“At Parcoursup, candidates are asked to be entrepreneurs in their school careers”

The admission ball will open at Parcoursup. From Thursday 1^Eh On June 7 at 7pm, candidates will start receiving responses to their requests on the Parcoursup platform. But the first days of the adoption phase are a source of stress and frustration for many of them. While the best students are guaranteed to receive a favorable offer for one of their ten wishes, other candidates will have to wait in front of a long waiting list.

It is a symptom of accelerating competition in terms of access to higher education, believes Leila Frouillot, a sociology lecturer at the University of Paris-Nanterre.

On the Parcoursup platform, candidates are invited to make a rational choice. Even if it means giving up certain desires?

This is what is sometimes called self-exclusion or self-exclusion mechanisms. For post-baccalaureate admissions [APB, l’ancien Parcoursup], when a candidate wanted to apply for a non-selective license, he just had to press the training and say to himself: I’m trying my luck to go to law school or step, even if I’m not sure if I’ll pass. Whereas with Parcoursup, candidates are asked to be entrepreneurs of their school careers and tailor the training offer, for example, to learn about success rates by undergraduate type.

APB also included this idea of ​​providing a lot of information on all available training courses in order to make a rational choice. Parcoursup fulfills this goal by taking into account more indicators and creating motivated projects for all expressed wishes. This makes the active orientation even more active.

from 1^Eh In June, students must also rank their wish answers. How is this stage going?

Tasks are generated in the Parcoursup system. And this until September, quite late, thanks to the additional phase, which is decisive. “On a first-come, first-served basis,” students with the best academic record receive admission offers from 1^Eh June. As they respond, they allow their less well-off companions to fall into the waiting room. This phase requires a good management of stress and anticipation, more or less easy depending on his grades and social position.

There is a real issue of anxiety and symbolic violence in assigning students a position in this ranking. Some courses, which are in high demand, accept applications from France. A student of average academic standing may find himself far down the waiting list after competing with so many candidates.