Transcript Research will have limited availability on Tuesday, May 21, since all of our staff will be participating in a mandatory training day.  Evaluations will not be delayed as a result of this limited access, but we will it will be harder to reach us by phone on Tuesday.

As of May 1st, we have unveiled our new online application form with new a new fee schedule.  The new form can be filled out entirely online so there is no need to save it locally or print it.  You can apply online here: http://transcriptresearch.com/apply/

Transcript Research will be closed to phone calls on Friday, February 15th, as all of our staff will be at a conference for further training and professional development so that we may better serve our customers. All applications due at that time will be completed and sent before that date so that no applications will be delayed. We will respond to emails and return phone messages upon our return on Monday.

Transcript Research has created a short, 2-minute video on how to electronically sign your application form using the free Adobe Reader and your mouse.  It’s now available here and on our new YouTube channel, and new videos will be updated soon on completing the application, understanding our requirements, and using our new online payment portal.

Transcript Research is pleased to announce that our new application form is now online.  With this new form, we are now offering some services that were previously not available, including a preliminary evaluation and 2-day rush service.

The preliminary evaluation allows you to fax, email, or mail your application form and a copy of your educational credentials so that we can provide you with an informal, email-only equivalency of your academic credentials.  If you later decide to apply for a full evaluation (at which point you would have to submit official credentials as identified on our Requirements page), the cost of the preliminary evaluation would be credited towards your application fee.

Our standard turn-around time is approximately 3-4 weeks, but we now offer the option to add 5-business-day rush service for an additional $75 or 2-business-day rush service for an additional $150.

In addition, our application form is now available as a fillable PDF form, meaning that you can type in your information, save it to your computer, and print or email the completed form. You can also simply print the application form and fill it out by hand as always.

We look forward to working with you!

The 2013 NAFSA Texas State Meeting will be held at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio from February 14-15.

If you have international students on campus, or if you offer study abroad programs, this is the perfect opportunity to network with others at Texas colleges and universities, keep up with industry best-practices, and learn about new initiatives.

On Thursday, February 14, the following NAFSA workshops are being offered: F-1 Student Advising for Beginners, F-1 Student Advising: Intermediate, J-1 Advising: Advanced, Education Abroad Advising, Fundamentals of Short-Term Education Abroad Programming, and Health, Safety, and Risk Management in Education Abroad.

On Friday, February 15, a full day is available, along with breakfast, lunch, 4 concurrent sessions, and breakout sessions for special interest groups.

In particular, I am thrilled to announce that we have a full day of back-to-back sessions on foreign transcript evaluations. These sessions are being offered by experienced transcript evaluators from a mix of public universities and private evaluation companies.
9:00 am – Introduction to Foreign Transcript Evaluation
10:15 am – Understanding the 4 Basic Education Models
1:15 pm – Determining Transfer Credit
2:30 pm – Hot Topics: Foreign Credential Evaluations

If you conduct your own evaluations in-house, this is a wonderful and cost-effective opportunity to update your skills.  If you require outside evaluations from private evaluation services, this is a great chance to meet with representatives and better understand the process.

Registration and hotel information can be found online at the NAFSA website at http://www.nafsa.org/Connect_and_Network/Engage_with_a_Community/NAFSA_Regions/Region_III/States/Texas/

Due to icy road conditions and inclement weather, Transcript Research will remain closed on Wednesday, December 26.

Transcript Research will be closed on Monday, December 24, and Tuesday, December 25, as well as Tuesday, January 1, in observance of U.S. holidays.

Transcript Research will be offering additional services and will have a revised fee schedule in early January 2013. Look for our new application form soon!

We are pleased to announce that 5-business day rush service processing is now available again for all applicants.  Our standard turn-around time is 3-4 weeks, though we make every effort to complete all evaluations in the shortest turnaround time we can.  However, if you need your documents evaluated more quickly, we offer the option to upgrade to 5-business day rush service processing for an additional $75.  Whether you upgrade to rush processing or not, you can choose to get an email or fax copy of your evaluation for $5 per electronic contact, for yourself or the institution where you are applying. Of course, if your documents need to be verified with or sent from the issuing institution, rush processing might be delayed.

Please note that the turnaround time indicates when your evaluation will be mailed, not when you will receive it.  Documents sent to your address will be mailed by USPS Priority Mail (2-3 business days for US addresses).  All other evaluations will be sent by USPS First Class Mail.  You may also choose to have documents sent via USPS Express Mail (1-2 business days for US addresses) for $20 per address.

Transcript Research is delighted to announce that we have installed a new automated response system on our phone line to ensure that we are able to assist our applicants, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by calling us at 214.810.1124.  We will continue to maintain office hours Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, Central Standard Time, but you can now get answers to most of your questions all day, every day.  As always, we are also available via email at info@transcriptresearch.com.

Transcript Research is pleased to announce that we are now offering limited availability for 5-business day Rush service for $75 on a case-by-case basis. To find out if your credentials quality, please email us at info@transcriptresearch.com or call us at 214.810.1124 to provide us with specific information about the educational documents that need to be evaluated.

In particular, we need to know the country of study, the name of the institution, the level (secondary or post-secondary), and the name of the credential completed (or working towards if you did not graduate). We may also require scanned copies of your documents before we can make a determination about whether your credentials would be eligible for rush service processing.

