<p>Hi,
Just asking for some updates. The ones who got the interview request, have you set it yet? If you have already done the interview, please describe it to us! </p>
<p>Anyone else got an interview request?</p>
<p>@chengnuo1993: I suggest you take a look at past pages of this thread as well as last year’s Dual BA program thread. I know there’s not much around because the website itself is not very informative concerning the interviews Good luck!</p>
<p>Hey guys, been following this thread for a while. I just had my interview (I set it up on March 2nd for today), and I decided to register and share my experience 'cause this thread has been very helpful:</p>
<p>Two officers from the admissions office for the Dual BA Program conducted the interview for me; one from Columbia and another from Sciences Po; the whole thing lasted about thirty minutes. </p>
<p>The first few minutes or so were them explaining how I’d gotten to the point I was at now (my qualifications etc) for the interview. </p>
<p>After that they went into asking questions about things like my academic experience, personality, perception of the program, and so on. Questions branched off my answers too. That lasted for about twenty minutes.</p>
<p>The last ten minutes or so were spent on any questions I had about the program, which they answered pretty thoroughly. They said they’d be contacting me again with updates in a few weeks (I guess two), thanked me for the time, and then it was goodbyes. </p>
<p>My experience was pretty relaxed and overall a good one, they’re easy to talk to and very responsive to the things you say. If you’ve had any other interviews with colleges, it’s not much different from them except they’re a bit more specific in their questions; they’ll indulge any train of thought/relevant topics you bring up though. So just go with the flow and you’ll do fine. </p>
<p>Hope that helps, good luck to everyone. :)</p>
<p>While we realize that the program is quite competitive, I am sad to learn that many have already been contacted for interviews. My daughter has not been contacted, and (at least IMO) her credentials are quite strong: she has already studied abroad as a HS junior, she will graduate with an IB diploma and is fluent in 2 languages (including French). If a kid like that doesn’t at least get an interview, then this program is REALLY competitive. There is so little information about number of applicants, etc on the website and the admissions department has not been really communicative or helpful. Congrats to anyone who has interviewed, and please share what your background/credentials are so that the rest of us can get a sense of what the candidates are up against. Thanks!</p>
<p>From what I have learned the admissions folks were anticipating 300+ apps. The total number of spots open is 30. They are looking for 30 students and if only 20 of the 300+ met the criteria then only 20 will be offered slots. It’s not like regular admission where x plus some number are offered to get x to matriculate.</p>
<p>My daughters stats are: 2340 SAT and 35 ACT with a 10 on writing
SATII - 800 and 780
5 AP classes through junior year all 5s (Bio, US History, Calc AB, World Hist, Eng Comp)
4 APs senior year (Calc BC, Eng Lit, Gov/Politics, Chem)
Rank - 1 to 5 out of 600+ public high school
Language other than English - 5 years spanish/3 french
National Merit Finalist
Grade Point - 4.2 something (all A’s in high school)
Strong recs
Strong essays</p>
<p>I cannot say categorically that 300+ apps were received. This is what I have been able to discern while speaking with staff at Columbia/SP.</p>
<p>Anyway you look at it this is an extremely competitive program to gain acceptance. My daughter is extremely excited to be granted an interview. I only wish we were close enough to get her to an interview on campus. We live 1500 plus miles away.</p>
<p>I know it seems its not only super competitive but unable to decipher what their criteria is, My daughter had excellent credentials and she did not get an interview call- they said they were still reviewing apps but at this point the hope has pretty much faded… :(</p>
<p>Hi everyone, I just got an email requesting an interview today, so don’t lose heart! There are so many wonderful applicants here.</p>
<p>I hope my interview turns out okay. My worst fear is that they’ll talk to me in French, I don’t speak any of it at all! But I said on my application that I don’t know any French so I guess that’s doubtful :)</p>
<p>GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!</p>
<p>I do have a (kind of silly) question though. Since I don’t know any French, do you say “Sciences Po,” like this: [Sciences</a> po pronunciation: How to pronounce Sciences po in French](<a href=“Sciences po pronunciation: How to pronounce Sciences po in French”>Sciences po pronunciation: How to pronounce Sciences po in French) </p>
<p>I feel like I’m going to utterly butcher those French names! Oh well, let’s see how it goes.</p>
<p>Wow, I didn’t realize how competitive this program was!</p>
<p>I’m a Canadian, and got accepted to my first choice university elsewhere, so I actually withdrew my application instead of taking the interview. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone; it’s an absolutely amazing program for sure!</p>
<p>i dont know how it is as they are not old enough to release any statistics on criteria, % admitted etc. All i know is we did not get an interview request. </p>
<p>Viramay- Where did you get in? Congratulations!! and the last person what are your stats?</p>
<p>Hi jmommy, if you meant me, I think that what I had going for me were my test scores and courseload. I have a 2360 SAT and 800, 790, 770, & 770 on 4 SATII tests, and even though my GPA isn’t perfect, I’ll have taken 16 AP classes and 3 college classes by the end of this year.</p>
