Pepperdine University: Translation Requirements for Documents in Another Language

Worth knowing about Pepperdine

Pepperdine requirements in detail

Seaver College: the document must arrive untouched

Seaver's transcript pages pair a short translation rule with a strict delivery rule. Transcripts in another language must be official and accompanied by an official English translation.

And everything about your previous education (marks, certificates, diplomas) and your test scores must reach Pepperdine directly from the school, the ministry of education or the testing authority.

A photocopy is acceptable if an official of that body signs it and sends it in a letterhead envelope: Pepperdine wants to know that neither you nor anyone else touched the document between verification and the moment its office opens it (high school, college).

The pages do not say how an independent translation should travel with a record that must come from the school.

Before you order, ask the Seaver Office of Admission whether your school should enclose the translation with the transcript or whether you may send it separately.

First-year applicants submit a cumulative sixth-semester transcript (through grade 11) with the application and the final one, with the graduation date, before enrolling.

International office pages, and country forms

The international office's undergraduate page uses softer wording for high school records: if transcripts are not in English, English translations should be included.

It also refuses grades transferred or translated from a previous school onto a current transcript, asks for certified external exam results (IGCSE, AS, CBSE board exams) as well as internal marks, and has A-Level and IB results sent by the exam boards.

Its transfer page repeats the Seaver rule for college transcripts: official, with an official English translation.

The same office links country-by-country requirement sheets.

The China sheet, for example, says documents must be in the original language with an English translation and asks secondary schools to send transcripts directly to Pepperdine.

Seaver's admission pages say "official English translation"; the international office's high school wording is "English translations should be included".

We have not resolved that difference; a certified translation from a professional service meets both.

School of Public Policy: signature, seal and a NACES evaluation

The School of Public Policy asks for certified translated copies of transcripts from non-English institutions.

Official records come in the language of instruction with official English translations bearing an original ink signature and seal; translations alone are not accepted, and translations sent directly from the institution or from a recognized translator count as official.

If your university will not release originals, it accepts copies verified as Certified True Copies by an institutional official, never uncertified photocopies (School of Public Policy: international applicants).

Degrees from outside the US, unless the university is regionally accredited in the US, also need a detailed evaluation from a NACES member, such as IERF or WES, with a course-by-course GPA on a 4.0 scale and US degree equivalency; The Evaluation Company (formerly SpanTran) has a custom, discounted application for SPP (School of Public Policy: international applicants).

WES wants a professional translation (WES); IERF wants a line-by-line, word-for-word one (IERF); The Evaluation Company takes outside translations only from ATA-certified translators (TEC), which eVerbary can assign on request through a free quote.

Documents applicants usually translate

• High school transcripts, certificates and diplomas
• External exam results, such as IGCSE, AS or CBSE board exams
• College and university transcripts
• Degree certificates and mark sheets for the School of Public Policy evaluation

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 Pepperdine

• Seaver applicants have each school send transcripts through the Common Application, Parchment, SCOIR or National Student Clearinghouse, or by mail to the Seaver College Office of Admission, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA 90263-4392 (Seaver College: high school transcripts).

  Ask the Office of Admission how it wants the translation to accompany the record.

• School of Public Policy applicants send official records and signed, sealed translations to the SPP Office of Admission, and have the NACES agency send its evaluation, including updated ones after graduation, to SPPAdmissions@pepperdine.edu (School of Public Policy: international applicants).

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 upload it with the copy of the original wherever the institution asks for it.

Frequently asked questions