Last days ! High school graduates or reorientation students have until Thursday March 14 inclusive to express their wishes on Parcoursup, and find the right fit among more than 23,000 possibilities. Here are some tips for calmly approaching this decisive period.
1 – Until March 14: 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. “Many young people are stuck because they focus on having to find a career idea. Two weeks before the deadline, other questions must be asked,” describes Sylvie Amici, president of Apsyen (Association of National Educational Psychologists).
Namely: do I want to follow a short, professional training course like a BTS or a BUT? Do I prefer general but less supervised studies such as a bachelor's degree, with a master's degree in mind? Or even a preparatory class, to keep as many subjects from high school as possible and choose later? “If the Parcoursup platform can scare some people, it is also an information tool,” recalls the psychologist. The diploma sheets also contain ideas for careers, which can provide food for thought.
2 – Until April 3: complete your files and confirm your wishes
Students have until April 3 inclusive to complete their application. They provide the profile and education (report cards), if they are not pre-filled, then five categories. Four are common to all wishes: management or animation experiences, civic engagement, professional experiences or internships, sporting and cultural practices.
It is also necessary to write a “training project” for each of the wishes. In other words, a cover letter which explains why you want to join this course by highlighting your strengths to succeed in this path. To do this, you should review the website of the school or license in question to look at its specific features and the content of the programs. Honesty is essential: there is no need to artificially inflate experience, recruiters are not fooled and do not expect a minister's CV from 18-year-old students. Anything that can help you stand out is a plus: participation in a writing workshop, captain of a sports team, training-related internship, etc.
Certain courses, like artistic (DNMADE, art schools) or sports (Staps), may require a drawing portfolio 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 – From April to mid-May: think about your priorities
The applications then arrive at the establishments. They are anonymized, and the training is not aware of the other wishes made by the candidates. Each course classifies the files received according to the criteria indicated on its Parcoursup sheet: expectations, importance given to certain subjects, “Future” sheet, etc. The wish examination commissions use weightings that they “mill” into an algorithm of their own, without communicating the details.
They must also respect certain quotas (places reserved for technological baccalaureate holders in BUT or professional baccalaureate holders in BTS, quotas for non-academy candidates admitted to each license, quotas for secondary education scholarship holders).
During this period, candidates have every interest in thinking about their priorities, in order to calmly manage the responses from training courses and their pending wishes. “We must continue the research work on the training required, check what the study conditions will be: what transport, what accommodation, what cost? », Lists Sylvie Amici. Objective: “Start to classify your wishes, for yourself, so as not to find yourself caught and responding hastily when it comes to training responses. »
4 – From May 30 to July 12: respond to proposals within the allotted time
Six weeks: this is the duration of the admission phase this year. From May 30, the candidate connects to his Parcoursup file to discover the training answers: “yes”, “yes – waiting”, “no” or “yes if” (the candidate is accepted on condition of following a course remediation).
On day one, a large portion of applicants will be faced with disappointing “yes – waiting.” Logical, since the “yes” votes will be concentrated among the best students. However, candidates can only keep one “yes”. Their renunciations will automatically advance the queues. There’s no point rushing and accepting the first “yes” that comes along if it doesn’t match your preferred training. It is possible to “maintain” this admission proposal in parallel with other “yes – pending” type responses. To help everyone make decisions, Parcoursup indicates the number of places offered and the rank of the last candidate called in 2023.
From June 16 to 23, the deadlines for responding to admission offers are suspended to allow high school students to concentrate on their written baccalaureate exams.
5 – From June 11 and until September 12: if necessary, try the additional procedure
From June 11 and until September 12, candidates without an admission offer or disappointed by the answers obtained in the main phase can formulate ten new wishes in the complementary phase of Parcoursup. Only training courses where there are still places are in the running in the platform's search engine, and candidates will have to be more responsive.
Since the wishes committees are protected by the secrecy of the deliberations, it is difficult to contest a refusal of admission, but one can ask for justification. From May 30 for selective training, or at the end of the Parcoursup 2024 procedure for licenses, “each unsuccessful candidate may request by mail, within one month following notification of this decision, the criteria and terms of the examination of wishes as well as the reasons which justify the decision taken in his regard”. The information will be sent directly by the training concerned, by post.
Candidates who do not have any offer of admission to the main phase or the complementary phase can also request, on their Parcoursup personal space, the CAES (access to higher education committee) of their academy. The latter helps them, on a case-by-case basis, to find a place in appropriate training.