<p>A big disadvantage though is that I don’t speak any French, although I’m fluent in Chinese (I applied to Le Havre) and Spanish (I’ve won two national scholarships for Spanish), and speak Portuguese well enough to get by.</p>
<p>Hopefully it turns out okay! I wouldn’t give up hope, they only contacted me yesterday, and I think they’re interviewing until mid-March. Bonne chance!</p>
<p>thanks Seniorita for the reply! Is this program your top choice? </p>
<p>BBDark- How do you have so much information on # of applications received and how many they will admit etc. I did not read that on any of their website. Have you been in touch with someone at the admissions office? I just get the College of GS and they are not saying much! congrats to your daughter- She has great stats.</p>
<p>We started talking with C/SP the minute the program was annouced a couple of years ago. During the process we spoke with a number of people. During a visit to Columbia I was told they expect 300 plus applicants this year. The estimate was based upon the number of apps from the previous year. They were careful to acknowledge that it was only a guess due to the program being so new.</p>
<p>As to the slots, 30 is number that was told to us during our visit. They were careful to note that it was a max. Perhaps things have changed. I don’t know.</p>
<p>It has been difficult to get additional information and I agree that the website is not very informative. That being said they have been very responsive to my daughter during the process. She enjoyed her interview and is hopeful to get an offer. We will see.</p>
<p>hi
How did you even know that this program came into existence, my daughter opened one of the mailers (accidentally…) and that’s how we learned about it.
Your daughter has great credentials and i am sure she will get in…
thanks</p>
<p>I still have not heard back anything… I don’t know, I’m just starting to lose hope 
I thought that I would do at least to the interviews due to my essays and academic qualifications… :(</p>
<p>Congratulations and good luck to those who have already received an interview offer!</p>
<p>My daughter had expressed interest as a 9th grader about spending a portion of her college years overseas. She was not sure where she wanted to go, but new it was a requirement if it could be arranged.</p>
<p>At work I take the Cronicle of Higher Education on-line. I read some articles but most of the time I scan the publication for interesting articles that may have application at work. One day I saw the Columbia/SP press release. </p>
<p>That night my daughter made a phone call to Columbia and fired off e-mails to SP. Within a couple of weeks we had scheduled a trip to a major city (we live in a rurual area of the States) to meet with a SP representative. </p>
<p>As an aside, we have friends who live in Paris. We spent many days communicating about SP. Initially D wanted to attend SP for her undergrad, but after seeing the benefits of the dual degree opted for that instead.</p>
<p>Wow - what a great turn of events in her favor. Our daughter is so keen on this program for the same reasons and she bumped upon this accidentally Oct 2011 and she thought it would be very good to pursue.</p>
<p>We still have not heard- I wish we did- but we have not and its really sad> She has great credentials but we are not sure what they are looking for.</p>
<p>Hello everyone,
I am a French student and I applied to the Dual BA, but I do not know if anybody from France as got any answer from Columbia for an interview. I did not get anything and I am starting to loose hope… Does anybody know when will they send the last emails for the interviews ?</p>
<p>Hi JMommy and others:</p>
<p>Thanks so much for posting your daughter’s stats. She has very strong credentials. Do not lose hope about the interview quite yet-I had done the same last week and then my daughter received an email on Friday March 9 asking for an interview so I think that they are working through the list. Her interview is on Wednesday 3/14. Also, they had contacted earlier last week her because they couldn’t read her transcripts (which she had sent over to them twice!), so she finally faxed them a copy.</p>
<p>My daughter’s SAT scores were around 2100, and she has a GPA of 4.2. The advantage for her may have come down to the fact that she has already studied abroad and has a demonstrated interest in continuing to do so. She will receive the International Baccalaureate diploma as well in May. She is fluent in Italian and close to fluent in French, but I don’t think that knowing French already is a huge factor since the classes are conducted in English.</p>
<p>Senorita Pepita, the phonetic pronounciation of Sciences Po (as close as I can write it!) is see-awns po (as in "polite).</p>
<p>Good luck everyone and I will report back after my daughter’s interview!</p>
<p>Sorry, I also meant to thank BBDark for posting her child’s credentials along with the other info about the program as well! It is good to know that the program is looking for candidates that are strong in several different ways…for example my daughter’s SAT’s were good, but not stellar as some others have posted, and she still got an interview.</p>
<p>Good luck to all!</p>
<p>thanks for commenting, My daughter has 2240 on SAT’s maxed on her AP classes, knows 3 languages-4.2 GPA. She has still not been contacted- we are so confused and don’t know what to make of it. She has interned for several political campaigns has doen extensive work for non profits abroad. Feel like she has the credentials. Was her class president in Junior year and VP in Sophmore year</p>
<p>Only thing we can hope is that we might hear this week. Keeping fingers crossed.</p>