International Undergraduate Admissions

The first evaluation of the admissions procedure consists of an assessment of the candidate’s results in their final secondary school exams.

For candidates applying from non-French systems of secondary education, results in final exams equivalent to the French Baccalaureate and/or midterm exams and/or predicted grades (upon availability) will be assessed on the basis of school transcripts submitted through the Sciences Po admissions website. These transcripts will be assessed by experts in systems of secondary education abroad.

There are no specific subject requirements. For example, IB candidates whose 6 subjects (3 HL, 3 SL or more HL) do not contain any science subjects are not in any way disadvantaged.

How can I prepare for this evaluation?

Sciences Po seeks to select excellent students, whatever their academic path prior to applying may be. The admissions process at Sciences Po values diversity among applicants and their backgrounds. That means that applications are evaluated holisticaly and excellence in a candidate’s specialities and chosen subjects is one of the factors taken into consideration. You should therefore choose your subjects on the basis of your own skills, interests and curiosity about the specialities on offer.

We would also advise you to familiarise yourselves with our programmes and curricula, both at the Undergraduate College (Bachelor’s level) and at Master’s level. Whatever subjects and specialities you choose, it is important that you are able to demonstrate an interest in the humanities, social sciences, history and current affairs in the world around you, for example through your personal projects, extracurricular activities or reading.

Our evaluation of the candidate’s academic performance and progress is intended to provide both overview and in-depth insight into their time at secondary school. 

This phase of evaluation will focus on academic performance throughout the last three years of secondary school. It aims to make an in-depth assessment of the student’s academic performance, their position in the cohort, evidence of hard work, perseverance and improvement, overall progress. The "activities and interests" section will provideadditional elements of understanding of the candidate's background. 

This evaluation, which is based on an analysis of the candidate’s academic record, is conducted by a secondary school teacher and/or a membersf the academic staff at Sciences Po. The examiner assesses the application without being aware of the results of Evaluation 1.

Our examiners have an excellent knowledge of foreign systems of secondary education, as well as of the Sciences Po Undergraduate College.

How can I prepare for this evaluation?

Sciences Po seeks to select excellent students, whatever their academic path prior to applying may be. The admissions process at Sciences Po values diversity among applicants and their backgrounds. That means that applications are evaluated holisticaly. Excellence in a candidate’s specialities and chosen subjects is one of the factors taken into consideration. You should therefore choose your subjects on the basis of your own skills, interests and curiosity about the specialities on offer.

We would also advise you to familiarise yourselves with our programmes and curricula, both at the Undergraduate College (Bachelor’s level) and at Master’s level. Whatever subjects and specialities you choose, it is important that you are able to demonstrate an interest in the humanities, social sciences, history and current affairs in the world around you, for example through your personal projects, extra-curricular activities or reading.

The written pieces consist of two types of exercise:

• Motivations and project for Sciences Po
• An essay on one of two questions below

Motivations

1. Academic excellence is at the heart of Sciences Po’s project - do you value hard work? When and in which circumstances have you had to demonstrate personal effort? (2,500-3,000 characters incl. spaces)
2. Please select a work of literature that has contributed to your personal intellectual development. Please develop your answer. (1,500-2,000 characters incl. spaces)
3. The Sciences Po College curriculum is offered on several campuses and via a variety of study programmes. Specify the two programme choices in which you would like to study and explain in detail your interest in each.  (1,500-2,000 characters incl. spaces)

The essay

1. An author has contributed to changing the way you look at a societal issue. Please specify which issue, then provide details and explain why. (3,000-4,000 characters incl. spaces)
2. Write a uchronia imagining that a major scientific or technological discovery of the 20th century had not occurred. Specify which discovery you are referring to and imagine the related political, economic or social implications. (3,000-4,000 characters incl. spaces)

This section of the application gives candidates a chance to demonstrate their critical thinking and writing skills through an essay responding to one of two subjects.
Guidelines for writing your essay:
Applicants should select and respond to one of the two questions proposed by Sciences Po within 3000-4000 characters (including spaces).
The text should be personal and written by you alone. A sincere and authentic response is expected of each candidate. The essay is not an academic exercise but a writing exercise that focuses on your writing skills and personal reflection.

Calculation of your mark

At the end of Evaluation 3, each of two independent examiners awards the candidate, a mark out of 10. This double assessment of the written pieces is totalled to give a mark out of 20 for the third evaluation of the admissions procedure. Both examiners have an excellent knowledge of the foreign education system and the Sciences Po Undergraduate College.

How can I prepare for the written pieces?

