Undergraduate Admissions Interview: Useful Tips

Each year, up to half of the new students at the Sciences Po Undergraduate College come from outside France. Candidates who have obtained the required mark set by the jury in the first evaluation of their application file will be admitted to the final round: the interview.

Here are some tips to help you prepare for the interview.

1/ Be yourself

The interview is a chance to show your personality, your motivation, and your ability to engage in constructive discussion. It is an opportunity to talk about yourself. No need to try to pass yourself off as someone you are not.

In order for the examiners to get a feel for your personality, avoid formatting your answers. On the contrary, you should be ready to engage in conversation and argue your case, not to be interrogated.

2/ Read the news

Before the interview, read the press regularly and do not limit yourself to online article headlines or summaries. It is important to understand the issues, causes, and consequences of events and to be able to discuss them. The aim is not to recite facts but to show that you can explain issues, make connections, and justify a point of view.

The examiners also expect you to be well-informed about what is going on in your country, your region, and in Europe. Keep up with current events and debates, and browse Conférence, the website where Sciences Po affirms its mission: to shed light on major contemporary issues through the lens of the humanities and social sciences.

3/ Prepare for the process

The interview lasts approximately 25 minutes and is conducted in three distinct sequences. Each sequence has a time limit: make sure to practise beforehand to stay within the time limits.

To start, you will have 2 minutes to introduce yourself, explaining your background, your profile, and your project for Sciences Po. Prepare yourself carefully and practice in front of other people: you are the master of this part of the test. The presentation should be prepared, but should not be written down and read word by word to maintain a degree of spontaneity. It should summarise the key points of your background and motivation.

Next, you will have around 10 minutes to interpret and comment on an image that you will have chosen between two options. It can be a painting, a drawing, a photograph, the front page of a newspaper, etc. There is no expected answer: you have to defend your interpretation. First, select the image, then read the caption and describe the image. The description is essential: it must be precise and structured, while remaining concise. Finally, provide a reasoned interpretation of the image based on the elements highlighted in its description, linking your personal knowledge to the image being analysed and explaining what the image evokes for you. You will not be left to tackle this exercise on your own: the examiners will ask you questions to guide you.

Finally, around 10 minutes will be dedicated to an open exchange with the examiners to discuss your motivation and your projects. The interviewers have access to your written texts (motivational questions and essay) and can, if they wish, bring up elements you mentioned in these documents.

In order to better showcase your motivation, you should be able to show that you know Sciences Po: subscribe to our newsletter, and read up on the programmes we offer, our learning and teaching methods, the expected languages levels, and student life on the campus you are applying for.

4/ Check your equipment beforehand

The interviews will take place exclusively online. Punctuality is essential, even for a remote interview. Log into the virtual meeting at least 5 to 10 minutes in advance.

Do not forget to bring your ID document, which you will be asked to show into the camera at the beginning of the interview. Make sure your equipment is working properly: your video and sound quality, as well as your internet connection. 

If you have applied to several programmes within Sciences Po, you may be invited to several interviews.

5/ Optimise your environment

Choose a quiet room where you can be alone and relaxed. Sit facing a light source: avoid windows behind you. Place the camera at eye level in front of you, raising your laptop if necessary. Preferably, use a headset with a microphone, to avoid background noise.

Make yourself comfortable, stay calm and relaxed: the purpose of the interview is both to assess whether you suit our programmes and study environment and to see if Sciences Po is the right choice for your future plans and expectations.

6/ Post-interview: be patient

The interview is not an eliminatory exam: your final admission is assessed based on the combined grade of the three evaluations of the admissions process. Successful candidates are selected for their ability to stand out in different and complementary fields. And above all, your feeling at the end of the interview is not always reliable: what you might have thought was a “mistake” was not necessarily considered as such by the examiners. Stay patient and wait for the admissions results!

It is also important that you keep several other career and education options in mind. Some candidates are not admitted at the undergraduate level and then join Sciences Po for their Master's degree.

Good luck to everyone!