International applicants whose education was not in English have additional requirements as part of their MBA applications. Not only do you need to take the TOEFL for many schools — the ones that haven’t done away with that requirement already, at least — but you also need to get a hold of your academic records.

We’ve actually covered this in quite a bit of detail before so we’ll first direct you here:

• Requirements for international applicants and non-English transcripts and recs
• MBA programs that don’t require the TOEFL for international applicants

Today’s post is meant as a heads-up about these requirements, since they will take a long time to procure and you need to take advantage of the weeks you’ve got stretching ahead of you till Round 1.

If your transcripts are not in English, then you need them translated, and some schools have very explicit rules for what they’ll accept.

For example, here’s what Berkeley Haas requires upon admission of an applicant:

If recommended for admission we will require an official transcript and degree certificate issued by your University. We require that you send academic documents in both the original language and in English. We accept an official English translation by a university official or by a certified ATA translator. You can utilize the following websites to search for and reach out to a certified ATA translator:

ATA homepage: http://www.atanet.org/onlinedirectories/

ATA website for searching for certified translators in a certain country: http://atanet.org/onlinedirectories/individuals_tabs.php#tabs-2

*Only individual translators can be certified by ATA. Documents prepared by translation companies with ATA membership DO NOT suffice. Documents prepared by a certified ATA translator should show the ATA-Certified Translator Seal.

Again, that’s only upon admission and they will give you time to get all the documents together. However, if your transcripts aren’t in English NOW then you need to get them translated in order to apply and so you may as well go through this process of doing it the right way from the beginning. Meaning, using one of these approved translators, exactly per the terms that the school is going to require.

Most schools right now are bending over backwards to make it easier, not harder, for the applicants, especially those coming from outside the U.S. However, Berkeley Haas is subject to the rules of UC-Berkeley and they still tend to be more restrictive in some ways; the TOEFL requirements at Haas are also stricter than you’ll find at other schools. We’re posting this to show one of the more extreme cases. Not all schools will have this stricter ATA certified individual translator requirement, but the ATA-certified version will be accepted at all of them.

Meeting the most restrictive requirements now is only going to make it easier later — and if you have your details buttoned up and put together in the app itself then you’re only going to impress your admissions reader even more, because they will see that you have done your research on every last requirement. That tells them that you’ve taken the time and put in the effort, that you’re taking this seriously, and that you’re prepared and ready for the challenges ahead in pursuing your graduate business education in the U.S. All good things to convey!!

And of course you’ll need to write good essays, but there’s a little bit of time still before you need to be sweating about that. 🙂