Sciences Po considers each candidate as a unique combination of talents, interests and passions. Whatever your background, skills or previous experience, your writings allow you to highlight the solidity of your motivation and your career, as well as your writing and thinking skills. 

It is very important, in order to prepare your exercice, that your writing be honest, sincere and that you have prepared them alone without any outside help. This could distort the exercise and penalize your grade.

Please note

Texts prepared with the help of a third party are recognisable and may have disciplinary consequences. In case of suspicion of plagiarism, essays may be given a mark of 0. Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.

Interviews are conducted remotely for all French and international applicants, using a specialised digital platform. Please note: Failure to attend your interview will result in the rejection of your application.

Click here for legal information pertaining to admission interviews held by videoconference.

Each candidate will receive by email:

• their invitation to the online interview with the link to access the videoconference;
• the date and time of their interview;
• the technical user guide for the remote interview "Preparing for my Sciences Po admission interview"

At the beginning of the interview, candidates will be asked to show their equipment and must respect the technical protocol recommended by Sciences Po. The computer must be equipped with sound and a camera and may be either a computer or a digital tablet.

Candidates must respect the schedule indicated on their interview invitation. Upon connection, the candidate will be placed in the virtual waiting room and will wait for the members of the committee to establish the connection.

No other people may be present in the same room as the candidate when they sit their interview. 

The interview lasts approximately 25 minutes and involves three stages.

Candidate's presentation

In this introductory part of the interview, candidates are asked to present their background and experienceas well as ambitions for Sciences Po. They will have a maximum of two minutes to complete the exercise and outline their motivations, interests and attributes. Candidates may therefore wish to prepare their introductory presentations in advance of the interview.

The candidate should not be reading a text.

Image analysis and commentary

Length: 10-15 minutes

This part of the interview consists of an analytical commentary on an image.

The candidate will be given a choice of two images carefully selected by Sciences Po. They will be asked to study the two images and select one for commentary. The candidate will need to explain their choice and then describe the chosen image objectively, contextualise it, interpret the content of the image, analyse it critically and attempt to tell the story behind it.

The exercise draws on all kinds of still images, both from the past and in relation to current affairs. All images have the potential to inspire thoughts and ideas. They include paintings, drawings, photographs, front pages of newspapers, urban graffiti, extracts from comic strips, caricatures, and so on.

This exercise is designed to encourage candidates to think analytically and put their knowledge to use. No prior knowledge of the image is required: candidates are invited to make their own interpretations and will be asked to formulate arguments and demonstrate their critical mindedness. The candidate should not think that the interview panel is looking for any particular response. There is no “right” answer and the interview is about establishing an open discussion around possible interpretations.

Why image analysis? Visual messages have their own language and always serve a purpose: to communicate, convince, persuade, critique. The sensitive nature of images means they instantly open up discussions, which are enriched by the multiple interpretations that each image invites.

Candidate’s motivations and intellectual project

Length: 5-10 minutes

This section of the interview is about deepening our understanding of the candidate’s motivations for applying and intellectual ambitions for study on one of Sciences Po’s programmes. It also allows us to assess whether the candidate will be a good fit for the institution’s criteria and their potential to succeed at Sciences Po.

This stage takes the form of an open discussion and allows examiners to gain a fuller picture of the candidate and their motivations.

Candidates will be asked to outline their interest in Sciences Po’s programmes and their study plans. The panel will ensure that the candidate’s profile is suited to the programme they has applied to.

Candidates should be prepared to talk about themselves, their background and their ambitions.
We would encourage you to practise speaking in public with a strict limit.

You can also practise by discussing a variety subjects and images, either that you know well or that you are unfamiliar with, ensuring that you express yourself clearly and honestly and craft well thought-out arguments.

Log in to https://admission.sciencespo.fr/ and enter a username (your email address) and password. Once you have created your account on the website you will need to activate it. It may take up to two hours for the email containing your activation link to arrive in your inbox. We thank you for your patience.

Campus France: If you reside in one of the countries included in the CEF procedure (member of the Campus France programme), we remind you that Sciences Po’s admissions procedure does not come under the Campus France initiative. To apply to Sciences Po, you will need to create an application via the Sciences Po admissions website directly, adhering to our admissions deadlines.

Start by selecting your programme and campus preferences. Find out more about the Bachelor of Arts and dual degree programmes at the Undergraduate College.

Candidates applying through the international pathway must select: 

• Two minors of the Bachelor of Arts, 

Or

• One dual degree programme (as your first choice) and a minor of the Bachelor of Arts.

Please note that if you select two minors of the Bachelor of Arts, in case of admission, Sciences Po will assign you to one of the two selected programmes in your Sciences Po application.

