Required Documentation for EPI Applicants

U.S. and Canadian Degrees

Official transcripts must be submitted for each degree. An official transcript is one sent directly to BGC by your college or university through mail or as secure e-transcripts. Alternatively, you may submit official transcripts if they are in a sealed envelope with the registrar’s stamp across the seal. When a degree includes credits that were transferred from another college or university, official transcripts for those course credits must be sent upon request.

The Board will consider a U.S. college or university to be acceptable when it holds institutional accreditation from one of the six U.S. Regional Accrediting Bodies or the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), which are recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and the U.S. Department of Education. Your degree must be awarded during the time that the institutional accreditation is in effect. A Canadian college or university will be considered acceptable if it is recognized under applicable provincial standards, depending on where the school is located. In addition, it may hold specialized program accreditation as noted by membership in Universities Canada (formerly the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada).

International Degrees

A degree from a college or university that is located outside the United States or Canada will be considered for acceptability based on the institution’s accreditation status in the education system that has jurisdiction. Applicants with international degrees will be required to submit their transcript(s) for a credential evaluation unless the academic program is authorized by BGC or through a BGC-recognized accreditation agency to issue BGC verification statements. (BGC verification statements streamline and shorten the review for applicants.  Please contact your program director to find out if verification statements are available to you.)

A member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services, Inc. or a member of the Association of International Credential Evaluators must be used to prepare a credential evaluation report. You must request that the report be forwarded to BGC.

Below is a list of different services that our applicants have used for transcript evaluations. BGC does not specifically endorse or recommend one service over another.

• International Education Evaluations (IEE)
• World Education Services
• Spantran
• Academic Evaluation Services
• Foundation for International Services

Professional References

Individuals wishing to apply for an EPI designation must provide three references from environmental professionals; however, the minimum level of reference that is acceptable differs based on whether you are a new graduate or have actual work experience.

Applicants for the EPI must minimally have references submitted from three environmental professionals who are familiar with your academic abilities and achievements such as professors from your degree program. Applicants for the EPI who also have actual environmental work experience are encouraged to obtain references from supervisors.

Submitting References

References are required to document, from firsthand experience, your abilities, achievements, and the nature of your environmental practice using an EPI Professional Reference Questionnaire Form (PRQ).  A PRQ must comply with the requirements of this section. Each PRQ will remain confidential between the author and BGC.

• You must initiate communication with your references to request that they submit the completed EPI Professional Reference Questionnaire Form (PRQ) that you will send them. BGC does not initiate communication with references for you.

Each reference must be provided on the Board’s EPI Professional Reference Questionnaire Form (PRQ), have a hand-written signature (not a typed or script font) or a digital signature, and be prepared only by the person giving the reference. This form can be found on the BGC website in the EPI section.

• It is unacceptable for you to provide the response on the form and then have it signed by your reference. We may use the contact information provided to verify the authenticity of the reference and confirm who prepared the text.
• Each PRQ must be submitted on the BGC website by the person writing the reference.

It is your responsibility to communicate with your reference(s) as frequently as needed to ensure that the PRQ is submitted in time to meet BGC application deadlines.

Unqualified and Suspicious Documentation

Professional Reference Questionnaires (PRQs) that appear to have been prepared by any of the following individuals may result in your application being rejected or delayed:

• Your spouse or other relatives
• A person whom you supervise
• Yourself, preparing your own PRQ (even when it is for someone else to sign)