Academic Records & Documents Policy

Northwest Admissions requires all applicants to provide official academic records (official academic transcripts) of all previous education.  To be considered official, academic records must either be received in official envelopes, sealed and endorsed by the issuing institution, or be received via secure electronic delivery directly from the issuing institution. All academic documents must be provided in English (for translations see below).

• For undergraduate programs Northwest requires academic records from your secondary (High School) education;
• For undergraduate degree completion programs (BACL and BACL Korean) Northwest requires a minimum of 30 hours of General Studies so academic records from all post-secondary education must be provided;
• For all graduate level programs (M.Div., MABL, MATS) Northwest requires academic records from all of your post-secondary education;
• For the Doctor of Ministry program Northwest requires a Master of Divinity or its equivalent, so those academic records need to be provided.

Delivery Requirements

• Documents being provided by post/courier to meet conditions of admission must be sent directly to:
  • Northwest Seminary & College
    Office of the Registrar - Attn: Ryan Ball
    22500 University Drive
    Langley, BC  V2Y 1Y1
    Canada
• Digital documents provided to meet conditions of admission must be sent via secure electronic delivery to [email protected].

Documents that are not in English

If your educational documents are not in English, they must be included with a complete word-for-word (literal, not evaluative*) English translation from a Canadian-certified translator. If you are submitting your documents from outside Canada and cannot obtain a translation from a Canadian-certified translator, you may submit a translation from an official translator in your home country. This translation must also be completely accurate or Northwest Admissions will require a new translation from a Canadian-certified translator.

Requirements of a translation

Translations may be conducted from original documents or verified copies** of those documents. To be accepted by Northwest Admissions, they must meet the following requirements:

• The translator must attach to each translation a signed copy of the educational document on which the translation is based.
• All document copies submitted for evaluation must be stamped with the translator’s official stamp. The document copy accompanying the translation will be verified against the original document submitted to Northwest Admissions.
• Documents such as marks sheets, transcripts, diplomas, certificates, and grade books must be translated in their entirety, including information appearing on the reverse side of any document. For calendars, course outlines, and syllabuses, only those pages describing courses and other information specific to your credential need to be translated.

Important:

• Northwest Admissions will still require a set of official academic records received directly from your issuing institution.
• All documents submitted in support of applications to Northwest programs become the property of Northwest Seminary & College and are not returned to the applicant or student.
• Applicants are strongly discouraged from sending irreplaceable documents and are advised to provide Northwest Admissions with verified copies** instead.
• Do not order academic records that are not in sealed and endorsed envelopes, or not sent by secure electronic delivery. It will only delay the processing of your application.

Northwest does not accept the following:

• Photocopies that are not verified copies**;
• Documents in envelopes that have been opened;
• Documents that do not arrive in sealed envelopes endorsed by the issuing institution or certified translator;
• Documents that arrive without the official seal of the issuing institution;
• Photocopies notarized by a notary public;
• Photocopies endorsed by a lawyer, professor, judge etc.;
• Unofficial translations;
• Non-literal translations;

How to Obtain Certified Translation of Academic Transcripts

In the case of applicants who have academic transcripts from a post-secondary institution where official transcripts are issued in a language other than English and the institution offers its own official translation service, the following actions apply:

• Arrange to have an official transcript issued in its original language
• Obtain a certified literal English translation of your transcript from your post-secondary institution’s translation service
• Have both the original transcript and the literal English translation sent to the Northwest Registrar’s Office in a sealed envelope endorsed by the original post-secondary institution
• NOTE: Digital (.pdf) official academic transcripts along with their certified translation emailed directly from the issuing institution to [email protected] are also acceptable.

If the applicant’s post-secondary institution does not provide English translations of transcripts, the following actions apply:

• Make a photocopy of your copy of your transcripts. Do not open a sealed, endorsed envelope containing transcripts intended for submission to Northwest.
• Take the copy to a certified English translator (see sample list below) and ask them to provide a complete, word-by-word, literal English translation
• Request the translator to put both the original language photocopy and the English translation into a sealed envelope and endorse the envelope by signing across the seal
• Send the sealed, endorsed envelope from the translator and the original transcripts in the original language to the Northwest Registrar’s Office.

*Evaluation services vs. Translation services: Please be aware that there is a difference between evaluation and translation services:

• Translation services provide a direct translation of the content of your academic documents into English. They make no interpretation of your education. This direct, certified translation is the requirement for all applicants to Northwest Seminary & College having non-English academic documents.
• Evaluation services, such as World Education Services (WES), along with several other organizations, analyze your academic records and are designed to provide an evaluation or to compare your education to the Canadian educational system. You are welcome to provide an evaluation in addition to your official translation provided by a separate organization. However, a WES evaluation is not accepted as an official transcript.

**Verified Copies are photocopies of original documents that have been stamped, attested and endorsed by the Registrar at the issuing institution.