Thanks! Do you know of any students who were able to successfully secure more aid? @lion4546
Hi everyone, prospective applicant for 2018 entry here. Congrats to everyone that’s been accepted! Would you be willing to post your stats to give examples of successful applicants? This is my top choice program so I’m doing my best to keep up to date.
@thoreaueditor and all other prospective students, this program is totally different than your average undergrad programs.It is probably one of very few programs that truly looks at acceptance holistically. Crude stats aren’t as important as long as you are a decent hardworking student that shows an upward trajectory and no slacking around. For example, you won’t be denied acceptance if you have scored some 100 points below the 50th percentile for acceptance to Columbia. That being said, they won’t take a mediocre student. Your interest, related activities, and essays are the most important (there are 2 long essays), granted you have a decent GPA and test scores. If you have been a consistent hardworking student and you demonstrate your interest in the program, you have a great shot at making it to the interview round. Don’t be too obsessed with stats for this program.
@DualDegreeSeeker Thank you for that insight. I’m not sure it is representative of the current situation. Interest in the program has really grown and there is a lot of competition.
@DualDegreeSeeker hit the nail on the head. Stats still matter, but what matters most is how well you fit the program.
@dowzerw While the program is growing more competitive, I still think this program will ultimately focus more on personal fit rather than grades. To be honest, it does take a very specific kind of person with a specific set of ambitions to fit this program and be accepted. And the qualities of such an applicant are beside their stats and GPA. Seriously none of us got into this program on the basis of our GPA or SAT scores; we got in for other, less-tangible reasons linked to who we are as people and what we care about.
I think the most important qualities (which are not specifically academic) one needs to show in order to have a good chance at this program is intellectual and cultural curiosity, flexibility and adaptability, an open mind, and some kind of international attunement. And it helps if your high school experiences reflect this as well - studying languages (especially French), international experiences, etc.
@DualDegreeSeeker @AllisonNelson Thanks so much for your responses, that calms me down a bit! I do feel like I would be an excellent fit for the program and that my values align well with what they’re looking for in their applicants. I would just hope that a few B’s on my transcript won’t keep me out of the interview round.
@AllisonNelson I’m drowning, as always, in work so can’t really reply to a lot of things here but saw you mentioned Columbia GPA. If I’m not mistaken, our SciPo GPA does not transfer to Columbia. Our grades count in terms of getting credits, but the Columbia GPA is entirely separate and based solely on Columbia grades.
@vossari You’re right, my bad. I got confused; Columbia is generous with grade conversion for the purpose of determining what credits we receive at Columbia for our Sciences Po grade, as we only need an 11 or 12 out of 20 to get credit at Columbia.
I forgot that we actually start with a clean slate once we get to Columbia.
Hey everybody, literally just found this thread. I got accepted to Reims for Fall 2017 (looking forward to meeting everyone) and wanted to ask a few questions.
So I’m interested in Poli Sci and Econ mostly, but I’ve heard the maths at Reims is not great? Is this accurate? Is the Econ at Reims not great either? How feasible is it for someone in this program to double major at Columbia in Econ and Poli Sci?
Also in relation to housing, I was thinking of moving into Residium. Are the small rooms, very small? Should I pay a bit more for the flat at Residium? What are your guys overall thoughts on Residium? I heard it’s close to Campus, and is full of Sc Po students which is nice I guess. Also, by when should we apply for a place there? I heard it gets booked very quickly? So is April 25th a good date to apply by?
@Arandomstudenttt Mr. Martinez said double majoring at Columbia is pretty tough to do if you want to stay on a 4 year plan w 2 years at SP. Just spoke w him about it a few days ago. Congratulations for getting in and best wishes w you experience!
@Arandomstudenttt we’ve made a facebook group that you can join - Columbia Dual BA Accepted Students 2021. Feel free to join, most of your questions have already been answered 
@AllisonNelson and @vossari Hello! This is a mom of an admitted student, suddenly I am panicking a little, probably because it’s coming down to the final hours of my D making a decision. So, please bear with me…my D loves the program but I am realizing I need to ask a few questions before I am excited for her. I wanted to ask current Dual students what the ecomonic classes are like at Science Po… I am concerned in math heavy classes that the material is taught well and teachers are accessible for questions? How is safety for the students, particularily in Menton? Once back at Columbia do you continue your language classes? If not, do you lose any of your language ability? Do you feel like you have advisors that are helping guide you to graduate with the right coursework/opportunities to receive a job or recommendations to get into grad school? Thank you so much!
