Marie-Sophie

Marie-Sophie is French and was attending a bilingual school in New York City when we first met her. She was looking at US colleges but was still intrigued by studying in France. She turned to The Short List to help her navigate the American college admissions process.

Despite a natural shyness, Marie-Sophie was a well-rounded student: a top academic performer and avid runner who loved the performing arts and community service. She loved most subjects, was fluent in three languages, and had strong interests in economics and politics. We believed her challenge would not be in communicating what she had to offer but rather in defining what she wanted to pursue.

We explored schools that would nurture Marie-Sophie’s multi-cultural heritage and multi-faceted personality, and we encouraged her to express herself even further. She was thrilled and terrified when she was cast in a solo role in the high school musical. As she explained, performing “gave me the passion and the courage to pursue singing, and play a role in front of an audience. Whenever the whole cast is on stage, I can feel a current of energy that makes me want to stay on stage forever.”

Marie-Sophie’s parents took her on visits to her top-choice US colleges. Her confidence grew and her future goals began to take shape, but she couldn’t quite let go of her desire to study in France. She was thrilled to discover the dual BA program between Columbia University and Sciences Po in Paris, an opportunity to receive degrees from two world-renowned universities. She would have to apply and be accepted separately to both schools, which would have been daunting enough to scare off most applicants. But Marie-Sophie pursued admission with gusto.

Her efforts paid off when she was offered a spot in the dual program. She wrote, “The dual BA will be a perfect continuation of what I have enjoyed since I was in first grade, which is being in an environment that is fully bicultural and which constantly reminds me that there is always more than one way to look at something. It will also allow me to study further and more thoroughly what I find the most interesting: trying to understand the world in which I live.”