certified copy of degree.

scottledeuce · Post by **scottledeuce** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 12:38 am

Hi there,

I'm putting together the final few pieces of my masters application to UAT.
Maybe it's just me being a bit paranoid but I've been reading in the application section that I need to send a certified copy of my degree along with my application.

Now to me this would mean a photocopy or scan of my original degree, stamped by the examinations office in the university that issued the degree.
Now I do also know that If I need an official copy of my degree I can get this from them too (for a cost of €50) but I didn’t think this is what would be required as if accepted I need to show my original then anyway.

Does anyone know what is the standard that is accepted as I'm thinking of going to my local police station to get them to certify it as well just in case.

Sorry for asking questions but I have searched and not been able to find anything on this.

**Sponsor:**

Vesper · Post by **Vesper** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:59 am

Moi,

Yeah, it is a bit confusing. I sent a photocopy of my American high school diploma last year. But, I had the Board of Education put their 'magical stamp' on it. (Whether that really matters, I'm not sure... but, I'll find out this year.) I was offered a place last year, but passed it up. (regrets!) Be sure to bring your original certificate with you, if you get accept to take the entrance exam. They will be expecting to see it then and during the registration/orientation period. But, if you are still in doubt email the admission office of your first choice. Though, it might feel like you are pulling out teeth to get a straight answer. good luck!

Cloudberry · Post by **Cloudberry** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:21 pm

A certified copy according to University of Helsinki is a document which is:

"legalised by the institution that has issued the original document or by a notary public or equivalent"

I imagine this would be the same in your case. So you can either have it authenticated by the issuing university or have a notary public/justice of the peace authenticate it.

Good luck with your application

scottledeuce · Post by **scottledeuce** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:37 pm

Thanks very much for the reply's.

I've just heard back form the universitys international officer who in a very nice way put it that all countries have different protocol for this sort of accreditation.
As you have said it sounds like it will be OK but the best thing to do in my case (and anyone in similar) is to include a short note saying that it has been approved by my college exams board and supply their contact details should the Admissions service in Helsinki wish to get in contact.

So my application will be going in the post later today and all I can do now is play the waitng game.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 2:13 pm

They just want to check you didn't get it from a ceral box or an advert in weeksly world news

JK_Ironak · Post by **JK_Ironak** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 12:45 pm

Hey, I know this is an old topic, but I felt silly about making another one on same subject. I am planning on applying for masters studies (Aalto, Helsinki) and I need officially attested copies of my degree and transcripts. Since I have 5 or 6 pages per set, I am really really worried about the price.

At maistraatti (http://www.maistraatti.fi/fi/hinnasto/) I found this:

Julkisen notaarin oikeaksi todistama jäljennös/sivu 4 euroa

Is that what I would need? So for 5 page per set it would be 20 eur and then extra 20 eur per each set of copies?

If it's important, certificates are in English, from an EU country.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 1:17 pm

JK_Ironak wrote:Hey, I know this is an old topic, but I felt silly about making another one on same subject. I am planning on applying for masters studies (Aalto, Helsinki) and I need officially attested copies of my degree and transcripts. Since I have 5 or 6 pages per set, I am really really worried about the price.

At maistraatti (http://www.maistraatti.fi/fi/hinnasto/) I found this:
Julkisen notaarin oikeaksi todistama jäljennös/sivu 4 euroa
Is that what I would need? So for 5 page per set it would be 20 eur and then extra 20 eur per each set of copies?

If it's important, certificates are in English, from an EU country.

Your math and reasoning seems to check out.

JK_Ironak · Post by **JK_Ironak** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 1:28 pm

Upphew wrote: Your math and reasoning seems to check out.

Thank you! I'm not sure about finish language and legal stuff, so I thought I'd rather ask

Btw. The price is then half of what it is in my home country, and average wage here is 3 times higher...

DMC · Post by **DMC** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 10:40 pm

Maybe the 4 euro is slightly out of date. I had some certified copies made last week by the maistratti and the cost was 5 euro per copy.

One thing that confused me was that they would not produce a certified copy of a document that was not itself signed and dated. That made no sense to me. I wanted them to certify that the copy they took was a true copy of my original. It should have made no difference what was on my original, but that is not the way they work.

JK_Ironak · Post by **JK_Ironak** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 10:53 pm

DMC wrote:Maybe the 4 euro is slightly out of date. I had some certified copies made last week by the maistratti and the cost was 5 euro per copy.

One thing that confused me was that they would not produce a certified copy of a document that was not itself signed and dated. That made no sense to me. I wanted them to certify that the copy they took was a true copy of my original. It should have made no difference what was on my original, but that is not the way they work.

Thank you, even though it's funny that it says the price list should be valid 01.01.2015 - 31.12.2016.

If you can tell me one thing, do I bring copies of the original myself or do they make them there?

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 11:21 pm

When I did mine, I took the originals to the Maistratti and they made the copies. Maybe they charged extra, I don't remember, but it would have been a nominal amount eg: 50 cents.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 11:23 pm

My documents were not standard A4 size, so I preferred to let them do the re-sizing thing.

DMC · Post by **DMC** » Fri Dec 11, 2015 12:40 am

I had them take the copies, which in my case were a mixture of standard A4 and "odd" sized documents. I would be surprised if it were possible to take your own copies for them to certify. Imagine a dense legal document, several pages long, in some obscure language. The whole meaning of the document might possibly be changed by a subtle spelling or punctuation change. I can't imagine that they would be able to certify that copies you provided were indeed true copies of the original. What level of checking would be required to do that?

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