I am so mad!

[JennifersLost]

DS just got a form in the mail from St. Cloud U saying that we have to pay over $200 to get his transcript "evaluated" by WES evaluation because we live in Canada.

 

Seriously?

 

Our transcripts - both the homeschooling portion AND the public school portion are in English, use the same kinds of titles US schools do, GRADE THE SAME, and so on. What exactly are these weasels going to evaluate?

 

Hmmm. Chemistry. That means "Chemistry" in English.

 

Pre-Calculus. That translates into "Pre-Calculus" in English.

 

I have to pay some jerks $300 for THAT?

 

I'm so mad I could just spit. He took the SATs. He did the classes. St. Cloud U is a freaking state school - not Harvard.

 

 

Needless to say - I'm not doing this. They are going to have to waive it, or ds is not going there. If they want me to send in a description of the coursework, fine. I'm not paying some other ninnys to do it.

 

Talk me down, people - anyone else have to do something like this?

[2cents]

That's crazy! We never ran across anything like that! What's to evaluate??? Like you said...chemistry is chemistry etc. Sound fishy to me. :confused:

[Chris in VA]

Ugg. :grouphug:

 

IIWY, I'd offer to send them a course description for each course, complete with ISBN numbers for any texts you used. I think that should be enough.

[Janice H]

 

St. Cloud U is a freaking state school - not Harvard.

 

 

 

 

Some states are behind the times. I don't know what WES is. Do you think the "request" stems from your ds being in Canada or being a homeschooler?

 

There's an older post with an example of a dc having no trouble getting in anywhere but their own State Univ of New York school--until the GED results were sent.

 

I am still in talks with a California state school. I too, am not sure what my bottom line in time and money is with these guys. You have my sympathies.

[OLG]

Might be worth a phone call to the Director of Admissions....sounds suspicious OR could be some lackey weeding out applications with form letters. If this is a school of interest, call. At least you can tell them you don't think the school is worth that fee!!

 

Mary

[TravelingChris]

I do think some state schools are worse than any others. Do talk with the admissions office. Maybe you can reach a sensible person. In dd's case, we saw something saying that University of Alabama needs all this extra stuff. Well dd just filed a regular application; and I sent both her homeschool transcript and a community college one for one of her classes. No problems at all. I am really happy that I haven't wasted time trying to jump through extra hoops or have dd do so either.

 

Here is hoping you get a good resolution.

[Moira in MA]

DS just got a form in the mail from St. Cloud U saying that we have to pay over $200 to get his transcript "evaluated" by WES evaluation because we live in Canada.

 

Needless to say - I'm not doing this. They are going to have to waive it, or ds is not going there. If they want me to send in a description of the coursework, fine. I'm not paying some other ninnys to do it.

 

Talk me down, people - anyone else have to do something like this?

 

I took a look at the St Cloud International student application form and found this:

A WES (World Education Services) evaluation is required of all international students who have studied

outside of the United States. All secondary transcripts from non-US educational institutions must be sent

directly to WES by the issuing institution. This is a requirement before admission can be granted. You will find

all the information you need at http://www.wes.org.

• You can apply for your evaluation on the WES website, and should apply for the Document-by-

Document evaluation. The cost is $100 USD and will be paid by you, the student.

• It is critical that you read and follow the "Required Documents" information specific to your country of

study to ensure that your evaluation is completed as quickly as possible.

• If your transcripts and diplomas are in languages other than English, you must provide a translation.

• Please make sure that St. Cloud State University is listed as one of the recipients of the WES

evaluation.

• Once all the required documentation has been received by WES, the evaluation usually takes 7 – 10

days.

• If a student has already completed a document-by-document evaluation from another National

Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) http://www.naces.org/ member, he or she can

submit this evaluation to the Center for International Studies office.

 

Seems that they have this as standard for all international applications, not just homeschooled ones.

 

As another poster said, it is probably due to the fact that they are a state school and one that I suspect doesn't get many international applicatants.

 

Any reason why you aren't applying in Canada? Dd1 applied to McGill and Dalhousie last year and was accepted at both with scholarship money. She's now a U1 student at McGill.

 

I think college applications are just about the hardest thing in homeschooling, but they're no walk in the park for regular schooled students either.

 

Best of Luck

~Moira

[FaithManor]

Sounds like a money making scam to me!

 

Faith

[JennifersLost]

Faith - sounds like a money-making scam to me, too.

 

You should see the WES website. It tells foreign students that EVERY college in the US demands that they get their transcripts evaluated. Baloney!

 

I will call in and try to be very calm and nice to verify we actually need to do this before I fly off the handle at someone. The website says we have to furnish both the transcript AND the diploma before they can verify anything. Hmmmm. Now how are you supposed to supply the diploma before the kid graduates?

 

Grrrr.

[JennifersLost]

Thanks to everyone who answered so far. The cost is definitely over $100 if you look at the website, and makes no concessions for homeschooling. They won't be able to "evaluate" our transcript anyway. I will call the school and find out what we should do.

[creekland]

Thanks to everyone who answered so far. The cost is definitely over $100 if you look at the website, and makes no concessions for homeschooling. They won't be able to "evaluate" our transcript anyway. I will call the school and find out what we should do.

 

As long as this got brought back up by a spammer, can you give us an update? What did you find out and/or decide?