Are you going to work in the United States? Or perhaps you are applying for the H1B visa? Either way, you are going to need to evaluate your degree in the USA in order to proceed.
This process often seems to the applicants to be not only frustrating but full of pitfalls as well. In this post, we will break down the answers to some of the most important questions faced by any person who wants to evaluate a foreign degree in the US.
Why would I want to evaluate my degree in the US?
Before starting the time-consuming, complicated and (oftentimes) quite expensive procedure of evaluating your diploma or degree in the US, you should ask yourself: why would I do this?
The answer is quite simple: in America, education is treated with enormous respect and can open amazing career opportunities for people who are driven to pursue the degree. That being said, education alone is considered great but a real-life job experience in the field can outweigh it completely in some cases.
That way or another, you might also want to evaluate your degree in the US for the following reasons:
● you want to continue education in the US colleges and universities;
● you want to apply for the H1B non-immigrant visa;
● you want to get hired by a US company.
How to evaluate my degree in the US?
The difficulty in using a foreign degree in the US is that its value needs to be converted according to the American scoring system. This is done to figure out to a what extent a person matches the requirements of the US education system and job market because foreign colleges and universities often use drastically different methods and approaches in their curricula.
To get started, get a certified copy of your degree. This must be done with a notary public. Then, translate it to English and legalize the translated copies. Once this is done, you are good to send the degree to be evaluated by the US authorities which brings you to the next important question: which authority to submit the degree to?
Who is authorized to evaluate a degree in the US?
In the US, there is no central authority responsible for evaluating foreign degrees. Rather, a whole plethora of various institutions is entitled to do that. They can be grouped into four options that you should analyze carefully to determine which one is your best chance to get your degree evaluated properly.
Credential evaluation services
The credential evaluation scene is thriving and can offer you a lot of options to choose from. Probably the most prominent and popular is AERC (American Education Research Corporation). It is respected for providing high-quality, accurate and trustworthy education evaluation. This organization should definitely be on your list.
Professional association
If you not only hold a degree in your field but have already accumulated practical job experience, your best bet might be contacting a professional association in the US and asking them to evaluate your degree. Professional associations are quite picky about this because they need to maintain their reputation in the industry so expect to be invited for an interview or professional test.
Exam
The Program on Non-Collegiate Sponsored Instruction (PONSI) and the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) are the ones to watch. If you want to evaluate your college degree, this is the option to go for.
USCIS
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services is authorized to evaluate foreign degrees to determine if people who apply for the immigration statuses match the requirements of the US education system and what is their footing on the job market.
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