A university is asking me to get my transcripts translated, they are in English, I was in the British system for high school. Bear in mind I am American, not an international student I was just in the British schooling system. I don’t know why they aren’t doing it themselves or why they’re even complicating it so much. No university I have ever applied to has asked me to do this and I’ve applied to A LOT and all types. It’s costing more than $145 to get it translated by their own services or WES. My financial standing isn’t good right now, that’s why I’m upset over this. I didn’t start college this year and will be next year because I couldn’t afford to go. So this is very frustrating. Are there any services that do it for less or for free? The counsellor told me to just contact the services for a waiver but let’s be honest I probably won’t be able to get one because of how complicated they usually make it to get one. And the common app waiver won’t apply to this. The issue is this university is one of my top choices, and I have a good chance of getting in so I really don’t want to cancel my application over this.
I think the university wants your transcripts “evaluated”, i.e. they want to know what the US equivalent of each course and each grade is?
I wonder if the university is looking for a specific piece of information that you could get them cheaper. For example, whether your foreign credential is equivalent to a US high school diploma, or the American names of your foreign math courses.
@“b@r!um” They are equivalent, I did GCSE’s and A-Levels. This should be common knowledge to colleges about how the British system translates over otherwise all the other universities would have contacted me to get them evaluated but they didn’t. Which means they either know, or just do it themselves, which is why I am confused why they are asking me to do something they should be doing.
I emailed the two websites about the waiver but I am not getting my hopes up. I guess I will email the admissions counselor what exactly they want. $145 is a lot of money for me that I work very hard to earn and save for my actual college tuition.
Have you contacted your admissions rep at the college to ask that the requirement be waived?
@Sue22 yes, I asked them and they just said they wish they could help more or give a more useful answer but they can’t waive it the website I use will need to do it. Massive eye roll at that reply. I’m just so incredibly frustrated over this, there seems to be problem after problem with my applications.
I am confused. What website? Waive what? (the fee for the evaluation, or the evaluation requirement?) Are you applying through a special program that won’t forward your application to universities unless the program considers your application complete?
@b@r!um the website that evaluates the transcripts for them, WES and another one that’s from their own university. It is only for one single university that asked me to get my transcripts evaluated, no other university requires it. I wanted to get the payment waived because I can’t afford it. I just got an email back from the university services saying they don’t waive it and perhaps friends and family could help pay. I have truly given up.
Either scrape together the money for the evaluation, or drop this institution from your list. My recommendation is for you to use WES. Their evaluations are recognized by every college and university that I know of, so if you would need an evaluation in the future for another college or university, you would not need to re-do it.