Hi everyone. I was wondering how the financial aid for the program is (for the last two years in particular). I know that this program would be a great fit for me if I were to be admitted, but I am worried about tuition. Is the school of GS as generous as Columbia College when it comes to need-based financial aid? EDIT nvm I just read the last post
which schools are y’all applying to? I’m going for Menton. Is it true that the acceptance rate is roughly 20% for this program because that’s a ton higher than Columbia College
Hello young people!
My daughter got accepted to the program last school year and is currently a first year student at Reims. I am one of those parents that love this site. I am calm now but I used to check the dual degree thread obsessively last year. 
I know what you are all going through from the parental side and I feel for you! Just made an account so that I can finally help and share our experience.
To Caookies I say. You have to chose this program for the right reasons. Yes, the allover acceptance rate is higher than the general rate of CC. But you also have to realize that you will be living in France for 2 years, go to college there and live there. I don’t know anything about you so that might be easy for you. You might be a dual citizen, you might have gone to a French or French speaking high school. You might live in Europe. But as a parents of a US high school student who just started the program I can tell you that it is not easy. And that is all after you have gone through during the difficult application process.
About financial aid: the first two years cost about 10000 Euros per year plus living expenses. But you can apply to get European financial aid. This is based on the parental income. Again, I don’t know your situation but a lot of US families fall through this as the general income here in the US is much higher than in France. They do not look at the much higher living expenses of the family like housing, healthcare cost or sibling tuition cost. You will most likely qualify for the general housing subsidy called CAF (about a third to half of your monthly rent).
The last two years at Columbia are extremely expensive. You will apply through the normal FAFSA process. We got turned down for any financial aid due to income. My daughter also did not get any other scholarships through Science Po or Columbia. And we struggled as a family to say Yes for a few days. But now that the college year is under way, after hearing from other high school class mates we stand fully behind her decision and are very proud that she is doing it. We love this program and think it is absolutely great. There are of course problems and areas that could be improved (i.e. tedious French bureaucracy at Science Po, more guidance, faster replies etc.) But the experience you will get will set you truly apart from your class mates if you are looking for an international college experience. And let’s not forget that you will get two degrees! Again, this is not for everybody. But I think the dual degree programs are a great “alternative” to the traditional college experience especially for the high achieving students that want to do more. I am sure they will grow in popularity tremendously in the next years as the international student will be in high demand in any country.
I hope I can encourage any of you to apply and if you get selected to go do it. Feel free to ask any questions you might have. I will try to answer as honestly as I can.
Can you apply to Columbia College, defer enrollment, and then apply to Sciences Po dual enrollment program? If I get into the gap year program I want, I might like Sciences Po more. Is this even possible?
@Parentalhelp did your daughter was to apply to Columbia College too?
@interestedtraveler7 No, it explicitly says that you can not apply to Columbia College and the Dual Degree Program at the same time i.e. in the same year. It’s clear why they do that.
But I am not sure about deferment. I know there are deferred and gap year students in the program but I don’t know if they applied at CC before. I remember this question vaguely in the old threads, - 2018 and - 2017 Entry.
@Parentalhelp I’m so sorry! I’m pretty sure I meant to ask if she wanted to apply to Columbia College too (as in would’ve gone to CC if they didn’t have the Dual BA Program). I also checked the old threads and there were some mixed answers–some said that you couldn’t defer enrollment (which is also what the Sciences Po Dual Degree FAQ says), but others said that if you contacted the admissions office and explained your situation it might be possible. I emailed them, so if I get an answer I’ll post it here.
Also, the gap year program I’m applying for is NSLI-Y, which is an amazing program and why I want to figure out what’s possible and what’s not.
@interestedtraveler No need to apologize, I understand. My daughter got a flyer in the mail at the end of 10th grade about the dual degree program. We had never heard of it but started to look into it and went to the info session. Since then it’s all she ever wanted to do. It is her dream program. (You’ll read that in the threads a lot) and she started to line up her high school carrier. Columbia was not really on her radar before that. We live in the Boston area and there are enough schools here. But Columbia is an amazing school and I understand that you want to go there.
Let us know what you find out about the gap year deferment. They will probably tell you that it’s a case by case decision.
@interestedtraveler7 You cannot concurrently apply to Columbia College and the Dual BA Program. You have to pick one or the other. In the case of deferring for a gap year, you would need to directly contact the admissions office–they would be more than happy to speak to you. Dual BA students have applied as high school students before, been accepted, and deferred to take a gap year, but they had initially applied to the Dual BA Program, not CC. You can reach admissions at spo-dualba@columbia.edu or +1 212 854 2772. Please continue posting questions and best of luck to all of you!
