<p>I just received the WES report. I got my hotel and tourism management degree (BSc) from Switzerland, and here are what I got:</p>
<p>US equivalent: Bachelor’s Degree from regionally accredited institution (what that means?)</p>
<p>Total Undergraduate Semester Credits:72 GPA: 3.6</p>
<p>My question is: shouldn’t a bachelor’s degree require 120 credits in the states?!!! </p>
<p>Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>The only thing that matters is that you have the equivalent of a US Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited institution. Don’t worry about the credit count. There are many different ways to count credits. </p>
<p>When the evaluation states that your degree is the equivalent of one from a “regionally accredited institution” it means that your degree is legitimate. In some countries the Ministry or Department of Education determines which degree programs are valid. In the US there are regional accrediting bodies whose membership (the colleges and universities themselves) determine which degrees from which institutions are valid. There also are national accrediting bodies, but usually the degrees awarded by those institutions are considered second class, and the credits might not transfer to a nationally accredited institution. In addition, there are unaccredited colleges and universities that either are so new that they aren’t accredited yet, or in such bad shape that they’ve lost their accreditation, or so very very bad that no organization will accredit them. In almost every case, attending an unaccredited institution is a waste of your money.</p>
<p>happymomof1, thank you very very much! This is the most professional answer I’ve got!</p>
<p>I have one more question:
In the summery:
Total Non-accredited post-secondary semester credits: 63 GPA: 2.74
Total Undergraduate semester credits: 72 GPA: 3.6</p>
<p>Does that mean I have only 72 credits that are transferable? What about the other “non-accredited” credits 63? Can I add two numbers up to reflect the credits I have for my BSc (72+63=135 credits)?</p>
<p>I don’t know what to make of that either. Have you asked the counselors at the office of EducationUSA that is closest to you? [EducationUSA</a> - Find an Advising Center](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.info/centers.php?region=3]EducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.info/centers.php?region=3) They might know.</p>
<p>What program are you applying to in the US anyway? If you are looking at graduate programs in business or hospitality, chances are that the places where you are applying know your undergraduate school pretty well already. Your courses won’t transfer, they just are used to determine whether you are ready for graduate level work.</p>
<p>If you are applying to transfer into an undergraduate program in a different field of study, you should find out if WES can evaluate your records course-by-course because transfer credits are awarded on a course-by-course basis.</p>
<p>In the Bologna area (including Switzerland), one year of university study (equivalent to 1500-1800 hours) is normally worth 60 European (ECTS) credits. If you finished a 3-year BSc, you should have accumulated 180 ECTS credits then. I have no idea how to convert that into US credits and, in fact, I don’t think it makes sense to make that kind of comparison.</p>
<p>To happymomof1: this is the course-by-course basis evaluation. btw thank u again!</p>
<p>I was applying for Master of Science in Finance and got an offer without WES report after several interviews with the school (thanks god)! But some schools did say that they didn’t know how to read my transcripts and asked me to do a WES (and they said they would have rejected me…). </p>
<p>Back then I told myself, “if my degree is not accredited, I am gonna kill myself!!!” Afterall I did work very very hard for my first honors.</p>
<p>Beside having your education in an unaccredited institution, under what circumstance will your Bachelor degree become “unaccredited” or non-equivalent to that of US?</p>
<p>That would be a question to ask the staff at WES. There are so many different educational systems that no one person can understand everything about all of them. Businesses like WES exist to help close the information gap.</p>
<p>I asked WES about certain things in the report and all they (WES) said is that “please note that as stated in the summary, you have the US equivalency of a bachelor’s degree”. WES is barely helpful, I think.</p>
<p>I can understand your curiosity about the details, but the truth is that that information isn’t pertinent to your individual case. WES is telling you that your degree is fine. That’s all that really matters.</p>
<p>Good luck with all of your applications!</p>