how to evaluate your degree in USA

[Eris1926 10]

Hi everyone i will move soon to NYC and i wanted to evaluate my degree once i get there. i pursued a degree in lab technician (chemistry-biology) in a professional school for 5 yrs in italy. i would like to know if anyone have any exp with it, the costs and if its converted in an associate or bachelor degree? thanks in advance, any response would be so appreciated

[Pelmeni 39]

I am not saying that I am correct in this.  I'm just relaying the experience that a close friend from England had.  She is a teacher.  There are a few companies that 'translate' transcripts, not in the sense of language translation but more of an evaluation.  She had some problems because her college had changed names and they did not have official transcripts the way American colleges do.  For example, there was nowhere she could have a paper with every class she took and the grade she earned or the description of the class.  Finally, she got someone from the former college to send the list of the classes a student had to have for that degree and a description of the classes (an official signature, of course)  The translating company looked at each class and compared it to what a student has to have to get the degree here.  So, she did have to take some extra classes that she felt she didn't need. I had the opposite experience when I worked for the British Council.  They didn't tell me until i had finished the job and then paid me at a lower level saying that my MA wasn't as good as the British one. Countries seem to be arrogant about their degrees as if someone from another country couldn't possibly be as qualified and if they can pay you at a lower rate, they will do it.  They were very keen to hire me for my degrees and qualifications but not to pay me. It could actually depend upon the company that wants to hire you. I wish i could be of more help but hopefully I've given you something you can use. It could be completely different in your profession.  Good luck.

[Mozak 12]

23 hours ago, eris&mariaelena said:

Hi everyone i will move soon to NYC and i wanted to evaluate my degree once i get there. i pursued a degree in lab technician (chemistry-biology) in a professional school for 5 yrs in italy. i would like to know if anyone have any exp with it, the costs and if its converted in an associate or bachelor degree? thanks in advance, any response would be so appreciated

I have read that the best way to have any foreign degree evaluated is through the WES services. I haven't used it myself but know from researching about phd programs in the USA that they prefer that WES is used. The fees may be expensive but I think they offer 2 types of evalution: for professional work or for academic. 

You can find their website here:

https://applications.wes.org/degree-equivalency-tool/. Hope it helps! 

[June2018 3]

On 5/21/2018 at 9:18 AM, eris&mariaelena said:

Hi everyone i will move soon to NYC and i wanted to evaluate my degree once i get there. i pursued a degree in lab technician (chemistry-biology) in a professional school for 5 yrs in italy. i would like to know if anyone have any exp with it, the costs and if its converted in an associate or bachelor degree? thanks in advance, any response would be so appreciated

Hmm, to bad your not moving to the west coast. My company, mine, could use a tech  with chemistry-biology background. That is if you don't mind examining cadavers for suitable use in surgical training and medical research.  Any way, if your "foreign" degree from Italy was on my desk I'd consider it a bachelor degree, for whatever that's worth. 

[Coco8 1,042]

Hard to say but I know people in the field who accompanied a spouse to the US were able to get ad-honorem jobs working at a university lab (plenty of professors need people for their labs). That work experience already helped them move to other jobs, get admitted to a PhD program, or keep working within the university in other labs.

 

One got lucky reaching out to a professor from her own country, so maybe see if you will be close to a university and reach out to some Italian in the medical school. The medical schools have lots of labs (by Lab I refer to a research group by a professor, they have their own "lab" space and offices because they have million dollar grants) in need of technicians. 

 

Once you have the foot in the door, it will be much easier, because having work experience in the US counts a lot. 

Edited June 20, 2018 by Coco8

[fern28 61]

On 6/3/2018 at 2:44 PM, June2018 said:

Hmm, to bad your not moving to the west coast. My company, mine, could use a tech  with chemistry-biology background. That is if you don't mind examining cadavers for suitable use in surgical training and medical research.  Any way, if your "foreign" degree from Italy was on my desk I'd consider it a bachelor degree, for whatever that's worth. 

Same. I would easily interview you for my lab. I think people with your experience are in high demand, you just need to figure out where NYU, Columbia etc are posting their jobs. 

[Pelmeni 39]

On 5/22/2018 at 12:03 PM, Mozak said:

I have read that the best way to have any foreign degree evaluated is through the WES services. I haven't used it myself but know from researching about phd programs in the USA that they prefer that WES is used. The fees may be expensive but I think they offer 2 types of evalution: for professional work or for academic. 

You can find their website here:

https://applications.wes.org/degree-equivalency-tool/. Hope it helps! 

I hope their services have improved. It was horrible when we did it 10 years ago. They wanted descriptions of each class he had taken to compare them and his school in England didn't have it.  He ended up taking classes he didn't need.

Edited March 26, 2019 by Pelmeni

[millefleur 5,046]

On 5/21/2018 at 9:18 AM, eris&mariaelena said:

Hi everyone i will move soon to NYC and i wanted to evaluate my degree once i get there. i pursued a degree in lab technician (chemistry-biology) in a professional school for 5 yrs in italy. i would like to know if anyone have any exp with it, the costs and if its converted in an associate or bachelor degree? thanks in advance, any response would be so appreciated

If possible, bring course descriptions from your university. I know it's a pain to get but it could come in handy one day. My husband was able to get all course descriptions from his uni in Russia and we paid to get them translated in English. Ended up being totally worth it and he did not have to re-take classes here, it saved us tons of money and time. Course descriptions are a good thing to have if you have a foreign degree as you never know when they might come in handy here in the US.

 

[visafrompa 9]

On 6/3/2018 at 5:44 PM, June2018 said:

Hmm, to bad your not moving to the west coast. My company, mine, could use a tech  with chemistry-biology background. That is if you don't mind examining cadavers for suitable use in surgical training and medical research.  Any way, if your "foreign" degree from Italy was on my desk I'd consider it a bachelor degree, for whatever that's worth. 

And you'd have a ton of troubles.

 

US laws are wildly different than EU ones... I can only imagine the medical field being more so.  Granted anatomy is anatomy but unless the degree was the result of an accredited  course of study, a foreign degree is little more than wallpaper.  I would extend professional courtesy,  but not a job.