I have a S28 whose top choice is this dual degree program. He is just starting his junior year so I have all of this year to help him get ready. If your kid was accepted for 2030, can you share what the process was like and what you think was the winning formula? And if they were accepted and chose not to enroll, what was the deciding factor there? TIA!
Are you in California?
Sciences Po expects broad understanding of the news in general and for your geographic area of choice + language fluency (not necessarily French or the language of your area of interest but evidence you’ll be able to learn those quickly) + generally excellent writing skills. The interview is an oral exam and it’s make or break if the general benchmarks (GPA, rigor, AP 5s) have been met. The kids who succeed have been reading the news (The Economist, the NYT, the Financial Times, a paper or 2 from the area of interest such as Le Monde in English, Haaretz in English, ShanghaiTimes in English…) since the 11th grade, often discussing what they’ve reading through class, club, blog, podcast. They can easily identify and analyze issues from press cartoons for instance.
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Yes. We’re in CA. He already reads the NYT pretty regularly and because of the algorithm (family subscription) we get served a lot of news about France. Just today, we were reading a travel piece about the area of Brittany he was in this summer. I have read that one of the things they are looking for in the interviews is the ability to be independent in another country, which he has done. I’m more concerned about the Cal part because his grades are good, but not stellar and I know that Cal is increasingly hard to get into.
He can apply to UCB-Sciences Po and one other Sciences Po (in his case probably Reims). This way, even if he doesn’t get into UCB, he has a shot at Sciences Po.
He should familiarize himself with the bac questions to see of he’d be able to produce an answer..it’s not easy.
Since you’re in CA your GC should be able to give you an idea whether his profile matches the profile of previous students at his school who got into UCB.
Yes it’s extremely difficult to get into UCB. Students who do, pretty much have straight As in a very rigorous curriculum. I think you need a 4.2-4.3 GPA but I don’t know whether that’s capped or uncapped
@Gumbymom can you help? Thank you.
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Thanks! Based on some other stuff I’ve read online (and, yes, Claude) I’ve read that the dual degree program in particular relies very heavily on the story, which is pretty unique. And that they’re also looking for 18 year olds that won’t flip out being so far from home in a very different culture.
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I cannot offer any specific insights about the program. Acceptance rates are probably in-line with other Dual degree programs such as MET that is around 3%. The supplemental and interview are very important factors in the selection process.
UC Berkeley overall GPA Stats are as follows (25-75th percentile):
Unweighted UC GPA: 3.90-4.00
Capped weighted: 4.16-4.28
Weighted Uncapped: 4.36-4.72
You can look up the general admit rate for your son’s HS and average capped weighted GPA here: Admissions by source school | University of California
If I come across any more information, I will post on this discussion.
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Thank you 
@mooshi5
The Kids who got in that I know, all had international experience (H4 kids, Foreign service kids, study abroad like your son) and prepared for months.
They applied to Sciences Po or Columbia/SC po or Trinity/ScPo, nor UCB/ScPo though.
UCB would use PIQs which would look at his story for sure, but AFAIK Sciences Po doesn’t, not much - questions those kids had involved impact of June 2024 elections to political stability in France, an article about President Macron selling war planes to India, a cartoon about former French colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa, explaining what’s generally at stake in the midterms and in one state of their choice, the situation of PSOE in the EU (Poitiers candidate), something about urban adaptation vs. Mitigation wrt climate change. Then one personal question at the end: “So, your favorite hobby is cooking. Tell us about that” “I see you like running. Can you explain?”
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Thanks so much for that additional info. My son lived in Paris for a year in 8th grade because my husband was working on a movie there. That started him on this French journey. He went back with CIEE the past 2 summers to Brittany — this past summer as an Honors French student. So he definitely has the international experience. I do worry about his grades and complexity of classes. He’s taking 2 APs this year (French & Psychology). He could have taken Honors CS, but after bombing in AP CS A last year, he wanted to take a break, especially since it was the same teacher.
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AP CS won’t matter but not having AP English nor AP History is likely to hurt him for both ScPo and UCB since his school offers them.
DE equivalent classes would work too if there’s a possibility of dual enrolling at a nearby CC. For UCs, this year is the last year where taking these DE classes would be factored into his GPA for UCs and CSUs.
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BTW did he attend a US school or similar (private “hors contrat”, Ecole alsacienne, Jeannine Manuel..) or a French public school (collège public) for 8th grade in Paris?
He was at a private school in Paris — one of the well-known ones that teach in English. I won’t name it here, but our experience there was beyond bad! Cost €40k between tuition and fees and was the biggest waste of money ever!
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