@GSTourGuides I emailed the admissions office a few days ago, so now I just need to wait! Thank you! I’m really hoping that deferment will be possible.
So… the admissions office got back to me and said it was possible to defer enrollment! I’m not sure if you need to contact them beforehand, but it is an option for those that are considering it.
Hello! I am new to this thread. I’m a student from Mexico ~possibly~ applying to this program.
@Parentalhelp Parentalhelp: I read your comment where you mentioned not getting any financial aid. Where you able to apply for financial aid because your daughter has European citizenship? I am worried about financing my studies at science po and I don’t really understand is international students are also elegible for aid (besides scholarships).
@BellMarova So, financial aid is hard to explain as every case is special. In our case we were allowed to apply for financial aid through the US system/Columbia. Here we did not qualify because the income was too high. We could (but did not) apply for the public scholarship system of France and the EU/Science Po. Here the income levels of the parents are even lower. So if you don’t qualify for for US side aid (determined by Fafsa) you will definitely not qualify for European aid. You are allowed to apply for both, independent from your nationality. BUT as a dual citizen you are not allowed to apply for all merit based scholarships the schools offer. There is only one or two that were open to us and we were rejected for those. (I assume this is unofficially also due to income although they would not say that).
We are now going for third party/outside scholarships where the chances are even lower.
And yes, I know financing this program is a real problem for some families. So do your research and see what else you can find!
Great information! Since my family qualifies for aid through the US system, we might qualify for it too in the EU, but I will contact admissions to make sure
I really struggled understanding this in the program’s website, so thank you so much for responding.
And, thank you for helping everyone in this forum out! That’s really nice of you especially since your daughter already made it through.
My daughter is all about this dual-program. it’s Indeed a great opportunity for everyone to experience 2 excellent schools in addition to the living experience of living abroad. best of luck to all of you applying this year.
She is applying for Reims campus and attended Columbia’s open house on the program last October. We were wondering how AP credits transfer to the DualProgram (if at all)? since students start in France, will they “lose” all of their HS Credits once back in the US?
Hi @SixATX
Thanks so much for reaching out. Columbia will accept up to 60 credits of advanced standing. Students can choose which combination of SciencesPo vs. AP credits to count towards this. Since most Dual BA students finish SciencesPo with over 100 credits, they often opt to transfer in SciencesPo credits. A common example of Dual BA students applying college credit earned in high school is to satisfy the general education math requirement, known at the Quantitative Reasoning part of the Columbia Core. The choice of which combination of credits to apply towards advance standing falls to the student and decisions are made in conversation with the academic advisor who flies from New York to France each semester.
Hope that helps and best wishes to all for a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Information from the information session today that I thought were interesting:
-Students admitted to the dual BA have guaranteed admissions to all Sciences Po grad programs. Students will still have guaranteed admissions to these programs even if they choose to work for a few years first.
-Sciences Po tuition is 10370 Euros which is roughly 11500 USD. Rent for housing is 400-650 Euros. There are no dining halls or dorms. For EU citizens, your tuition will be judged based on income. For people from outside Europe, there are still need-based scholarships available.
-Columbia GS Tuition is roughly 55000 USD. With room and board it is roughly 75000 USD. GS has less endowment money than Columbia College so the average grant of financial aid is only 20000 USD, with some people that have more need receiving roughly 30000 USD.
-50% of students apply for financial aid
-FAFSA should be sent to Columbia School of GS.
-SAT code: 2095
-ACT code: 2716
-All test scores are superscored
-SATIIs are not required
-Average ACT: 33
-Average SAT: 1434
-Recommended IB Score: 33/45
-Recommended TOEFLS: 100
-Last year there were 434 applications. Of those applications, 175 were interviewed. Of those interviewed, 114 were accepted. Thus there’s a 26% overall acceptance rate and a 65% acceptance rate for people that are interviewed.
-Why Dual BA essays (the 1000 word one) should address: Interest in the social sciences, why the campus that you chose for Sciences Po, why Columbia, why core curriculum, why NYC, why France, etc.
-Interviews are not the average informal American interview, and they are primarily content-based. They are given by the SAME people that read your application. Before your interview, you should have researched 2 topics in the political/economic affairs of the region of your campus’s study, and you should be prepared to speak about those topics/issues.
-Fit for the program is the primary consideration after academics
-Interview acceptances come out in February, and final decisions come out on April 1.
Email of their office: spo-dualba@columbia.edu
If I forgot to mention anything important, please feel free to add on to this @ other ppl who attended the info session.
Recommended IB score is 39/45 NOT 33/45 my bad!!
Also the SAT might’ve been 1454 not 1434 I forgot