Please note that credentials requiring verification or countries where we must receive documents sent directly from the institution can only be rushed AFTER the official verification or institution-sent documents are received.

Rush service processing is primarily available for traditional high school graduation documents and university degree programs. Rush service is not guaranteed unless your documents have been pre-approved by Transcript Research. Not all credentials and not all countries are eligible for rush service processing. If you want to apply for rush service processing, please check our country-specific requirements to ensure you meet all other eligibility since incomplete applications cannot be rushed.

Effective immediately, all applicants from secondary schools in Mexico must make arrangements to have their original high school records sent directly to us from the high school, OR have their documents validated by the SEP or their specific Mexican state department of education, OR have their transcripts sent verified with our Records Request form.  Any validation fee will need to be paid by the applicant, not Transcript Research.

Please note that we have recently made a few, minor updates to our Requirements page.  Before submitting your application materials, please check to ensure that you are able to provide all of the required documents and information.

We have made some changes to our website and are still discovering some changes that didn’t work quite the way we intended, so you should be seeing more updates over the week.

For everyone who applied during our holiday closure, you should be receiving an email today to let you know the status of your application.

Transcript Research will be closed the week of July 4, from July 2 through the 6th.  We will reopen on Monday, July 9.  We will not be working during our closure, so we will not be responding to emails or phone calls, and we will not be processing evaluations that week, either.  As a result, evaluations that would ordinarily have been due that week will be completed the following week.

Our director recently co-presented a session with Nancy Katz of Evaluation Service, Inc., and AACRAO International Education Services on using the internet to research international education systems and credentials at the AACRAO 2012 Annual Meeting.

The handout from the session covers some of the most useful online resources related to evaluating international academic credentials,  including:

• lists of official and unofficial resources
• newsletters
• publications and databases
• online verification services and examples
• diploma mill resources
• online training options
• general strategies for evaluation
• lots of links, most of which are also included in “Researching International Education Systems and Institutions“

Our director recently presented a session on updates to the education system of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the AACRAO 2012 Annual Meeting.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has spent a tremendous amount of time and money over the last decade updating the educational system and educational opportunities for its growing population of young people. The handout from this session covers numerous topics related to education in the Kingdom including:

- current and upcoming changes to education

- samples of new secondary and alternative secondary school credentials

- the ongoing scholarship program, including information on the scholarship portal, the applicant process, and acceptable documents

- lists of various types of recognized higher education institutions, including public and private universities, colleges of technology, higher technical institutes, and private health institutes

- other topics of interest to admissions officers, recruiters, and credentials evaluators

We are currently accepting applications for evaluation.  Please note that, due to high volumes, we have made some changes to the application form to ensure that applicants provide all necessary information and documentation up front. Be sure to read the application form thoroughly before submitting your materials.

Unless we can verify your credentials, we require official academic credentials; we cannot accept copies, faxes, or notarized documents unless they can be verified at the source.  Please ensure that you read all requirements.

We do not offer translation services.

Our fees have also changed as announced previously – the general equivalency evaluation is $85, and the detailed, course-by-course evaluation (post-secondary credentials only) is $165.  Both can be used for immigration, education, and employment purposes and more, so please check with the intended recipient to see which they prefer.

Please note that we are not able to offer rush service processing, and evaluations generally take 3-4 weeks for completion.

Application – http://www.transcriptresearch.com/Application.pdf

Attention:

Due to a recent surge in applications, we are currently over capacity.  In order to provide the best possible service to our current applicants, we will be unable to accept any new applications until further notice.  All current applications will be processed as close to the scheduled time as possible.

Due to high volumes, we are currently accepting only a limited number of applications for evaluation until further notice.  Please call or email with a brief description of your academic credentials before applying to see if your application will be accepted.  College and university transcripts for further education have the greatest chance of being processed.  We are also currently unable to offer rush service processing at this time.

Before contacting us, please be sure to check the requirements page at http://www.transcriptresearch.com/Requirements to ensure that you are able to meet the country-specific requirements for evaluation.

We have a slew of new information regarding AACRAO, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

Next week is the AACRAO Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, and we’re pleased to announce that our director is presenting or co-presenting two sessions: “International Credential Evaluation: Using the Internet” and “Update on the Education System of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”  Handouts and presentations will be available online here after the presentations next week.

Many of the handouts are already available online at http://handouts.aacrao.org/am12/display.php

The conference looks great with 30 (yes! thirty!) sessions related to international credentials, international admissions, and other issues relevant to international education.  http://www2.aacrao.org/MeetingPublic/searchSession/meetingId/387740000000E/

AACRAO now has an online message board specifically for international educators and activities.  You can sign up for it online at http://lists.aacrao.org/mailman/listinfo/internationalactivities

We hope to see you at AACRAO next week!

Due to our current workload, it is with regret that we inform you that we are currently unable to accept Rush applications until further notice.  For anyone who has already submitted a Rush application, your priority processing will still be accommodated, but we are unable to accept any more Rush applications at this time.  Regular applications that do not require rush processing are still moving smoothly, but we do not have the staffing levels to accommodate the recent surge in Rush applications.  Our apologies.