Getting Chinese Transcripts and Degrees Evaluated for US Admission

Why US schools need an evaluation

US admissions offices and employers do not read the Chinese education system by default. A credential evaluation translates your transcript and degree into US terms, a grade point average on a 4.0 scale and a statement of equivalency such as equivalent to a US bachelor's degree. Many graduate programs, licensing boards, and some undergraduate programs require this evaluation before they process your application.

How the Chinese system maps to US credentials

• Senior secondary school on the gaokao track maps to a US high school diploma

• A four-year Chinese bencke bachelor's degree (学士学位) maps to a US bachelor's degree

• A three-year zhuanke diploma (专科) is a shorter credential, evaluators typically treat it as partial college credit rather than a full bachelor's equivalent, confirm with your target school

• A Chinese master's degree (硕士学位) maps to a US master's degree

Chinese universities issue two separate documents for a completed degree: the Diploma Certificate (毕业证书), confirming you finished the program, and the Degree Certificate (学位证书), confirming you earned the degree title. US evaluators and admissions offices want both, not just one.

Choosing an evaluator

Use an evaluator that belongs to NACES , the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services. Schools that require an evaluation almost always specify a NACES member, and an evaluation from a non-member service risks rejection. World Education Services (WES) is the NACES member most Chinese applicants use, largely because many US graduate programs name it directly in their instructions.

Documents to gather before you start

• Diploma Certificate and Degree Certificate, or your senior secondary school certificate for undergraduate applicants

• Full academic transcript listing every course and grade for each year of study

• Passport for identity verification

• An account with your chosen evaluator's online portal

Most evaluators want your school to send documents directly or through China's official document verification services, rather than scans you upload yourself, since third-party verification is part of what schools pay for.

How your GPA converts

Chinese universities grade on a 100-point scale, sometimes reported alongside a 4.0 or 5.0 scale set by the university itself. Evaluators do not use your university's own converted GPA, they recalculate from your raw scores using their own conversion table. WES and similar evaluators generally place a score in the mid-to-high 80s on the 100-point scale close to a 3.0 US GPA, though exact conversion tables differ by evaluator and by your specific university's grading pattern (WES ). Do not report a self-converted GPA on your application if a school asks for an evaluator's number, use the figure the evaluation itself states.

Your gaokao score is not part of this conversion. It is an entrance exam result, not a university grade, and evaluators and admissions offices set it aside once they see your in-university transcript.

Timeline and cost

Course-by-course evaluations, the type most graduate programs and many undergraduate programs want, take several weeks once the evaluator receives your documents, longer if your university is slow to respond to verification requests. Start the process as early as you start your applications, not after you receive an admission offer. Check your evaluator's current processing time and fee on their own site, both change, and older figures on forums often no longer apply.

What if your evaluation and your school's own reading disagree

Some schools recalculate your GPA using their own formula even after you submit a NACES evaluation, particularly for merit scholarship decisions that compare all applicants on one internal scale. This does not remove the requirement to submit the evaluation itself, it just means the number on your evaluation report is not always the final number a scholarship committee uses. Ask the school directly if you are unsure which number applies to a specific decision.

Evaluating a joint program or transfer credit

If you attended a joint program between a Chinese university and a foreign university, or you are applying to transfer credit from a Chinese university into a US degree, ask your target school whether it wants a course-by-course evaluation that lists individual course equivalencies rather than just an overall degree equivalency. Course-by-course evaluations cost more and take longer, but they are usually what a transfer credit or course-substitution decision needs.

Sending the evaluation to multiple schools

Order extra report deliveries when you first request your evaluation rather than ordering one report and trying to forward it yourself, most evaluators do not treat a forwarded copy as official. Each additional delivery usually carries its own fee, check the current fee on your evaluator's site before you submit your school list.

Keep your original documents safe

Evaluators generally return original paper documents once they finish, but processing can take weeks, so do not send your only copy of an original diploma if you might need it for another purpose in the meantime. Ask your university's registrar about ordering an additional official copy if you expect to need your credentials verified more than once.

Common mistakes

• Ordering a document-by-document evaluation when your school asked for a course-by-course evaluation, the two serve different purposes and are not interchangeable

• Using an evaluator that is not a NACES member because it looked cheaper or faster

• Sending only the Diploma Certificate without the Degree Certificate, or the reverse

• Reporting your own GPA conversion instead of the evaluator's official number

• Starting the evaluation after admission decisions are due, instead of alongside your applications

Where to check current requirements

Each school sets its own evaluation requirement, some ask for none, some want a general evaluation, some require a course-by-course evaluation from a named evaluator. Check the international admissions page of every school on your list, and confirm your evaluator is current on the NACES member list before you pay.