EPLT Online

The MET program, being an online program, is very attractive to international students who have neither the desire nor the means to come to Vancouver for their education. For that reason, we do get a number of international applicants.

Inevitably, there are problems with obtaining transcripts from universities where applicants obtained their bachelor’s degrees. The Faculty of Graduate Studies documents page is definitely a good place to start for information on how to submit your transcripts. I do wish to emphasize a few points from that page, however, because some applicants have had issues with these in the past.

1) Single copies of transcripts
This problem often comes up with international transcripts. The applicant says, “My university won’t issue another set of transcripts” for example.

If your university will only issue one set of transcripts, and they issue it to you, it is imperative that you follow the directions on the Graduate Studies page regarding this, and do it the first time because international mail delivery can take a long time if you have to re-send them.

Just make sure that you make a clear photocopy of the transcripts you have, send them to your university, and ask them to verify that your copies are true copies of your records. They must put their stamp on the copy you send them, and then send these copies to us with their stamp over the seal of the envelope. We cannot accept photocopies of your transcripts that are not marked as official. We also cannot accept transcripts that are in unofficial or unsealed envelopes, so if the university does send them to you, make sure you don’t open them before forwarding them to us.

2) Translation of transcripts
The Graduate Studies page is very complete on this, and we ask that you follow that page to the letter. I do want to emphasize, though, that we need translations of both your transcript and (if the degree is not stated on the transcript) your degree certificate. These translations are usually provided by the university, but if they are not, the Graduate Studies site does have some other options for you. Not providing an original language translation of a transcript is another major cause of delay in the evaluation of international applicants.

While those are the two points I feel need to be emphasized, please do go to that Graduate Studies page (here it is again, so you don’t have to scroll upward: http://www.grad.ubc.ca/apply/how/documents.asp ) and follow all of the directions there. Doing so will make your application process proceed much more efficiently.

One last suggestion is to apply early if you are an international student or have international transcripts. This gives you time to submit all of your documentation and will give you time to fix any problems that come up.