NCEES Credentials Evaluation

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NCEES provides education credentials evaluation for international degrees. This is required for the Records program.

With the requirements that they have described and their interpretation of international engineering degrees (from the few threads that I read here), I find it very difficult that any international degree could be equivalent to what NCEES describes as their requirements. Some of these are:

1) The transcripts should be sent directly from the University. In many countries this is not a service that the University does. You can get an official transcript in a sealed envelope, but they won't mail it out to someone else. NCEES explicitly says that they don't accept transcripts in sealed envelopes.

2) Unfortunately many of the Math, Physics and Chemistry courses that are part of an ABET engineering program in US are part of the High School curriculum in some countries. It appears that the credential evaluation service does not take this into account. Hence these international students will have to enroll and take these courses at a University in US if NCEES is to approve their credentials

3) Many of the international students in the situations above have Master's or PhDs from US Universities.

So I am curious to find out if I should even pursue this as the fee for the service is $400.

 
Like you,I have my engineering degree from overseas.I passed FE last year and decided to get my EIT certificate.

In my case,the State Board of Engineers has a list of credential evaluation they will accept ; NCEES,Spantran,JCI,and two other commercial evaluators.

It is your choice which one to use.

I have my credentials evaluated by Spantran Educational Services.I contacted my school and paid the necessary fees (Transcript of Records,Diploma and courier fee).They sent copies to each institutions I told them to sent to (Spantran and the State Board of Professional Engineers).

It has to be the school where you earned your degree that will send the transcript of records and diploma,they will not accept under any circumstances hand delivery by you even if it is in sealed envelopes.

One other thing,since I am also a licensed Engineer from overseas,I also ask the Engineering Board over there to send license verification to Spantran and State Board here in the US.

 
2) Unfortunately many of the Math, Physics and Chemistry courses that are part of an ABET engineering program in US are part of the High School curriculum in some countries. It appears that the credential evaluation service does not take this into account. Hence these international students will have to enroll and take these courses at a University in US if NCEES is to approve their credentials


Wait so primary and secondary education is watered down compared to other industrialized countries? I thought we weren't leaving any children behind.

Any who...you are right...the folks I know at work who have foreign degrees often have to take introductory science courses that you mention, but more often they have to take general ed/humanities/liberal arts classes because ABET has more general ed than many countries require for a degree. Knock 'em out at the local community college, it'll probably cost you 70-120 $/credit hour.

 
2) Unfortunately many of the Math, Physics and Chemistry courses that are part of an ABET engineering program in US are part of the High School curriculum in some countries. It appears that the credential evaluation service does not take this into account. Hence these international students will have to enroll and take these courses at a University in US if NCEES is to approve their credentials


Wait so primary and secondary education is watered down compared to other industrialized countries? I thought we weren't leaving any children behind.

Any who...you are right...the folks I know at work who have foreign degrees often have to take introductory science courses that you mention, but more often they have to take general ed/humanities/liberal arts classes because ABET has more general ed than many countries require for a degree. Knock 'em out at the local community college, it'll probably cost you 70-120 $/credit hour.


I recently got my PE certificate from NY. I am thinking of accepting a job offer from Virginia and will be applying to multiple states for licenses. I had figured that I would create a NCEES record so I won't have to bother my references over and over. I have my Bachelors degree from overseas and multiple Master's degrees from USA . Do I have to take more classes to create a NCEES record?

FYI... For my FE and PE application (both from NY), they accepted copies of my transcripts for the Bachelors degree. My US university did send out the transcripts directly to the board. Also, NY gave me eligibility for my SE exam (all I had to do was email them copy of my PE license).

 
2) Unfortunately many of the Math, Physics and Chemistry courses that are part of an ABET engineering program in US are part of the High School curriculum in some countries. It appears that the credential evaluation service does not take this into account. Hence these international students will have to enroll and take these courses at a University in US if NCEES is to approve their credentials


Wait so primary and secondary education is watered down compared to other industrialized countries? I thought we weren't leaving any children behind.

Any who...you are right...the folks I know at work who have foreign degrees often have to take introductory science courses that you mention, but more often they have to take general ed/humanities/liberal arts classes because ABET has more general ed than many countries require for a degree. Knock 'em out at the local community college, it'll probably cost you 70-120 $/credit hour.


I recently got my PE certificate from NY. I am thinking of accepting a job offer from Virginia and will be applying to multiple states for licenses. I had figured that I would create a NCEES record so I won't have to bother my references over and over. I have my Bachelors degree from overseas and multiple Master's degrees from USA . Do I have to take more classes to create a NCEES record?

FYI... For my FE and PE application (both from NY), they accepted copies of my transcripts for the Bachelors degree. My US university did send out the transcripts directly to the board. Also, NY gave me eligibility for my SE exam (all I had to do was email them copy of my PE license).


Most likely yes.

I had my credentials evaluated by AACRAO before I took FE/PE for Alabama. But it is what is it is for NCEES credential evaluation for NCEES record. You are going to very likely have to take some of your high school classes again as cupojoe mentioned. You also have to somehow manage the foreign university to send out your transcripts to NCEES directly - as many universities in many countries do not offer services like this.

FYI - I am not complaining. NCEES has set rules/standards and the bar is set high for the above matters. This will prevent almost all of the foreign Bachelor's candidates from obtaining an NCEES record. So I am just trying to find out if someone actually made it through successfully....

 
2) Unfortunately many of the Math, Physics and Chemistry courses that are part of an ABET engineering program in US are part of the High School curriculum in some countries. It appears that the credential evaluation service does not take this into account. Hence these international students will have to enroll and take these courses at a University in US if NCEES is to approve their credentials


Wait so primary and secondary education is watered down compared to other industrialized countries? I thought we weren't leaving any children behind.

