Getting Iranian Transcripts and Degrees Evaluated for US Admission
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Aug 23, 2026
US schools read Iran's 12-year school system and 0-20 grading scale through a NACES-member credential evaluation that converts your diploma, degree, and grades into US equivalents.
🎓 A National Diploma after 12 years of school maps to a US high school diploma.
📩 A Karshenasi (4-year) degree maps to a US bachelor's degree, Karshenasi Arshad to a master's.
Evaluators convert your 0-20 grades to the US 4.0 GPA scale, not you.
Order a course-by-course report, the type graduate programs usually require.
How the Iranian school system maps to US grades
Iran's general education runs 12 years: 6 years of elementary school, 3 years of lower secondary (guidance) school, and 3 years of upper secondary school. Finishing upper secondary school with passing exams earns a National Diploma (Diplom-e Motevasete), the credential US evaluators read as equivalent to a US high school diploma.
Depending on when you graduated, your record may also show a one-year Pre-University (Pishdaneshgahi) certificate, used before Iran folded that year into the standard sequence under later curriculum reforms. List every certificate and transcript you hold. The evaluator decides how each one counts.
How Iranian university degrees compare
| Iranian degree | Typical length | US equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Karshenasi | 4 years | Bachelor's degree |
| Karshenasi Arshad | 2 years after Karshenasi | Master's degree |
| Doktora | 3-5 years after Karshenasi Arshad | Doctoral degree (PhD) |
Medicine, dentistry, and some other professional fields in Iran run as longer integrated programs rather than a separate bachelor's plus graduate degree. Flag this clearly on your evaluation request so the evaluator applies the right comparison.
Converting your 0-20 grades to a US GPA
Iranian universities and schools grade on a 0 to 20 scale, with a passing grade generally around 10 to 12 depending on the level. A NACES-member evaluator converts each course grade to the US 4.0 scale and calculates a cumulative GPA on your evaluation report.
Skip trying your own conversion on an application. Admissions offices expect the evaluator's number, not an estimate.
Choosing a NACES-member evaluator
US universities generally require a report from a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services .
Members that regularly evaluate Iranian credentials include World Education Services (WES), Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE), Josef Silny and Associates, and the Institute of Foreign Credential Services, among others on the NACES list. Ask your target schools which evaluator and which report type, course-by-course or document-by-document, they require before you order one.
Sending documents from Iran
Sanctions and courier limits complicate mailing original documents directly out of Iran.
Most evaluators publish country-specific instructions for Iran, commonly asking for documents attested by Iran's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology for university degrees, or the Ministry of Education for school records, then submitted through the evaluator's own upload portal or a listed intermediary. Check your chosen evaluator's Iran page before you start, since the accepted method varies by evaluator and changes over time.
Start this step early. Attestation and evaluation together often take longer for Iranian documents than the standard turnaround time an evaluator lists for other countries.