1. EVALUATION AT UNIVERSITY
ADMISSIONS V.S. EVALUATIONAT WES
Katia Hua
3/12/2014

2. What universities do
Main responsibilities:
• Research the applicant's credentials
Determine equivalency of international degrees and credit systems.
Examine transcripts to determine eligibility
• Review supplementary documents
• Correspondence
Correspond with international Embassies and Education USA advisors.
Correspond with students regarding their application status.
• Assistance
Assist students and faculty who come into the office regarding
international matters.
Act as liaison between applicants and academic units.
Assist with visa issues
• Recruitment

3. Main components:
• Transcripts
• Language test result
Following countries are considered native English
speaking: Australia, British Caribbean Islands, Canada
(except Quebec), Ireland, Bahamas, Barbados, Kenya,
Singapore, and the United Kingdom. Hong Kong? India?
Nigeria? Sorry!
• Financial documents
• Other supplementary documents

4. Highly selective universities
(Ivy league, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, other top 20)
• Looking for reasons that not to take the student instead of
looking for reasons to take the student.
• More than 30,000 applicants every year. Only 5%-10%
are able to get in.
• Self-selection

5. All Applicants

6. • How to evaluate applications
1) Bio info: name, address, academic history
2) Language fluency
3) Transcripts (academic program/GPA)
4) Financial resources
5) Activities

7. What do they look at?
• It’s a whole package:
great academic performance+ leadership
• What is leadership?
1) academic leadership
2) Good will of helping people, and capability to make it
happen.

8. Universities in the middle
(Most state universities, top 100)
• Looking for reasons to take the student.
Will they graduate?
Can they pay?
Did they do a good job on application?
Are they interesting?
• Problems raised (short-term/long-term)

9. Community colleges and regional
universities
• “They want body”
• It’s not all bad

10. What WES’s evaluation does
• Main responsibilities:
1) Documentation
• Determine what documents are needed
• Determine how to obtain required documents
2) Verification of Recognition
• Verify institution recognition
• Verify program recognition
3) Evaluation
• Research and Collect country specific educational system and
program features
• Combine and measure credential and educational features to
identify U.S. equivalency
4) Issue assessment statement

11. Difference btw WES evaluation &
university evaluation
WES Object: documents- Authenticity, equivalency
• WES focus more on documents
Does the document have an US equivalency?
Are documents authentic?
• WES is a non-interest involved party bridging university
and students- objective

12. Difference btw WES evaluation &
university evaluation
University admission Object: applicants
• Interests involved. Different standards/concerns even
regarding same school based on their needs.
• Evaluation is a whole package

13. Overlaps btw WES evaluation &
university evaluation
What we all do: Reviewing and analyzing academic documents
• Check Applicant’s name, bio-data
• Application vs. physical documents
• Attributes of the physical document: raised stamps/colors/size of
paper
• Envelopes: clearly identified stamps/signatures/colors
• Name of Institution
• Name of Credential
• Date Credential was awarded
• Institution’s official stamp/insignia
• Credential is signed by appropriate official(s)
• Additional Information: major, classification, final GPA
• To determine: All required documents are received. All
documents are authentic. Credentials are legible. Institutions are
legible. Grades are real.

14. Among overlaps universities’ focus
• Grading scale, GPA calculation, ranking of program
and school, core courses, transferable credits, course
level
• Are applicants legible to apply degrees they want to
apply?
• Does GPA meet the minimum requirement?
• Any course looks fishy?
• For transfer students, did they take required courses?
• How many courses are transferable? (trash courses)

15. Grading scales
90-100 A 4-5
80-89 B 3-3.99
70-79 C 2-2.99
60-69 D 1-1.99
Grade point= (grade-50)/10
∑ credit*grade point / ∑ credit
e.g. 95, and 2 credits
Grade point=(95-50)/10=4.5
4.5*2=9, then sum total credit*grade point then divided by
sum of total credits

16. Among overlaps WES focuses on
• WES groups are divided by country
language advantages
know more about particular countries.
• More strict on establishment of authenticity
What constitutes authenticity: 1) authentic institution 2)
authentic transcript
Verify that the academic institution is an officially
recognized degree granting institution in the country of
education
Verify that programs are officially recognized.
• Keep up-to-date information

17. My humble opinion
• WES is a good way to offset disadvantages of university
admission evaluation. The way universities do can’t 100%
ensure authenticity, especially countries like India, China. For
these countries WES has much more strict rule regarding
obtaining documents. WES’s VDR policy and cooperation with
CDGDC ensure quality of evaluation. Since India and China
are not only difficult but also send the most number of
applications there will be more business for WES in future.
• WES could work with small (like liberal arts colleges) or
regional universities. These universities don’t have sufficient
resources and staff to work on credentials. And students with
various background are more likely to apply these institutions.

18. The End