m16goo

Hi Guys,

I recently got my green card but unfortunately have yet to find employment in real estate! I know the economy is playing a major role in my unemployment but an employer said it might help if I got my UK degree converted into a US equivalent.

I graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University with a first class BSc Honors in Property Management in Valuation. All grades over the four years were >70% and I graduated top of my class.

Is there an organisation that converts degrees? Any advice on how best to proceed would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Mark

dunroving

Did you try the Search facility? There have been several threads on this topic, some within the past month or two. Clearly Cally didn't teach you everything you needed to know

Here's one from a couple of pages back: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=678649

HarryTheSpider

Hi Mark

As part of my L1 process, I had to get my UK engineering degree evaluated for equivalence by an independent third party - I'm travelling at the moment, home later in the week, and could look the details out then, however, you may wish to talk to the lawyers who did your previous applications.

Cheers

Harry

chrisbeale

All grades over 70%, which you can call an A, even by doing a GPA which doesn't really work directly you're on a 3.8+, I don't think you'd have anyone arguing against you if you said 4.0/4.0, carrying a First in every module over 4 years is a very high standard as you know, well done!

ian-mstm

Why not just put on your resume that you have a B.S. in Property Management? Why bother having the degree converted? I mean... it's real estate - it's not like Engineering or Medicine where your grades are important.

Ian

Dan725

A conversion probably won't help you find a job....but there is a chance an employer could ask you to get one. I only had my UK Masters converted for this reason...I've got the piece of paper now if anyone asks (and for me they might, as there is a chance I may end up with some sort of Govt related employment at some point, and they do have a requirement); you might do it for that and your own piece of mind, but the conversion itself won't improve your job hunting prospects. I think the key to that is more how you represent your degree on your resume - do it in "American speak":

I agree with what Ian says....but if I had a first class honors degree, I'd also put the translation of what it would be in the US. Summa cum laude I should imagine? Don't put "first class BSc Honours" anywhere - it has to Americanized. Dunroving can probably provide the correct presentation of how it should be.

dunroving

It's a bit tricky, actually, because you don't want to be seen as being disingenous or falsifying information that can't be verified ... espcially if later on you are asked "what agency did yuu use to translate your British degree into a 4.0?" Or "I didn't realize that UK universities use the cum laude system ..."

Different universities have different standards even for summa, magna, and cum laude (and one of my previous universities had a category called "Thank You Lordy" ...). Then again, you do want US employers to recognize the standard of achievement, but in a language they can understand.

I often see annotations such as (3.7 GPA on 4.0 scale), so you could put something like:

BS (with First Class Honors); Awarded A grades in every undergraduate class.

- the term "Honors" has a distinct (though slightly different) meaning over here too, so they'd recognize it as being special.

Dan725

I'd say it would probably be a very rare occurrence, but you are right - maybe there is a stronger argument for the OP ponying up for a conversion then....bit of peace of mind, if nothing else.

m16goo - as you may have seen from the other threads, the place I used to get my piece of conversion paper was http://www.wes.org/ - it is one of the best known such institutions and should be widely accepted. They offer different conversion "services"....in my case, I just required it for employment purposes - and due the fact it was a MSc, which over here generally don't come in different grades (although I did get a "with Merit" in the UK system) I chose the cheapest option, $100, which basically came back as UK MSc = US MS.

If you had, say, a run of the mill 2:2 for your bachelors, I'd recommend the same; however, as you did exceptionally well, it would probably be worth paying a bit extra to get the fuller evaluation done so you can reflect that on your resume.

Retseh

I guess I took the slash and burn option.

I used my existing UK degree to leverage an accelerated online BSc in the US, and graduated last year with a 4.0 GPA in computer science.

I don't even mention my UK qualifications any more, it just confuses employers.

I used these guys if memory serves:

http://www.acei1.com/AcademicEvaluation.aspx