Any who...you are right...the folks I know at work who have foreign degrees often have to take introductory science courses that you mention, but more often they have to take general ed/humanities/liberal arts classes because ABET has more general ed than many countries require for a degree. Knock 'em out at the local community college, it'll probably cost you 70-120 $/credit hour.


I recently got my PE certificate from NY. I am thinking of accepting a job offer from Virginia and will be applying to multiple states for licenses. I had figured that I would create a NCEES record so I won't have to bother my references over and over. I have my Bachelors degree from overseas and multiple Master's degrees from USA . Do I have to take more classes to create a NCEES record?

FYI... For my FE and PE application (both from NY), they accepted copies of my transcripts for the Bachelors degree. My US university did send out the transcripts directly to the board. Also, NY gave me eligibility for my SE exam (all I had to do was email them copy of my PE license).


Most likely yes.

I had my credentials evaluated by AACRAO before I took FE/PE for Alabama. But it is what is it is for NCEES credential evaluation for NCEES record. You are going to very likely have to take some of your high school classes again as cupojoe mentioned. You also have to somehow manage the foreign university to send out your transcripts to NCEES directly - as many universities in many countries do not offer services like this.

FYI - I am not complaining. NCEES has set rules/standards and the bar is set high for the above matters. This will prevent almost all of the foreign Bachelor's candidates from obtaining an NCEES record. So I am just trying to find out if someone actually made it through successfully....
I am going to call NCEES directly and get to the bottom of this issue. I will keep you posted when I find out !

 
I got my credentials evaluation through NCEES when I applied for my records as I had my Bachelor's degree from overseas. Essentially I submitted my official transcript and the evaluator assigned to my case emailed me asking for the detailed syllabus for all semesters of my degree program. I emailed them back with that along with the source from where I got the syllabus and they used that for comparison. According to my report I didn't have to take any additional courses here as I have all the credits required as per ABET/NCEES.

 
I had my undergraduate degree evaluated by NCEES, the report indicated a deficiency in that I haven't taken a chemistry course.

The state where I'm trying to get licensed (Ohio) requires, in order to make up the deficiency, that "Coursework must be made up at a college or university that has an ABET-accredited engineering or surveying program." Therefore, I can't just take courses at a community college :)

They accept taking and passing a CLEP (College Level Examination) test rather than taking a full course. However, "In order to receive credit for CLEP tests the course must be shown on an official college or university transcript indicating a passing score and full credit awarded." and I have no idea how I can go about doing that. I tried calling more than one university about that, and they said we can't give you CLEP test credit and give you a transcript if you're not a student who's taking other classes at our university.

Has anyone had the experience of making up deficient coursework this way?

 
I had my undergraduate degree evaluated by NCEES, the report indicated a deficiency in that I haven't taken a chemistry course.

The state where I'm trying to get licensed (Ohio) requires, in order to make up the deficiency, that "Coursework must be made up at a college or university that has an ABET-accredited engineering or surveying program." Therefore, I can't just take courses at a community college :)

They accept taking and passing a CLEP (College Level Examination) test rather than taking a full course. However, "In order to receive credit for CLEP tests the course must be shown on an official college or university transcript indicating a passing score and full credit awarded." and I have no idea how I can go about doing that. I tried calling more than one university about that, and they said we can't give you CLEP test credit and give you a transcript if you're not a student who's taking other classes at our university.

Has anyone had the experience of making up deficient coursework this way?


Could you apply somewhere as a non-degree seeking student and just never actually enroll in a class? Maybe on the application pick a class that requires Chemistry as a pre-req so they have to check and you have your CLEP scores sent?

 
I had my undergraduate degree evaluated by NCEES, the report indicated a deficiency in that I haven't taken a chemistry course.

The state where I'm trying to get licensed (Ohio) requires, in order to make up the deficiency, that "Coursework must be made up at a college or university that has an ABET-accredited engineering or surveying program." Therefore, I can't just take courses at a community college :)

They accept taking and passing a CLEP (College Level Examination) test rather than taking a full course. However, "In order to receive credit for CLEP tests the course must be shown on an official college or university transcript indicating a passing score and full credit awarded." and I have no idea how I can go about doing that. I tried calling more than one university about that, and they said we can't give you CLEP test credit and give you a transcript if you're not a student who's taking other classes at our university.

Has anyone had the experience of making up deficient coursework this way?


Could you apply somewhere as a non-degree seeking student and just never actually enroll in a class? Maybe on the application pick a class that requires Chemistry as a pre-req so they have to check and you have your CLEP scores sent?
Unfortunately, no. This is exactly what I asked the last university I called. They said in order for them to give me a transcript, I have to have a record established by having attended the university for at least one semester so that I can have a GPA. If I don't even have a GPA they can't issue a transcript.

I asked the board about this, and they said that they've received CLEP programs before and that they would only accept it if annotated on a university transcript. They also said that if I go up to the school and tell them that I just want to take a CLEP test that I would probably be turned down. :huh:

 
What about the school you graduated from originally?

 
I was able to get in touch with the executive director of the board. Turns out the board will waive the chemistry course because I have a master's degree.

 
Its quite strange in 2014 when I gave FE in PA, they had my Educational Credential Evaluation (ECE) thru PCS and they found no problem with my Bachelors from India and Masters from USA. Now in 2018, when I purchased ECE from NCEES, they say I have 6 credits missing from General Education. 

 
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