@luckyshamrock don’t worry at all, I completely understand your concerns! I think economics is taught well at Sciences Po, it’s definitely not math intensive in the first year. If you decide to concentrate on it in the 2nd year that’s your choice and the classes definitely get harder but if you don’t like economics or it isn’t your strong subject you’ll end up picking a different concentration and won’t have that issue. Teachers are accessible, some more than others, it really depends on the professor. The main problem in Reims and sometimes Le Havre is that teachers commute from Paris so they aren’t on campus that much and therefore less accessible during the week but most have office hours at least once a week when they’re there. Safety isn’t an issue at all, Sciences Po has installed a new security procedure as part of the vigipirate program that exists throughout France and here in Reims we have at least 2 guards at the entrance that check our ID and bags every time we enter (I find it a bit ridiculous but better be safe than sorry?). You can continue the language classes at Columbia if you want to. Personally I’m fluent in French so haven’t been taking it here either but I do take Italian for example and you can definitely continue that at Columbia (or any other language you decide to learn). Now, if you’ve reached a B2 or C1 level of French I doubt taking a French class at Columbia is going to improve it much more but there are so many French kids there that you can just talk to them in French to keep learning or just maintain your level The advisors are very helpful and the career services at Columbia are stellar (Sciences Po are decent in my opinion and help more for France and Europe so it really depends on where your daughter would like to work) so don’t worry at all about job opportunities. Also, seeing as Sciences Po makes you complete an internship during the summer between your first and second years, you’ll have at least one connection from there, and at least one opportunity to see what you’re really interested in. Hope that helps! Don’t hesitate to ask any other questions you might have
@luckyshamrock It seems that @vossari has answered all of your questions! But I’ll add a few notes. He is right about the varying availability depending on the teachers. However, even if teachers are not physically available on campus, often they will make an effort to stay in touch via email and answer any questions you might have about the course. My macroeconomics teacher right now teaches at other universities in Paris and Rouen, so she can’t be on campus very often; however she has always been very fast and helpful in her emails whenever we contact her with questions.
Yes, the campuses are all very safe (especially now with the upgrading security system all over France) and have security guards on hand to prevent strangers from entering the campus. Sometimes it’s even a bit too safe, haha; recently we had a prospective student’s parents visit from Hong Kong, and the security guard wouldn’t let them onto campus since they weren’t students.
At Columbia we don’t have to take any language classes, as we will have already fulfilled that requirement. However, we of course have the option to keep studying them if we want to! And it is, like @vossari said, possible to maintain your French given the number of francophone students in the program! Basically you can take languages as far as you want in this program, even after you’ve arrived in New York.
We have access to the Columbia resources as well as Sciences Po resources, and students use both of them to find internships and job opportunities. And our advisors at Columbia are very easy to access even from France and have been very helpful; the Sciences Po advisors have their merits as well in terms of the network they can tap into. They definitely have resources to help you find opportunities even outside of France and Europe (the Asia representative helped me look for a program in China for the summer). Also as students we are amazed by the networking that our fellow peers can offer; even though we’re all only students, we’ve really helped each other out a lot in terms of finding internships and summer programs and whatnot just from our own previous experiences.
Feel free to ask us anymore questions you might have! I apologize for my late response, since the deadline is so close.
Off the waiting list last Friday!
I’ve been reading through this thread and thanks so much for answering everyone’s questions! I have one of my own. Do students applying need to have taken a year off between high school graduation and applying to the program? I already have taken an extra year of high school by studying abroad and I wouldn’t pause my when life track so I can apply to a program I probably won’t get into…
@Kd6410 I don’t know if I have understood every aspect of your question, but you definitely don’t have to take a year off. I’m going to graduate from high school in July and will move to Reims in August. I hope this helps.
Thanks, it does. If you want to apply to the General Studies school at Columbia you have to have taken at least a year off between graduating high school and applying. So if you graduate in 2018 you have to wait until 2019 to apply. I wasn’t sure if it was the same for the Dual BA program since it’s through the GS school. And on the website you can only request info for entering fall 2019-2023, though that’s probably a glitch.
@Kd6410 The Dual program has it’s own application. I believe you must apply straight from high school but, once accepted you can request to take a gap year before starting.
Congratulations @xoxoPaulina !! Please join the Facebook group titled Columbia Dual BA Accepted Students Class of 2021, so we can all get to meet you and answer any questions you might have!
@Kd6410 As @luckyshamrock said, you don’t need to take a gap year. The Dual BA Program, although technically part of the School of General Studies, is essentially its own independent program, so you don’t need to follow the requirements of GS or the other schools of Columbia. Just make sure you meet all of the requirements necessary to apply to the Dual BA Program.