What is WES Evaluation?

Often when choosing the USA or Canada as your study-abroad destination, you will come across universities requiring international academic credentials to be evaluated by recognised organisations. One such institution is known as the World Education Services, offering a range of services to help international students, immigrants and refugees make their dream of studying in USA or Canada come true.

Established more than 45 years, World Education Services (WES) has developed a reputation and standard of excellence in international academic credential evaluations. This has allowed thousands of international students, immigrants and refugees to utilise their potential as well as their academic and professional goals.

Why do I Need WES Evaluation?

As stated above, many universities, including some of the top universities in Canada and the USA require applicants to send in their academic transcripts and reports properly evaluated and translated to US/Canadian equivalency, in order to select students from an equal playing field. Moreover, such translations or evaluations will help the universities and colleges to properly understand your skills, knowledge and potential after completing higher studies at their institution.

Therefore, before applying to any university in USA or Canada, it is important to check the eligibility criteria and admission requirements for your desired university and course and check the type of academic transcripts for admission purposes.

Throughout this article, we will discuss everything you need to know about WES evaluations.

WES Evaluation Process

The reputation of the World Education Services and its evaluation processes is the defined steps that the institution takes to ensure the end reports are as accurate as possible. With the help of reviews from the documentation and education system specialists, WES is able to ensure that their data/documentation collection, authentication and evaluation as well as the analysis and quality assurance standards remain consistent.

As stated above, the WES evaluation process involves 4 major steps, as have been outlined below:

Document Imaging

The first step in the process is collecting, analysing and storing the documents that are received by WES. Documentation specialists review each page of the documents and scan them into the WES system for further processing. Currently, WES accepts digitised versions of the documents, provided they have been submitted directly from the international institution where you have received your qualifications and accolades. However, this provision is available for limited institutions.

Document Review and Authentication

While the documents are reviewed at the time of collection, WES takes a second step into authenticating the documents. Here, ‘document examiners’ compare the physical and scanned documents, ensuring that the file or document is complete and scanned according to the parameters defined by WES.

Analysis and Evaluation

WES employs a team of analysts with country-specific knowledge and expertise to handle the analysis and evaluation process of the scanned documents. The team is responsible for analysing the documents for completeness and accuracy.

It is during this stage that applicants will be contacted by WES if they require additional documentation or information to help facilitate the evaluation process. If the documents require verification, WES will directly connect with the institution conferring the academic documents. While in case additional documents are required, WES will connect with the applicants. In both cases, the document evaluation and analysis process will be put on hold until further information or verification is completed by the respective parties.

Evaluation Report Quality Assurance

Once all the evaluations have been completed, an evaluation report draft will be created which will subsequently be reviewed by specialists who will make necessary changes if needed. Once reviewed, the report will be sent in for printing and mailing or be sent via electronic modes to the selected recipients.

Documents Required for WES Evaluation

Since World Education Services (WES) is an international academic credential evaluation institution, all applicants are required to submit appropriate information regarding their academic transcripts and reports. Depending on the country where you wish to pursue higher education, i.e. Canada or USA, the documents you need to submit will vary. Additionally, the document checklist will vary depending on the purpose of your evaluations.

Here is a list of documents that international students must submit if they wish to have their academic transcripts and reports evaluated as per Canadian and US standards.

Documents Required for WES Evaluation in USA

Students who are interested in pursuing higher studies in the USA and wish to have their documents evaluated must first determine the level of education they aim to study, i.e. freshmen admissions, graduate admissions or transfer admissions. Listed below are some of the documents that you will need to submit for WES evaluations to study in USA.

• Copy of the Degree Certificate (Final or Provisional); and

• Statement of Marks issued by the university and attested.

Note: WES has partnered with thousands of universities, even some from India. You can request your previous university to send the reports directly to WES or send it to you in a sealed envelope with a signature or stamp across the back flap.

