Education transfer USA (Micro biology from a technical university in Poland)

My fiancee has 5 year degree in micro biology from technical university in Poland, what would it be equivalent to in USA? Will this degree transfer to USA in terms of being able to work in this field? What if any other things could be helpful to get job in this field?

You might want to call a couple of businesses, schools, places she would like to work, ect. to see what they require and say about a 5 year degree from Poland.

Each school or business will have it's own requirements. Some may accept, some may not.
The best place to ask would be the potential employers.

Understand but is there equivalent degree like BS or MS. We will look into it. Thanks

Research online for a university with similar courses and find out if there's a way to transfer her degree or to go to the next stage, probably a Master's Degree as I think her current education would translate to a BS with microbiology major. You will have to provide course summary, books, literature, etc. for each class she has taken. Some classes might get transferred while others might not. It will cost her some money for sure. Most jobs in highly technical fields require many references; inquire with those who're willing to give her references on what her best options are. Good luck.

Yes, I forgot to mention to call a few universities and see what type degree they would classify that your finance has. She might have to get her transcripts from the university that she graduated from, and have them translated to English.

My fiance hasn't finished university yet, but she will be transferring to a university here, hopefully this next fall, and she will have to do all of this :P

There is a service (I forget everything about it but the fact that it exists) that verifies foreign academic qualifications. They'll need an English translation (it didn't used to have to be official) that's as literal as possible (no matter how awful it sounds - they can deal with that, they can't deal with people spontaneously being creative.

Typically a Polish degree translates as a lesser degree in the states. This has less to do with educational standards and a lot to do with the desire to get paying people into classroom seats.

And US universities do not necessarily accept what the other agency says.

That is, if the agency says she has the equivalent of a BS (quite likely) then if she wants a masters a given US university might only accept that as having finished three undergrate years and make her redo the final year of a bachelor program.

If she just wants to work, something from the agency would probably suffice.

Well, I don't think it has anything to do whether the degree is from Poland or another country. I had an electrical engineering degree from Sweden (that's where I was raised) and had to go through all the hoopla myself. Every university I applied to wanted the original documents and authorized translations. Some of the course literature had to be translated (many pages) but fortunately most technical books in Swedish universities are printed in Swedish and English so that helped me a lot. I could do the translations myself but it had to be an independent, certified firm who did that. In hindsight I like it because they want to avoid the "Nigerian University" type of scams.

I ended up getting credits for some 70% of my past classes and had to take some courses in the States. Actually took several of those courses in different universities as I relocated several times during that time. Then I ended up changing professions and took a different degree all over again but that's a different story...

So yes, it's possible but it won't be easy nor cheap.

She does not want any more education only to work.
She says the description of degree is MGR. So she will go to her university and see about it. She has been working for 5-6 years in the field and can have good references, so I am hoping it is possible to find a job in this area

They probably won't accept it as a Masters degree (certainly, they won't, if it's pre-Bologna) - but for the sake of comparison, it's best to describe it as a 5 year Bachelor's Degree. Calling it a Masters degree would be incorrect.

5 years is 5 years, it should be treated as MA or MSc. The number of hours put in is the same.

That may be true but US educational policy is to not accept foreign educational qualifications as equivalent to US ones.
That may be unfair but it's the way it is right now.

She's got demonstrated working experience to the point where she's at an intermediate level in her career, the exact type of degree probably won't be too much of an issue.

she will have to go to school in states to get the same degree unless she has a degree from Jagiellonian University

No it isn't.

Apart from anything else, it is perfectly possible to do a Magister in four years simply by loading up on classes: I know people who have done it.

And let's not even go into the joke that it is possible to get a Magister degree by going to school every other weekend for five years.

landora wrote:


a Master's degree in the sciences in the USA is completely different than a "Magister" in Poland. ask around next time or do some reading before you respond to a thread topic you know nothing about. poles are so funny with their, "well it's no different than here in Poland" attitude.

and then there's this:

"And let's not even go into the joke that it is possible to get a Magister degree by going to school every other weekend for five years."

