My name is Laetitia and I am current student in the program and tour guide at Columbia; I was at the Reims campus before coming to New York. I am French/Irish by nationality, and grew up mostly in the United States.
The campuses are truly international and are even more international than Columbia when looking at the proportion of international students. In general the student body at Sciences Po breaks down in the following way:
40% French students
30% students from region of focus (for Reims - American and Canadian students)
30% international students (from all other continents, including South America, Africa, Asia and Australia)
The campuses truly live up to their international reputation, and coming from an international high school this was a great fit for me. Not only are the students international, but the faculty also represent many countries and have often lived and studied/worked in other countries as well. By comparison, Columbia is considerably more American (international undergraduates make up 17%), but the school in itself is very international, representing over 90 countries within the undergraduate population. And by extension, New York is the most international “campus” we could wish for. Here is the specific breakdown of the international community at Columbia according to the International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO): http://www.columbia.edu/cu/isso/fallreport/.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.
@GSTourGuides
Thanks for the prompt reply! One of the main draws of this programme for me is the international student profile so it’s really heartening to know that the programme lives up to its name in this aspect. (:
When will admissions decisions be coming out? I know that last year’s decisions came out during the week of the 23rd and that Columbia College is already releasing likely letters.
@hlee77 I don’t think any of us know, but maybe in two weeks, similar to last year’s time? I don’t think Columbia College and GS coordinate though, so I don’t think the likely letters mean that we’ll be knowing this week too.
Hey like you I’m desperately waiting for the decisions to come out… and I was wondering whether they give out conditional of inconditional offers; do they accept us on the condition that we get a specific mark at our final examinations? (like the mention très bien in the french baccalaureate for instance)
To follow up on your question… last year we received decisions on March 25 (2 days before Ivy Day, which is always the last Thursday of the month)! You’ll get an email saying your decision is available, and depending where you are when you check it (I have friends who were in class because of timezones or extracurriculars), you’ll be able to log in to your account ASAP and look at the decision. First word if you’re accepted is of course “Congratulations.”
Following your online acceptance, you should receive a pack in the mail within a week (or more depending on where you live. East coast people got it around April 1). That, along with the info online, should have a lot of information for you. And of course, the current students are actually trying to change how integration of new students works, so we are trying to be more accessible for any questions!
@littlehopes that’s something that is still being figured out, and happens differently on each campus! Following your acceptance (hopefully!), you’ll get a packet with a LOT of information and most likely will also receive emails with more information. Integration is something that is mainly a concern of the Reims campus as we are now hosting the Euro-American AND Euro-African campuses in Reims (so we have to integrate the EURAF program as well as all the new first years).
Integration lasts one week at Sciences Po (at your campus site) where you’ll partake in a week long course and a LOT of activities planned by your BDE, BDA, and AS (Bureau des eleves, des arts, et l’association sportif). Before you arrive, you’ll have a lot of things to do, but once you do arrive, the current students will take over from the administration (and the dreaded french bureaucracy) and make you guys feel at home:)
After your decisions, feel free to PM me any questions / you should be added to a new Faceb00k group after!
Thanks for all the advice @SickofApps! I really do hope we all make it. Do you think there’s a deciding factor between those who make it and those who don’t? But I guess all we can do is survive this week.
ahh I had my first rejection today, from Yale-NUS, and I was pretty disappointed, so I’m really nervous now to hear back from this program, my top choice…
I remember reading on one of the past years’ threads that the people who were accepted got a phone call telling them they were in! Can anyone confirm this?
Yeah, I saw on the 2013 and 2014 forums that they called those who got in. From both last year and the year before, decisions were released on the 25th! I hope we’ll hear this week.