chartreuse

Do you happen to recall how many hours the evaluators wanted for a Masters? There's a few of us on here doing them at UK institutions right now and I'm wondering whether it might be worth exploring doing an extra optional module, to make up the hours.

ian-mstm

Most US Master's degree programs run 36 credit hours (with variations anywhere from 33-42) - usually 12 full courses, which works out to 3 years if you were to take 2 courses per semester... fall and spring with the summers off.

I've no idea how this relates to UK Master's programs.

Ian

chartreuse

Thanks Ian. Using that as a starting point, I had a bit Google and found this huge document.

It says, in part:
Digging around elsewhere suggests that the terms "semester credits" and "credit hours" may be synonymous (though I'm sure that will turn out to be too simple).

But, if the above is correct, that would seem to suggest that to get 36 (or 33 to 42) US credit hours one would need 144 (or 132 to 168) UK credits.

This, I think, is where the wheels come off my analysis. A quick root around Leeds' website shows that their Masters degrees seem to comprise 180 credits (120 taught plus 60 for the dissertation). Looking at a couple of other unis suggests this is the standard. So, on the theory above, a UK Masters should comfortably equate to a US one.

Unless they only count taught modules and not the dissertation?

ddavies73

I think that what you say is correct. With mine they worked it out be 30 US semester hours and WES wanted 36. Not sure what courses did not get carried over as I do not have a copy of the report. Each case is different, and it will depend on the program you are doing, at which uni, and what the evaluation company says.

BTW WES now does a thing that previews your qualifications, which was not available when I did the evaluation.

chartreuse

Yes, I saw that. It asks how many years your masters took, but doesn't offer a full time or part time option. I'm not very confident, at least not enough to risk $30.

To an extent, this whole evaluation business seems like a racket to me. It's not just international, either. The Step-Mom-in-Law got her GED in CA. When she moved to TX, she had to pay to get it evaluated because "A CA GED may not be up to the standards of a TX GED."

meauxna

That has got to be the quote of the week. Should post that over on Lisa's thread where she noticed that she isn't qualified to teach her own kid to drive because she hasn't lived in the Great State of Texas for 3+ years.

It really is like a whole 'nother country.

chartreuse

You should look at the list of approved evaluators. You can't help wondering how many of them are somebody's cousin...

markhawksley

I have been through this exact same process. I'm a teacher in Nevada, and I used ECE Inc. out of Milwaukee, WI. Basically my A-Levels were the equivalent of actual college credits, my 3 year 2:2 from Keele was the same as a 4 year US degree and my PGCE was the same as a teaching degree with a Major in science education. So it looks like I've got two degrees!

Even better, Clark County School District put me at Degree + 16 credits salary schedule thanks to my PGCE.

You should be fine to get an initial teaching license in most states, but you will probably have to do some additional tests before you can renew it (usually 1-3 years). Which tests depends on the state. In Nevada I had to do US Constitution, Nevada Constitution and Nevada School Law tests. I also had to do a couple of Praxis tests, but they are easy.

Getting the license will be the easy part however. Finding a teaching job will be much harder. Many school districts are laying off teachers, or at the very least, having a hiring freeze.

chrisfromusa

Usually the best areas to look for jobs is inner city schools, though for that reason is because no one wants to teach in an inner city school, it's a very stressful environment

chartreuse

It may well be that all your courses carried over. I've just received the welcome pack for my MSc and it says that 180 UK credits equates to only 60 ECTS credits (rather than 90 as my earlier research suggested) - which at 2:1 would equal 30 US credit hours.

So, it seems that I might well need to get some extra. There are four 15 credit optional modules, of which two are required. Doing one more of them would gain me 15 UK = 5 ECTS = 2.5 US credits. Both would take me up to 35. Still one short.

I'm puzzled now, as it appears that a UK Masters will always be short of a US one. But some folks on here have reported having them certified as equivalent. Might be time to shell out that $30 to WES after all.

princessconsuela

Hi, My Immigration Attorney used Morningside Evaluations and Consulting to evaluate my professional credentials. I have a 4 year under graduate masters degree from Sheffield Uni (rather than a 3yr bachelors + 1yr masters it is all rolled into 1 masters degree) and they deemed it to be equivalent to a US masters. I only sent my attorney a copy of my degree certificate and they didn’t even request a full breakdown of credits and grades etc. I didn’t hire them myself and don’t know how much they charge but they seem to have done a good job!

ddavies73

Or go to one of the other companies, especially if they are going to equate the UK to the US Masters.

If I knew that there would be a difference with the evaluation companies then I would of done that, I think......

ian-mstm

Read = they gave you what you wanted, whether it was accurate or not. They are not competent to evaluate.


They did a good snow job, that's for sure.

Ian

princessconsuela

Well they did a good job in the respects that they didn't bother me with the minutiae and found out for themselves from the university that I did indeed get that degree.

And my masters degree is equivalent to a US masters degree so yes they did you an accurate job.

The question on this thread was "can anyone give feedback on agencies", which is what I answered.

chartreuse

I think Ian may be right here. I googled that agency, last time it was mentioned, and got lots of court filings from USCIS, talking about how it wasn't accredited, proper, etc.