Yes, you are right.
US mastes degree, if not from some elite school is full BS while European Magister has much higher rank.
Unfortunately close to all European countries changed their system after the Bologna decision to become more 'anglo'. What a BS!
That makes the academic system or better their degrees more easy to get and the factor selection is much less important.
It's not all about standardization.

I would contact the World Education Services. They will look at her transcript and issue the American equivalent of an official transcript. I have a 5 years degree from Poland and it was translated into MA. 5 years Polish degrees are usually translated into Masters from what I hear.

It sounds like she has experience enough to not need to worry too much about if her Polish degree is equivalent to a BS or Master's degree.

Call around to some employers and see what they say.
Have your fiance type up a resume and maybe get a few references to write and sign something for her.

I'd be shocked if she gets credits for a Master's Degree. I have several friends who went through similar transfers, my own was a while back but I don't know one single person who was credited with a Master's Degree. Hope it works out for her.

sascha wrote:


hahahaha. and what proof do you have of this? geeze, if that was the case, people from all over the world would be recruiting poles to come work for their corporations!

i know it's fun for you to crap on the USA and look for something poor old Poland does better than that "fat and dumb USA" but this is a swing and a miss.

not only is a master's program in the sciences in the USA more demanding than a "magister" but there is far more time spent in the classroom. no such thing as a "weekend warrior" master's degree in the USA.

a "magister" in Poland is a me too.

Magda: I have a magister.

Kasia: Oh yeah? Me too!

It's the equivalent of a bachelor's in the USA. everyone's got one.

Ditto.

There is such a thing in the UK but it takes more than twice as long to do as a full-time course.

Just think logically, if you take AP classes in high school you can get your BA in 3 years. Think for example math; I my days we worked through Calculus I material in high school, which you don't do in the States. The 101 classes contain just the Polish high school material. In the US you can get masters degree in 5 years, and so you can in Poland.

Of course the "studia zaoczne is a joke, but in the US you can also get your degree from some shady "online university". And they are just BAs, just like the ones from Princeton.

So in USA you give out bachelors just like Polish Unis give out magisters?

btw. I've just read that Flavor Flav (that rapper from Public Enemy) dropped out of school in 11th grade. But he was accepted to Adelphi University... wtf? Can someone who not graduated high school do any uni courses in the USA?!

It depends on why you want it. If you want an official translation then yes, they treat it as a Masters and you can put that on your CV. If you need some kind of certification then they might make you take some courses before they ceritify you.

If your purpose is to go to school (say for a PhD) then that's up to the university you're applying to and it mostly likely will be accepted as a bachelors. But then US universities often don't give full credit for diplomas from other US universities. I once new someone with an MA from a state university and wanted to switch for her PhD (to a state university in another state) and her MA was accepted as a BA (meaning they wanted her to start from zero with a masters).

Sasha is a Russian who's living in Germany. While he might be enjoying poking fun at the US I doubt he's defending the Polish education here.

10 years??

Nine: six years for the part time BA and three for the part-time MA (both assuming that one takes 16-hour per week loading (i.e. the recommended maximum for part-time) and assuming that your courses do not require a sandwich or placement year).

No much difference in Poland. Studia zaoczne also have more years than regular course.


In Poland during weekends people on zaoczne have courses form early morning to the late evening as well.


what about my question?

I just asked three people who are doing extra-mural studies right now: they all say that their course takes the same number of years as a full-time course. My ex-girlfriend lectures at a college which runs extra-mural courses: those take the same number of years as full-time studies. I used to lecture at a university which runs extra-mural courses: those took the same number of years as full-time studies. Adam Mickiewicz university runs extra-mural courses which take precisely the same number of years as full-time courses. So does Jagiellonian University. So it seems that you are either much mistaken or lying (I'd go with the 'mistaken' explanation).