Last days ! Baccalaureate holders or students in reorientation have until Thursday, March 9 inclusive to express their wishes on Parcoursup, and find the shoe that suits them among more than 21,000 possibilities. Here are some tips to calmly approach this decisive period.
1 – Until March 9: think carefully about your choices
A few days before the deadline, it is better to be clear about the different possibilities that exist in higher education. “A lot of young people are stuck because they are focused on having to find a job idea. Fifteen days before the deadline, these are other questions that must be asked, ”describes Sylvie Amici, president of the Apsyen (Association of psychologists of national education).
To know: do I want to follow a short and professional training like a BTS or a BUT? Do I prefer general but less supervised studies such as a bachelor's degree, with a master's in sight? Or even a preparatory class, to keep as many high school subjects as possible and choose later? "If the Parcoursup platform can scare some people, it is also an information tool", recalls the psychologist. On the diploma sheets, there are also career ideas, which can provide food for thought.
2 – Until April 6: complete your files and confirm your wishes
Students have until April 6 inclusive to complete their application. They fill in the profile and schooling (report cards), if they are not pre-filled, then five categories. Four are common to all wishes: coaching or animation experiences, civic engagement, professional experiences or internships, sports and cultural practices.
A "formation plan" must also be drawn up for each of the vows. In other words, a cover letter that explains why you want to join this course by highlighting your strengths to succeed in this way. To do this, it is necessary to peel the site of the school or the license concerned to look at its specificities and the content of the programs. Honesty is key: no need to artificially inflate experiences, recruiters are not fooled and do not expect a ministerial CV from 18-year-old students. Anything that can make you stand out is a plus: participation in a writing workshop, captain of a sports team, internship related to training, etc.
Some courses, such as the artistic (DNMADE, art schools) or sports (Staps) courses, may request a portfolio of drawings or a sports club certificate. Only once the application is complete can the candidate "confirm" their wish. Unconfirmed wishes will not be taken into account by Parcoursup.
3 – April to mid-May: think about your priorities
The applications then arrive in the establishments. They are anonymized, and the training is not aware of the other wishes that the candidates have made. Each course classifies the files received according to the criteria indicated on its Parcoursup sheet: expectations, importance given to certain subjects, "Future" sheet, etc. Vow review boards use weights that they "mill" in an algorithm of their own, without disclosing the details.
They must also respect certain quotas (places reserved for technological baccalaureate holders in BUT or professional baccalaureate holders in BTS, quotas of candidates from outside the academy admitted to each license, quotas of scholarship holders in secondary education).
During this period, the candidates have every interest in reflecting on their priorities, in order to calmly manage the responses of the formations and their pending wishes. “We must continue the research work on the training requested, check what the study conditions will be: what transport, what accommodation, what cost? “, enumerates Sylvie Amici. Objective: "Begin to classify your wishes, for yourself, so that you don't get caught up and respond quickly when training answers. »
4 – From June 1 to July 13: Respond to proposals within the given time
Six weeks: This is the length of the admissions phase this year. From June 1, the candidate connects to his Parcoursup file to discover the answers of the training courses: "yes", "yes - pending", "no" or "yes if" (the candidate is accepted on condition of following a remedial course).
On day one, a large portion of applicants will be met with disappointing “yes – pending” answers. Logical, since the "yes" will be concentrated among the best students. However, candidates can only keep one "yes". Their renunciations will mechanically advance the queues. No need to rush and accept the first "yes" that comes along if it doesn't match your preferred formation. It is possible to "hold" this admission offer alongside other "yes - pending" responses. To help everyone make decisions, Parcoursup indicates the number of places offered and the rank of the last candidate called in 2022.
It is essential to respect the deadline given for responses. For any proposal received on June 1 (opening) or between June 3 and 5, you must respond before June 7 at 11:59 p.m. Then for any proposal arriving between June 6 and July 13, candidates will not have only until the following evening to accept an offer. A shorter period than in previous years: "With this modification, we estimate that there will be a reduction in the number of candidates who wait more than thirty days to receive their first proposal", justifies the Ministry of Higher Education. Notifications are sent by SMS, by e-mail and by the Parcoursup application in order to call the distracted to order.
An automatic answering machine is optionally offered to candidates. Those who are sure of their priorities then rank their wishes in order of preference, and the machine manages the responses for them by accepting the best admission proposal received and freeing up places in the courses less well ranked by the student.
After the results of the baccalaureate, on July 4, candidates who have given a positive response to a course will be able to proceed with their administrative registration, according to the procedures indicated by the establishment.
5 – From June 15 and until September 12: if necessary, try the additional procedure
From June 15 and until September 12, candidates without an admission proposal or disappointed by the answers obtained in the main phase can make ten new wishes in the complementary phase of Parcoursup. Only courses where there are still places are in the running in the platform's search engine, and candidates will have to be more reactive.
The vows commissions being protected by the secrecy of the deliberations, it is difficult to contest a refusal of admission, but one can ask for justification. As of June 1 for selective training, or at the end of the Parcoursup 2023 procedure for licenses, "each unsuccessful candidate may request by mail, within one month of notification of this decision, the criteria and terms of the examination of the wishes as well as the reasons which justify the decision taken in its regard". The information will be sent to him directly by the training concerned, by post.
Candidates who have no proposal for admission to the main phase or the complementary phase can also request, on their Parcoursup personal space, the CAES (commission for access to higher education) of their academy. The latter helps them, on a case-by-case basis, to find a place in appropriate training.
