Qualifications
 

Myself and my wife are looking to move to the US - does anyone know of a site that would let us find out what our qualifications are worth? A'levels etc...?

Re: Qualifications
 

No idea at all Dean, except that on one site the US Associate Degree was compared to a British NVQ/NC at level 3! To give you an idea of what I understand of it,a US degree isn't worth as much as a UK degree and so on right down to A levels. GCSE's seem to be about the level of a US High School Diploma and 'A' levels seem to be higher than that still. I think it would be fair to say that an ONC/OND is certainly at least equivalent but more likely considerably greater than an A.A. which is the American Associate degree, an HNC/HND due to it's specialisation and subject depth being closer to their less specialised degrees where you major in such and such and minor in other things.

I have long found the comparisons hard to make and have on occasion had to argue my case and show equivalencies of my awards. One way around it for some is to look to industry standard awards. For instance an A+ from Comptia is generally the entry level qualification in Computing in the USA. Yet the A+ is considered (by some) to be equivalent of 6 months in industry and would be enough to get someone a job in a company like CompUSA. So when I considered coming here (being a Computer dude) I completed an A+ in a couple of months, even though my British Computing qualifications were considerably higher than an A+. Get my drift, showing the A+ first confirmed I had the minimum acceptable qualification to get an entry level job in the USA, and then I didn't have to argue equivalencies or explain what an HNC or HND or ONC was etc... Or how it compared to American qualifications. So you might want to consider what you do for a living and have already in the way of certificates and then look to what employers might be looking for over there that you could get under your belt (without too much fuss).

The 2 year US Associate Degree is not very high at all the Maths for instance is about the level of GSCE 'O' level (no kidding) and the English Composition elements are about equivalent to a GSCE 'O' in the mother tongue. I have heard it said that a Masters Degree in the US is only about equivalent to a British Bachelors, so go figure! As for the A.A. some people actually complete it by reading a SINGLE book and by sitting MULTIPLE CHOICE examinations (externally) for just $50-100 a time until they have enough credits and never having attended any classes, search for CLEP on the web and you'll get the idea. ;-)

Re: Qualifications
 

You can use an education evaluation company
Best known is http://www.wes.org costs are involved

Re: Qualifications
 

There is no standard across the US as to how foreign academic qualifications are considered. There are "evaluation" services, commercial businesses, around for that very purpose. They are not governed federally so anyone can offer to evaluate your academic qualifications so take care when researching and choosing such companies.






NC Penguin

Re: Qualifications
 

I agree fully with what penguin said. WES which i have "used" in the past is an unregulated, unaccountable organisation which gives "our best judgement"-taken from their official documents-on British qualifications.
Sadly they are considered the best, but again, to what are they comparing it to? The American system of education is VERY, VERY different to the UK, and i teach chemistry and anatomy at a technical college, so know first hand the standards.

My recommendation would be to highly Americanise your resume (CV) and not bother with a WES 'evaluation', unless applying for university places.

I teach on an intro-chemistry course, which counts towards a degree, and the only pre-requisite is that they can breath. Some students are almost illiterate, and have only a basic grasp of English, let alone mathematics. It really shocks me sometimes.........

Re: Qualifications
 

If thats the case and there is no regulatory body... why are the smart asses on this forum with a few letter after their name not setting up their own evaluation business.. We have at least one Barrister on this forum...give him something to to down there in old Mississippi and a few more no doubt.... just send me 1% per annum of gross.

Your best bet would be to buy a book on the subject, there are plenty about in the UK. From my peronal knowledge, to get an H1b work visa you need to have a minimum of a 4 year bachelors degree or equivelent. So for example if you had part of a degree and heavy work experienece like in management too then that could equal a minimum. If you bring work experience into it then you have to have it documented with references. I hope that helps.