We encourage applicants to choose their programmes/campuses according to their personal and professional plans, interests and commitment to the educational principles of the Undergraduate College, rather than on the basis of their nationality or place of residence. It is also important to factor in the languages you speak or, if applicable, the languages you would like to learn.

Browse the language requirements for our undergraduate programmes.

Whatever campus they study at, all students graduate with the Sciences Po Bachelor’s degree in social sciences and humanities at the end of three years of study (4 years in the case of some dual degree programmes). They may then go on to study for a two-year Master’s degree on the Sciences Po Paris Campus.

The online application consists of multiple sections. Each section must be saved using the “Save changes” button at the bottom of the screen. This allows you to complete your application in several steps.

To facilitate our processing of your application, please ensure that you use the email address you entered when creating your application in all correspondence with the Admission office.

We advise you to begin your application by completing the section relating to your online references. You must allow your referees as much time as possible to respond to the request.

Applications submitted without two academic references are considered incomplete. They will therefore not be assessed. Please note that you may send a reminder to your referees yourself via your candidate space.

As a candidate, you undertake to ensure that the references submitted by your referees in your application to Sciences Po are both honest and accurate.

Applications must be submitted online and include all the required supporting documents. Should any documents be missing, your application will be deemed incomplete and will not be evaluated.

Build your application with care by paying particular attention to the following items:

• The attached files must be in PDF format and cannot be bigger than 2 Mo. Use free software to compress your PDF documents.
• The attached files should be in PDF format and no bigger than 2 Mo. You may use free softwares to compress your PDF documents.
• Name each attached file in English or French (e.g.: Baccalaureate results, CV, transcript…).
• Make sure you do not attach your documents upside down.
• For an easier review, we ask you to scan all three transcripts of each academic year into a single document and in chronological order. You may use free software to aggregate your documents.
• For more details on the documents format, please check the practical information section.

Check the list of required documents.

Application fee: €150 (this fee is non-refundable).

Only candidates who can prove their refugee status will be granted an exemption from this application fee. If this applies to you, please email us attaching a copy of a document that certifies your status.

Please note: paying the application fee does not automatically submit your application. Don’t forget to click “Submit my application”.

• You must submit your completed application, including all required documents. You will need to have completed all the mandatory fields indicated on each page.
• Do not wait until the last day to submit your application: submit your application as soon as it is complete.

Please note:  Once you have submitted your application, it can no longer be modified by Sciences Po or by you. We would ask you therefore to be extremely careful when submitting the application online: all elements must be complete and the required documents attached. Your referees will be given a few additional days to complete their reference but it is your responsibility to ensure that they do so within a short time of the submission.

Once your application is ready for assessment, no documents attached subsequently will be considered (unless requested by us).

Once you have submitted your application, you will be able to access your candidate space, where you can check the status of your application and verify that your referees have completed their recommendation.

In order to proceed to the interview phase, the fourth and final evaluation of the admissions procedure, candidates must have obtained a mark A equal to or higher than the minimum mark defined by defined by the selection committee. 

All candidates will be informed of the decision of the selection committee to invite them to this last evaluation or not. 

All selected candidates will be contacted by email and will receive an invitation to a remote interview.

After the interviews session, applicants obtain a mark out of 120. This mark is the total of the mark out of 60 awarded for the first three evaluations of their application and the mark out of 60 awarded for their interview. The selection committee examines the results and sets a minimum mark B. Applicants who have obtained a mark equal to or higher than this minimum mark are admitted to Sciences Po Undergraduate college. Selected candidates are chosen for their ability to shine in different and complementary lights.

Minimum level required for international undergraduate admissions :

• 45/60 for grade A
• 90/120 for grade B

Accepted candidates will receive an offer of admission, including an assignment to one of the two programmes they requested in their application. 

Candidates who requested a dual degree programme and a minor of the Bachelor of Arts can receive an offer of admission for one of them or for both of these programmes; in this case, they must select and inform the Admission Office of their choice. 

Candidates will be notified as to whether or not they have been accepted via their candidate space and by email on the dates outlined in the admissions calendar above.

Acceptances are conditional on the obtention of your final high school diploma. All accepted candidates will need to provide a certificate of their diploma when completing their administrative registration.

Accepted candidates who wish to join Sciences Po must accept their admissions offer as quickly as possible via their online application file. This will allow our staff to begin the necessary administrative and academic procedures to prepare your place at Sciences Po.

Visit the Sciences Po student site to find out about first steps (accessing your online student account, registering, choosing your classes, consulting timetables and all useful information relating to your studies) and discover our international students page.