<p>I'm applying to Columbia GS for this coming Fall 2011 (already submitted part I)
I'm applying for the restricted BA in Social Science that Columbia GS is offering with Science Po France (the deadline is January 2nd).</p>
<p>For the little story I'm an international student (french nationality) and I'm also a transfer student from a community college in the USA.</p>
<p>Does any of you has more information about this major/program? statistics?
I know the online webpage by heart and I already called them a couple of times to have some info but they are quite vague and it didn't really help a lot...</p>
<p>Anyway this is such a special major that I don't have a lot of info on it... and I was hoping at least of of you would be able to help me... </p>
<p>Is this someone from the GS office? I know that this hasn’t gotten much heat yet, and it’d be well deserved, so I’d be happy to post a link to the gs-specific page:</p>
<p>Yes, I am a student at GS. And, yes, I’ve only recently heard of the program. Pick up the phone tomorrow and call the admissions offices. They’ll be better able to help.</p>
<p>You may have already called and gotten your answers, but I believe this semester is only the first year of this program, and it is still in “pilot” mode. I think there were about 6 students at Orientation this fall that were over here from France. This may explain the lack of public information on it, since it is so new. However, I remember Dean Awn making a big deal of it and how they had a lot of hopes for more students being in the program in the future.</p>
<p>YAY! I’m applying too!! I have completed both part 1 and 2, and I just gotta submit!
I’m from Montreal and a rep from Sciences Po visited last month. I had a private meeting with her and my counselor (yes, omg it was awesome!) and she told me everything.
They only accept 30 applicants. Yep. That’s competitive lol</p>
<p>I met with a Senior Admissions Officer about this program - Erica Rosen - and it’s true that they’re working out some things for themselves still. She had to research a bit to respond to some of my questions. </p>
<p>Here’s what I learned: You cannot apply to both the dual BA program and regular GS (kind of duh) BUT if you are not accepted to dual BA, the admissions committee can decide to refer you to GS. This is important to me because it seems that the dual BA program will be very competitive and my primary goal is to go to Columbia. I am a transfer student from the University of Southern California, and she does not know how transfer credit will factor in. I’m prepared for the situation that none of my transfer credits will apply and that I will go through the entire four years of the program. Also, it is unclear if you can take some classes in French at any of the three campuses (important to me because I speak French and would love to be immersed in it all the time). That will be something of a special request once you are actually there. Finally, she does not know how many students they will accept, but it will be a small program the first year. I read a published article stating 60 students from each university will be sent to each other (so 60 will be accepted by Columbia and start immediately at Sciences Po, 60 from France will be accepted by Sciences Po and start at Columbia) but randompiglet says they will only accept 30 so now I don’t know. 30 sounds way worse to me :/</p>
<p>I’m curious about the backgrounds of the other applicants here on this thread? Like I said, I’m a transfer from the University of Southern California and I’m on a leave of absence for one year. I have an 3.7 GPA and good SATs, Erica just expressed concern that I am a “nontraditional” student since I am so young - 19 (I went to university early, when I had just turned 17) - but I have no doubt that I am, so I’m just working to get that across clearly in my essay. I’m interested in the dual BA because I want to work in diplomacy one day, and also be fluent in French. </p>
<p>Regarding the number of students: they only accept 30 students, perhaps even fewer as it’s the first year. In the long run, they expect to have at any given time 120 students in the program (60 doing their first years at Sciences Po, 60 doing the finals years at Columbia).</p>
<p>You should definitely not worry about not being a non-traditional student, as they are not especially looking for that in applicants. Although GS usually is looking for this profile, the joint-programs are different and applicants tend to be more traditional HS students. The Sciences Po degree is brand new, but they have a joint program with the Jewish Theologic Seminary - I would say 95% of the students in that program are regular students who just finished high school. I don’t think it’s going to be any different for this program, especially because Sciences Po is not especially non-traditional-friendly, like GS.</p>
<p>Finally, regarding transfers, I really don’t know how that’s going to work and you will probably have to do the 4 years. I am pretty sure Sciences Po doesn’t accept transfer credit at all, and you have to take at least 54 credits at Columbia, so even if you can transfer something for the core/other requirements, you will have to take electives in order to fulfill the total credit requirement.</p>
<p>@GD2008
Hey! I think it’s a great idea to share some background info
I’m not a transfer students like many of you here. In fact, I’d say I’m pretty much traditional. </p>
<p>I’m from Montreal, and I’ve been attending small boarding school near Montreal for six years now. I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA, 32 on the ACT, and was a class valedictorian for five years in a row. That’s pretty much it about my academic background (I think)
Oh, well I think I can technically be considered as ‘non-traditional’ because I’m also a part-time student at nearby university taking freshman courses (introductory to international relations and international affairs) while attending high school. </p>
<p>French is my third language and I have phobia of speaking it! lol I’m okay at reading and writing I guess. Oh, and for the essays, I wrote about how I overcame my cultural background and how it eventually defined who I am now. For the first essay question, I wrote about my beliefs as a liberal constructivist (and funny anecdotes about it as well)and my passion for IR and possibly IPE. </p>
<p>I’m applying to about ten selective universities in the States and Canada…an that’s about it for now? :p</p>
<p>Hi all, I’m an International student (French also) in a US college right now but I can’t apply to this dual-degree w/ Sc. Po as I can’t leave the US in the next years. Most definitely, Sc Po is not looking forward to getting “non-traditional students” in the sense of GS and the application will be highly based on tests scores, GPAs etc. So I was wondering what you expect from this dual-degree at the undergrad level, and why don’t you apply to it at the Masters level (Columbia SIPA & Sc. Po) after a great BA @ Columbia GS?</p>
<p>So I talked to the Dean of Enrollment Management (Dean Rogers), here’s what he told me:</p>
<ul>
<li>no transfer credits at all (credits from Science Po will be considered as transfer credits for Columbia and vice versa)</li>
<li>no specific profile except being a very good students strongly interested in Social Science</li>
<li>30 students per cohort</li>
<li>if French (with a french high school diploma) only the TOEFL is required (no ACT/SAT)</li>
<li>if American ACT and/or SAT required</li>
<li>if not accepted your application is directly transfer to GS</li>
</ul>
<p>We talked for about 30min, he was amazingly nice and passionated about this program (he talked a lot, which was great!)</p>
<p>If you have other question you can always ask them, I might have forgotten telling you some things…</p>
<p>Good luck everyone!!! The submission deadline is tomorrow!!!</p>
<p>PS: Cocteautwin, I’d be interested to learn about your experiences in this program :-)</p>
<p>First off, this program sounds absolutely spectacular. I mean 2 years in France and then in New York and both at unbelievably good schools! Doesn’t get much better than that!</p>
<p>I still haven’t heard back from them though which is a bit disconcerting.</p>
<p>It’d be great to hear from some others whether they have been notified of interviews yet.</p>
<p>There’s no reason to freak out anymore apparently (yes it is easy to say because I’m still impatient and scared ^^) because after checking the GS facebook page they briefly mention that they we would hear from them in March.
They postponed the decision day to the end of March too…</p>
<p>I don’t know if it’s a sign telling us that a lot more people applied than what was expected though…</p>
I have completed both part 1 and 2, and I just gotta submit!