three-year bachelor's degrees. In the U.S., a bachelor’s is almost always four years (120 credits).
For years, WES and others would flat-out say a 3-year degree was not equivalent to a U.S. 4-year degree. This ruined a lot of MBA dreams. However, things are shifting. Some agencies now recognize certain 3-year degrees—especially those with "Division I" status or those from NAAC "A" accredited schools in India—as equivalent to a U.S. degree. But you have to do your homework. If you have a 3-year degree, you need to find an evaluator that is "3-year friendly."
Costs, Timelines, and the "Hidden" Paperwork
Let’s talk money. You aren't just paying for a piece of paper; you're paying for the research.
A standard evaluation usually runs between $150 and $300. But that's just the starting line. You also have to pay your home university to send the transcripts. You might have to pay for professional translations if your documents aren't in English. And heaven help you if you need it rushed—expedited fees can double the price.
Then there’s the "verification" stage. Some agencies, especially for degrees from certain countries where fraud is a concern, will actually contact your home university to verify the records are real. This can add weeks to the process. If your home university is slow to respond to an email from a random company in New York, you're the one who suffers.
Document Requirements: The Golden Rule
Don't open the envelope.
I can’t stress this enough. If your university gives you a sealed transcript to mail yourself, do not—under any circumstances—open it to "check" if the grades are right. The moment that seal is broken, the document is "unofficial" in the eyes of an American evaluator. You’ll have to pay your home school all over again for a new copy.
Real-World Nuance: When Evaluation Isn't Enough
Sometimes, even a perfect evaluation isn't the final boss.
Take law or medicine. Even if an agency says your foreign MBBS is equivalent to a U.S. MD, you still can’t just walk into a hospital and start treating patients. You still have to pass the USMLEs and go through residency. For law, you usually have to do an LL.M. (Master of Laws) at an American school and pass a state Bar Exam.
The evaluation is just the ticket that lets you enter the stadium. It doesn't mean you've won the game. It proves you have the educational foundation, but it doesn't bypass professional licensing requirements.
How to Handle a "Bad" Evaluation
What happens if you get your report back and it says your degree is only equivalent to "two years of undergraduate study"?
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First, don't panic. You can appeal. Most agencies have an internal review process where you can submit additional evidence, like a detailed syllabus (course descriptions) for your classes. Sometimes, the evaluator just didn't realize that your "Intro to Math" course was actually a high-level Calculus class because of a naming difference.
If the appeal fails, you can try a different agency. Since they are private companies, they don't always agree. One might be stricter than another. It’s an expensive gamble, but for some, it’s the difference between a $70k salary and a $40k salary.
Actionable Steps to Get It Right the First Time
Stop guessing and start prepping. If you're serious about getting your degree evaluation in USA done, follow this path to avoid the most common traps:
Verify the Requirement: Ask the specific person who wants the evaluation (the university admissions officer or the HR manager) which agency they accept. If they say "any NACES member," you have options. If they say "only WES," you’re locked in.
Check the Document Checklist Early: Go to the agency's website and look up your specific country. The requirements for China are totally different from the requirements for Brazil. You might need a specific government stamp or a specific type of digital verification (like CHESICC for Chinese degrees).
Contact Your Registrar Now: Universities back home can be notoriously slow. Don't wait until you have a job offer to ask for your transcripts. Get the process of "sending to a third party" started as soon as possible.
Keep Your Own Copies: While the agency needs the "official" ones, you should have high-quality scans of everything for your own records. If the mail gets lost, you’ll at least have the data.
Budget for "The Extra": Always assume it will cost $100 more and take two weeks longer than the website says. Shipping delays, translation errors, and verification hiccups are the norm, not the exception.
The U.S. job market is competitive. Having a piece of paper that translates your hard work into the "American language" of credits and GPAs is the only way to ensure you aren't starting from zero. It’s a hurdle, sure. But once you have that evaluation in hand, your foreign degree finally has a voice in the American system.
Check if your target employer requires a specific NACES member before you pay any fees. Start by gathering your original, unstamped transcripts and contacting your home university's registrar to see if they offer electronic secure delivery through platforms like Parchment or National Student Clearinghouse, which can save you weeks of waiting for physical mail.