We understand that verifying your education in the United States can be a little confusing. Below we have a few definitions for you and some guidelines for your application:
If you completed your education from an institution outside the United States, your application to Scalia Law is considered complete when we have a copy of a Credential Equivalency Report verifying your education and what it means in a US context. You may see other terms used by us or other universities. Here is what each of those terms mean.
When you see a request for Official Transcripts, this is what that means:
- It’s a document sent directly from your institution to George Mason University
- It includes:
- Date degree study began
- Date degree was conferred
- The coursework taken
- Grades received in course work
We do want Official Transcripts, but having that alone is not enough to mark your application as complete if they are coming from outside the United States.
In some cases, your transcripts may not be in English. If that’s the case, we may ask you for a Certified Translation. This requires:
- A copy of the document translated exactly as the translator received it (these can be unofficial transcripts).
- A copy of the translation as written by the translator
- A signed certificate from the translator explaining their translation credentials
- Received directly from the translator (this can be done either by direct email, mail or via a sealed envelope).
If your degree is not in English, we would prefer a translation, but since a Credential Equivalency Report will provide us a translation, this is not required. Having a Certified Translation and Official Transcripts is not enough to mark your application as complete.
We understand that international students can sometimes face difficulty obtaining their official transcripts from their home institution. To support students facing this difficulty, the admissions committee may, on a case-by-case basis, issue a preliminary admissions decision pending receipt of official transcripts. To do this, a student must supply us with Unofficial Transcripts. Unofficial transcripts must meet all of the official transcript requirements except we may receive them directly from the student.
A Credential Equivalency Report is an evaluation done by an approved organization specializing in international degrees that verifies:
- The required information in the student’s transcript
- The student really attended the institution
- How the academic performance relates in a US context
Not only do we require a Credential Equivalency Report, it will also be required to sit for a bar exam. Until this is on file, your application is not complete and it may impact your ability to sit for a bar exam, graduate or register for classes.
Not all Credential Equivalency Reports are acceptable. Here are organizations we accept:
Spantran
- Translates
- Verifies
- Issues Report
- Verifies
- Issues Report
- Standard report for institutions of law – accepted everywhere
If a student would prefer another agency and is not sure if the agency they want to use is acceptable, they should ask at lawgradm@gmu.edu
Please note: As long as a Credential Equivalency Report is not on file, the amount the scholarship committee can award a given student will be extremely limited and often 0.