WES Evaluation for Indian Students: A Complete Guide

If you are planning to apply to American or Canadian universities, you will be required to provide GPA scores. Since the scores need to be according to American calculations, scores provided by Indian universities need to be converted. Here is where WES which stands for World Education Services comes to the student's rescue. In this article, we will talk about the WES Evaluation for Indian students, the timelines, documents required, and more.

World Education Services (WES) is North America’s trusted leader in credential evaluation services. It is a non-profit social enterprise dedicated to helping international students, refugees, and immigrants achieve their career and educational goals in the United States and Canada. WES works directly with more than 48,000+ global Higher Education Institutes in 200+ countries and provides life-changing outcomes for their students and alumni. WES evaluates more than 4 million+ cases per year, making it the largest credential evaluator in North America.

If you have completed your education outside of the US or Canada and want to do higher studies or a job in these countries, then a WES credential evaluation will help you understand how your academic transcripts are viewed in the US or Canada. In simple words, a WES Evaluation report serves not only as a credential evaluation but also as an authentication of academic qualifications.

What is WES Evaluation?

The credentials evaluation by WES is a comparison of a student’s academic accomplishments to standards in the U.S. or Canada. This report helps institutions like schools, licensing boards, employers, or immigration authorities better understand educational qualifications. In short, the WES report will do the following things:

• Verifies that your credentials are correct
• Identify and describe your credentials
• It may include a grade point average (GPA) equivalency 
• Have an evaluation of the authenticity of the documents

Additionally, it will help standardise and equate the applicant's performance based on US or Canadian levels of understanding. Also, it converts CGPA into GPA of the applicant's academic reports along with evaluating other credentials. Check out about the GPA Calculator

Is WES Evaluation Mandatory in US & Canada?

If your university has asked for a WES assessment, then you must submit it at any cost. Most Canadian colleges will not ask for an ECA from WES. However, some universities will require an ECA from WES. It is usually advised that the students get their ECA done. Moreover, if you are applying for a Canada PR through Express Entry, then you need an ECA. WES is not the only organization that is involved in ECA. Other designated organizations include:

• Comparative Education Service – University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies
• International Credential Assessment Service of Canada
• International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS)
• International Credential Evaluation Service – British Columbia Institute of Technology

In the case of studying in the USA and across US universities, the applicants will be required to submit WES Evaluations also, evaluations will be needed if he/she is a job seeker. The following agencies provide ECA (Educational Credential Assessment) in the USA which can be considered by applicants applying for education or jobs in the USA:

• Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE)
• Josef Silny & Associates International Education Consultants (JS&A)
• WES
• Educated Choices, LLC
• American Education and Translation Services (AET)

WES Evaluation Timeline

A WES report gets completed within seven business days of receipt, review, and acceptance of all documents by WES, and payment in full. 

Steps to Apply for WES Evaluation

The 3-step process to apply for WES Evaluation is given below.

• First of all, submit your application and receive your WES application number
• Next, read the document requirements and send in your documents. Do not forget to include your WES reference number
• After this, the verification of credentials is done. Then, the report is created and delivered to your recipients

 

How to send documents for WES Evaluation?

Based on the country of application, applicants will have to check the requirements, for example, if an applicant wants a credential evaluation of his/her high school certificate then they will have to follow the given steps:

• Request the school exam department to send WES the applicant's mark sheets and relevant documents sealed in an envelope which are attested in a stamped envelope. 
• Once the school sends the sealed envelope, WES will evaluate the documents and update them accordingly. 
• There is also an option to send the documents digitally, the instructions can be downloaded while making payments for WES evaluation.

Before submitting the documents, applicants will have to:

1. Include the reference number as provided by WES India
2. Ensure not to send original documents for evaluation
3. Check if digitally signed documents can be obtained from the applicant's institution and submitted to WES.
4. If submitting documents through courier service, make sure that shipping charges are paid. 

Documents Required for WES Evaluation 

Degree Certificate (Provisional or Final)

University Marksheet

What is included in WES Evaluation?

The three types of evaluation done by WES are:

• Document-by-document Evaluation: This provides the U.S. equivalency of your credential. It is done for freshman university admissions, employment, and U.S. immigration.
• Course-by-course Evaluation: This evaluation provides the U.S. equivalency of your credential and U.S. GPA. It lists your courses and grades. It is done for transfer and graduate university admission, and licensing boards (except CPA).
• CPA Supplemental Report: This analyzes your business and accounting courses for Certified Public Accountant (CPA) boards.

What is the Cost of WES Evaluation?

To get a WES evaluation as an international student, applicants will need to pay a certain amount. WES Evaluation fees vary based on the applicant's application as an undergrad, transfer or graduate student. Check out the proposed WES evaluation cost break along with the additional charges below:

WES Evaluation Types	Fees
Freshmen Admissions
Document by Document Evaluation	USD 160
Course by Course Evaluation	USD 111
Graduate Admissions
Document by Document Evaluation	USD 176
Course by Course Evaluation	USD 225

Please note, that the costs are dynamic and subject to change, thus, applicants must check the costs beforehand and only then apply for the evaluation depending on submission deadlines.

WES Products

WES offers three different kinds of products:

• Free Degree Equivalency: It is an online tool that shows how international university degrees compare to US or Canadian degrees. This information helps the student determine eligibility for higher education.
• WES International Credential Advantage Package (ICAP): It is a WES service that sends verified transcripts and evaluation reports to universities in one package. WES stores the documents and information for future academic or professional use.
• WES International Grade Point Average (IGPA) Calculator: It is a free online tool that calculates and converts international grades from over 140 countries into the four-point GPA scale commonly used in the US.

You should apply for an evaluation as soon as you decide on the universities to apply to, because you may need some time to collect all the documents and degrees.

You can get in touch with WES officials to help you with your credential evaluation at http://www.wes.org/contact.asp

For any doubts, please drop us a comment below and we'll be happy to resolve your queries!

Read More:

• WES report on How Master's Students Choose Institutions
• How does WES convert grades to GPA?