Documents Required for WES Evaluation in Canada

Similar to applying to US universities, Indian students applying to various universities in Canada must also have their academic transcripts evaluated by WES. Check out the following list of documents that must be submitted to complete the WES verification.

• Copy of Degree Certificate

• Copy of Marksheets and Transcripts

Note: When searching for the perfect university in Canada, make sure you also check the admission requirements of the shortlisted universities. This will allow you to be prepared with the right documents within the specified timeline.

Types of WES Evaluations

The World Education Services offers aspiring international students, immigrants and refugees several services to help them transition to living, studying and working in the USA and Canada. In this article, we will focus primarily on the education aspect of WES Evaluations and fees. Listed below are some of the WES evaluation services and fees that will be applicable to aspiring international students.

Document-by-Document WES Evaluations

The World Education Services suggests international students applying for freshmen admissions in the USA select the Document-by-Document evaluation. A Document-by-document evaluation would usually contain the following:

• The credential name

• The entry requirements

• The length of the programme

• The equivalency of the credential according to US education standards

Note: When choosing the evaluation process, it is advisable to check whether your desired university accepts the document-by-document evaluation.

Course-by-Course WES Evaluations

Students applying for graduate admissions in the USA are suggested to choose the Course-by-Course evaluation, allowing them to apply to their desired university and programme. Here is what the Course-by-Course evaluation identifies and contains.

• The credential name

• The entry requirements

• The length of the programme

• The equivalency of the credentials as per US education standards

• List of all courses that have been completed at the post-secondary level

• A GPA on a scale of 4.0 according to US education standards

• A semester credit and grade equivalent for each course as per US education standards.

• A designation of the level of each undergraduate course.

Note: Similar to the document-by-document evaluations, it is important to check with the respective higher education institutions with regard to the type of report that needs to be submitted.

WES Evaluation Fees

To receive the WES services, applicants will be required to pay a fee depending on the services and packages they wish to receive. On the WES website, the organisation offers 2 packages, i.e. WES Basic and WES International Credential Advantage Package (ICAP). These options are available for both the document-by-document and course-by-course evaluation options offered by WES. Check out the tables below to find out the WES evaluation fees applicable for international students.

Apart from the primary fees chargeable to all applicants, they may also be required to pay the following additional fees for WES evaluations.

Note: The fees mentioned above are subject to change at the discretion of the organisation. Additionally, the charges mentioned above only cover evaluations for US universities. If you are interested in applying for WES Basic evaluation in Canada, then you will be charged CAD 347, which will further vary between different universities.

WES Evaluation Tools for International Students

Being a highly reputable and recognised institution for international credential evaluation, the World Education Services offers a number of services as well as a number of WES evaluation tools, that international students can use for their benefit. Some of these WES evaluation tools for international students have been mentioned below.

• Required Documents: One of the free tools that WES offers its applicants is the “Required Documents” tool. With the help of this WES Evaluation tool, you will be able to check the list of documents needed for WES evaluations from you and your institution. It should be noted that this tool will just give you a preview of the required documents.

• WES iGPA Calculator: Another free tool by WES, the iGPA calculator is designed to convert your academic scores into a US grade point average on a scale of 4.0. This will allow you to gauge your potential in applying to top universities in the US.

• WES Degree Equivalency Tool: Similar to the WES iGPA tool, the WES Degree Equivalency tool allows you to compare your degree to an equivalent offered in the USA.

Note: The benefits, services and tools available to international students expand drastically if they choose the WES ICAP evaluation package. Nonetheless, the WES basic package will cover all the basic necessities to study in USA or Canada.

As more and more Indian students travel abroad, especially to study in USA and Canada, services such as these are important to get into some of the top universities in the world and in the countries. Therefore, when applying to any of the top universities in the world, check the admission requirements and policies before sending in your documents and application forms.

Register and connect with our team of study abroad experts to find out everything you need to know about studying in the US, Canada or anywhere in the world.