EducationUSA Iran Adviser: I have with us Nancy Katz and she is the director of Evaluation Service, Inc. Nancy, could you please tell us a little bit about what you do specifically when you receive documentation?
Nancy Katz, Evaluation Service, Inc.: What we do is that, for whatever country the individual is from, we want to see the transcripts and degree certificate assuming that it’s for postsecondary education issued in the native language along with certified English translations. What we do then is that we make sure that the school exists and the program existed at the time that the studies were completed and that it is the grading system that is common to that university in that country and in verifying the authenticity to the documents as well. We double-check the name of the student on the native language document and the English translation and etc.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: I hear that you are somewhat the specialist for Iranian documents.
Nancy: Yes.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: Is there anything in particular that you think Iranian students can do to improve the quality of the documents they submit?
Nancy: The most important thing is that 99 percent of the institutions in Iran issue the documents in Persian/Farsi. We need to see a photocopy of the degree certificate if they’ve completed the university degree, the official transcript, and then a certified English translation. A certified English translation can be made in Iran, which is an official document, but we would not do an evaluation of an English translation only. It must come with a photocopy of the original language document.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: Ok. So they need to make sure to submit the photocopy of the original transcript or whatever document they are submitting.
Nancy: Correct. We would not work with an English translation only. Because if there is an English translation, it was made from something, we want to see what it was made from. One could read Farsi or not, credential evaluators within the United States can read the numbers. We can look at the number, like if it is 20 or 16.7 Persian numbering that we can see it in the English translation. So we are double-checking everything.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: Speaking of numbers, in your opinion how does the Iranian grading system or the grading scales correspond to the U.S. grading system?
Nancy: Universities in Iran, we not talking about secondary school but we are talking about university, it’s 0 to 20 scale or 1 to 4 scales. The 0 to 20 scale is more similar to the French scaling system, with 10 being the minimum pass, or it’s 0 to 4 grading scale, which is similar to United States as for A, B, C … scale as well.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: As and Bs would be anything above 17?
Nancy: Yes, school evaluation services use different grading scale for the 0 to 20 scale, but I would be comfortable and pretty confident to say that at most schools from 17 to 20 is generally in the A range. If you are on a 4 point scale same to United States 4-3-2-1 is A-B-C-D.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: Are there any common mistakes that you see other than the photocopy and the certified translation or any common mistakes that you see when Iranians submit their application?
Nancy: The most common thing that I see is that not submitting the degree certificate and just the photocopy of the degree certificate, not realizing that it is important. In the United States and some other countries a degree is listed on a transcript that has been awarded. For student from Iran if the degree is listed on the transcript, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it has been awarded so we always want to see a copy of the degree certificate. We do understand that this is an issue sometimes when one hasn’t done his social service and military service but given that the degree will be awarded once they put in their x-years of governmental/social service most schools will accept that as saying they have completed a degree program if they have a degree.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: Should the student enclose any sort of documentation which certifies that the university is approved by the ministry of higher education in Iran?
Nancy: That’s the job of the credential evaluator in my opinion, as well of the school to verify the fact that the school is a recognized institution in Iran.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: Ok, so that’s not the responsibility of the student.
Nancy: No. Every once in a while though, there might be a new school or a college that does not have a website or is not listed in our resources and the credential evaluator whether at an evaluation service, or at the university may then come back and say “could you please provide some additional information about this institution”.
Can I make a comment about secondary school credentials?
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: Yes, please do!
Nancy: Generally what we want to see is the certificate of secondary completion, which is a document issued by the Ministry and it will indicate the school that the individual studied at, what their accumulative grade point average is, the branch or the stream they’d studied which is literature, mathematics, sciences, vocational, etc. and we want to see that as well and then the school would want to see the transcript for the last three years of study. Once again issued in Persian with certified English translation.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: Ok.
Nancy: I always say Persian instead of Farsi. Because I’d studied Persian at the University of Michigan and my instructor always said that it’s like saying Espanola and not Spanish. So in English you say Persian so that’s my qualifications.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: Yes, I am sure that your professor will be very proud of you! One of my colleagues had a question. She said to ask you; if a person has a choice of course or tracks is there anything that would maximize acceptance of credit in the U.S.?
Nancy: From high school or from university?
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: Either or.
Nancy: For high school no, high school is high school. We would not give credit for that. For postsecondary, for university or college study, every school in the United States will make their own determination on what they will transfer in for credits. So I would say the student should study what they choose to study.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: The other question we had was how do particular levels in Iranian degrees tend to be recognized in terms of their equivalency to U.S. degrees?
Nancy: If it’s a bachelor degree or the kaarshenaasi, which is the bachelor degree or the license—as long as it’s at least four year at length it is generally considered equivalent of a U.S. bachelor’s degree. The master’s degree, the kaarshenaasi arshad, which is generally considered the equivalent of the master’s degree. There is also an intermediate degree prior to the bachelor’s degree called the kaardaani, which would be equivalent to an associate’s degree in the United States, and this is generally in vocational and technical programs or more like medical science type programs and those would be similar to (they could be completed at an university) but this type of programs would be considered sort of equivalent to an associate degree like those of the community college at the United States. So it is very similar. The current structure of the education in Iran is similar to the U.S. educational system.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: That’s pretty much all the questions we had. Did you have any other comments or advice that you would give to a student who is applying or starting to collect their documents?
Nancy: Once again, the important thing is the Persian language document as well as the certified English translation—which can be done in Iran or another country, that doesn’t matter—and also if you can get duplicate copies of the original that would be helpful. Students can get official transcripts sent directly from the school in Iran to schools in the United States. We see it all the time. It can take a little time to do that but it is possible so they shouldn’t feel that it is impossible.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: Would that be a special request that the student needs to make?
Nancy: Yes. They might want to do that before leaving Iran or if they have relatives in Iran they can find out how they can get the official transcript if requested.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: If requested by the university?
Nancy Katz: Yes.
EducationUSA Iran Adviser: Thank you very much for answering my questions, Nancy. That was great. Thank you!
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