Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA): Translation Requirements for Foreign Transcripts

Sample translation: a Congolese secondary school transcript

This is what an order looks like when it is delivered, with a fictitious student. The PDF starts with the signed certification page, and the translation follows the original line for line: every abbreviation is explained, stamps, seals and signatures are noted in brackets, and the grid stays the same, so an admissions officer or a credential evaluator can match it without guessing.

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What to notice

• Two school years in the same grid as the original: every subject, grading period, exam and total, so each grade can be read against its maximum.
• The French rating abbreviations are translated (TB becomes VG, Very good), and every abbreviation is explained in a translator's note at the foot of the same page, including one the original never defines.
• Dates are written the US way (the original's 02/07/2015 is February 7, 2015).
• The photo, seals and signatures are noted in brackets where they appear.

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More sample translations

Worth knowing about CASPA

CASPA requirements in detail

Why CASPA never sees your translation

CASPA standardizes applicants by having them enter every course from US and English-Canadian colleges, then checking those entries during verification and calculating standard GPAs from them (transcript entry, verification).

Foreign coursework is not part of that process.

You still list the foreign school in Colleges Attended, where CASPA warns that your programs may require a foreign evaluation (CASPA: Colleges Attended); what PA programs then read is the agency's course-by-course report.

That is why a translated transcript sent to CASPA is discarded (CASPA: foreign and French-Canadian transcripts). The translation belongs in your evaluation file: it goes to the agency with the original-language documents, and only the agency's report reaches CASPA.

Choosing an agency for CASPA

CASPA lists five agencies its applicants have used, says it does not recommend or endorse any of them, and asks you to check whether your programs prefer or require a particular vendor that may not be on the list (CASPA: foreign and French-Canadian transcripts).

Electronic delivery is available for WES or ECE, ordered from the Academic Records page; the other agencies mail a paper evaluation carrying your Evaluation ID to the CASPA Transcript Processing Center.

Each agency sets its own translation rule. WES requires a word-for-word translation by a professional translator and rejects translations made by applicants (WES).

ECE accepts any complete, word-for-word translation, while Josef Silny & Associates takes translations made in the US only from ATA-certified translators, whom eVerbary assigns on request.

Our pages on ECE, IERF, Educational Perspectives and Josef Silny cover each one.

Caribbean medical schools and study abroad

CASPA treats every Caribbean medical school as a foreign institution, Ross University School of Medicine included, even when the school has US offices or its graduates can be licensed in the US.

Transcripts from these schools sent to CASPA are discarded; find out whether your PA programs want a foreign evaluation, which may be sent to CASPA, or will accept the original transcript mailed to the program (CASPA: foreign and French-Canadian transcripts).

Study abroad is handled differently: coursework taken abroad through a US institution's program, or at an overseas US institution, is entered in CASPA as US coursework, and that school's transcript is sent to CASPA (CASPA: study abroad or overseas US transcripts).

The foreign-evaluation route is for schools you attended outside that arrangement.

Documents applicants usually translate

• University transcripts and mark sheets, for the evaluation agency
• Bachelor's degree certificate or diploma
• Medical school transcripts and diploma, for applicants who studied medicine abroad
• Transcripts from any other college outside the US you list in Colleges Attended
• Marriage certificate or court order, when your name differs between documents

What an eVerbary translation includes

• A complete English translation of every page, stamps, seals and handwritten notes included, laid out like the original so each line can be matched.
• Grades, hours and credits exactly as recorded, with the grading scale the document prints. We never convert marks to a US GPA or equivalency.
• A signed certificate of translation accuracy on letterhead, with our contact details, delivered as a PDF you can upload or print.
• $24.95 per page with no word cap, certification included; 24 hours for one to three pages as standard. Regular clients who need it can get delivery in as little as 30 minutes, on request.
• Notarization added at checkout ($34.90 per order) when the office asks for a notarized translation.

Submitting the translation to CASPA

• Send the certified translation to the evaluation agency with the original-language documents, as that agency instructs; WES lets applicants upload translations from their WES account (WES: translation requirements for a WES credential evaluation).

  Do not send it to CASPA: foreign transcripts sent there, translated or not, are discarded (CASPA: foreign and French-Canadian transcripts).

• Electronic WES or ECE reports reach CASPA directly.

  Paper evaluations go by mail with your Evaluation ID to the CASPA Transcript Processing Center, PO Box 9108, Watertown, MA 02471, or by courier to the same center c/o Liaison International, 20 Guest Street, Floor 8, Brighton, MA 02135 (CASPA: foreign and French-Canadian transcripts).

If you need a translator certified by ATA

Some offices accept only a translator who is personally certified by the American Translators Association (ATA). eVerbary assigns one on request, for the languages ATA certifies into English:

To order it, ask for a free quote and write in the notes that the translation is for CASPA, what it is for, and that you need a translator individually certified by ATA, plus anything else the office asks for (notarization, delivery by email to the office).

We confirm the price and the translator before you pay. ATA does not certify other languages into English, so no translator anywhere holds ATA certification for them.

For those languages we provide a notarized certified translation instead, at $44.95 per page plus notarization ($34.90 per order); ask the office to confirm it accepts that, and write its answer in the quote notes.

How to order

1. Scan or photograph every page of the document, front and back, including any stamps on the reverse.
2. Upload it, choose the language and "certified", and see the price before paying.
3. Receive the PDF, usually within 24 hours for one to three pages, and submit it with the copy of the original wherever the office asks for it.

Frequently asked questions