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Middle Tennessee State University: Translation Requirements for Documents in Another Language

Middle Tennessee State University asks applicants who attended a college or university outside the US for a course-by-course evaluation from a NACES member, for admission and to calculate transfer credit; foreign high school records go to MTSU directly, without an evaluation. MTSU's evaluation agencies, such as WES and ECE, accept certified translations from professional services such as eVerbary. You order the translation first and send it to the agency with your records; the agency evaluates them and sends the report to MTSU. For graduate applicants, MTSU's international page says the evaluation service should translate and evaluate the transcripts, so check with the College of Graduate Studies first.

MTSU requirements at a glance

Checked on October 13, 2026. Sources are listed at the end of this page. Policies change: confirm on MTSU's own page before you submit.

What each evaluation agency asks for the translation

WES asks for an exact, word-for-word translation by a professional translator and does not accept translations by applicants (WES). ECE accepts a complete, literal, word-for-word translation and lets applicants translate their own documents; it also sells an $85 waiver under which it translates for its report only, without a translation you can reuse (ECE). IEE, named on the graduate list, requires a certified translator and refuses translations by the applicant (IEE).

The Evaluation Company requires an outside translator to be ATA-certified, or sells its own translation (TEC). Global Credential Evaluators takes translations only from the issuing university, the Ministry of Education or an ATA-certified translator, and does not translate (GCE). We have not checked the translation rules of Foundation for International Services. For TEC or GCE, see the ATA section below.

Where MTSU's pages differ

For graduate applicants, the international graduate page says you are required to have a commercial evaluation service translate and evaluate the transcripts. MTSU's graduate admission policy says only that certified translations of non-English transcripts may be required, without saying who makes them, and the Graduate Studies apply page asks for a NACES evaluation.

For undergraduates, the admission page lists five NACES members "such as" GCE, TEC, WES, ECE and Foundation for International Services, while the FAQ names WES or ECE for transfer credit. We have not resolved these differences for you; if you are a graduate applicant, ask the College of Graduate Studies whether a certified translation you send to the agency is acceptable before you order.

High school records: no evaluation

First-year applicants with a foreign diploma do not need an evaluation. Official transcripts must reach the Office of International Affairs from the school's official email address; transcripts you send yourself count as unofficial and may be used for conditional admission, while official ones are needed for full admission and the I-20 (International admission).

MTSU publishes a guide by country listing the grades and exam certificates it expects, for example grades 10-12 and the WAEC for Ghana or Nigeria. Neither the guide nor the admission page says anything about translations, so ask international@mtsu.edu what it needs for records not in English.

Documents applicants usually translate

• University transcripts and degree certificates, for the NACES course-by-course evaluation
• Official course descriptions for university work abroad, which MTSU asks for to award transfer credit
• Secondary school transcripts and leaving-exam certificates listed in MTSU's country guide
• Mark sheets or grade reports that show each course and grade

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 exactly as recorded, with the grading scale the document prints. We never convert marks to a US GPA.
• A signed certificate of translation accuracy on letterhead, with our contact details, delivered as a PDF you can upload.
• $24.95 per page of up to 250 words, 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.

Uploading the translation to MTSU

The translation goes to the evaluation agency with your records (WES, for example, takes uploads in your WES account: WES: translation requirements). The agency sends the report directly to the Office of International Affairs, or to the College of Graduate Studies for graduate applicants (undergraduate, graduate).

MTSU's FAQ also asks for official course descriptions of university work abroad for transfer credit; it does not say where to send them, so ask the Office of International Affairs (International admissions FAQ).

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: Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Arabic, Russian and Ukrainian at $34.95 per page, and Japanese, Korean, Polish, Dutch, Swedish, Croatian, Danish and Persian at $44.95 per page.

To order it, ask for a free quote and write in the notes that the translation is for MTSU, which program 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.

What we do not do

eVerbary is a translation service, not a credential evaluation service: we do not issue evaluations, US equivalencies or GPA conversions, and we cannot send documents on behalf of the school that issued them. For MTSU that means we translate your transcripts, diplomas and course descriptions; the course-by-course evaluation is ordered by you from a NACES agency after the translation, and the agency sends it to MTSU.

How to order

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

Sources

Middle Tennessee State University's own pages, read on October 13, 2026. Enrollment figure: Open Doors 2025 fact sheet for Tennessee (IIE), leading institutions in Tennessee in 2024/25: number 5, with 618 international students.

• International admission (intered.mtsu.edu)
• International admissions FAQ
• Undergraduate transcript requirements by country (PDF)
• International graduate students
• Graduate Studies: apply
• Policy 301: graduate admission
• WES: translation requirements
• ECE: documentation requirements
• The Evaluation Company: avoid delays
• Global Credential Evaluators: FAQ
• IEE: FAQ

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