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International admissions: unsuccessful applications
Selection at Sciences Po is highly competitive and our decision should in no way cast doubt on your qualifications or experience. As we receive an increasing number of excellent applications each year, we select only the very best. We understand your disappointment and your wish to know more about the reasons for our decision.
Here are some examples that may explain why your application was unsuccessful.
Assessment of your applications
The selection panel assesses each element of your application in detail. The assessment is based on all the information provided by the applicant: academic transcripts, motivation letter, choice of master’s programme, work experience or internships, career plan, personal background, nonprofit and/or political engagement, etc. Check our selection criteria.
It is possible that, despite an excellent academic record, your application was considered insufficient in other areas, such as your motivation or the arguments put forward to justify your application to Sciences Po. It may also be that your qualifications or career plan are not sufficiently coherent with the Master’s programme to which you have applied.
The CV is essential. It should not be a mere chronological listing of your experiences and activities. A CV must be tailored for its purpose and convincingly highlight the aspects of your experience that relate to your choice of Master’s programme.
The motivation letter must be carefully written, both in form (spelling, paragraphs, etc.) and in substance (the clarity of ideas and structure of arguments). Candidates are expected to do their research on the chosen programme so they can demonstrate their motivation and clearly explain how their qualifications and experience are relevant to the curriculum and educational objectives, as well as to their professional goals. Assessors read a huge number of motivation letters every day, so they much prefer those written with care.
References carry a lot of weight in the assessment of your application. Your referee may not have taken the time to write convincingly about your qualities. The choice of referee is essential, but so is their awareness of how your study plan at Sciences Po relates to your career goals. It is also important to prepare the referee for the procedure they will have to follow (online account, time left before the deadline, language required, etc.) so that they can support your application as effectively as possible.
The entire application must be legible. Documents must be correctly scanned, clearly named and uploaded in the requested format. The care, time and attention devoted to producing a clear application also demonstrate the candidate’s motivation and respect for the assessor's work.
We only take into account the compulsory documents included in the application when it is complete and ready for the first assessment. We will not take into account supporting documents provided later on (transcripts obtained at the end of the year, for example), unless we have specifically requested them.
Decisions
The decisions of the selection committees are final and cannot be appealed. We do not provide for a waiting list.
