To enter their student life, young French people must first register on the national digital platform called Parcoursup. Since March 11, future students have put together their administrative files and expressed their wishes. It is now the period of confirmation of these wishes, as well as the sending of the last documents before the examination of the selection of files by the schools.

Parcoursup is the national platform for pre-registration in the first year of higher education in France.

Led by the Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation Frédérique Vidal, Parcourssup was created in January 2018 in order to digitize and nationalize high school enrollment requests apprentices or students in reorientation.

This national digital platform, allows you to pre-register, to submit your wishes for further studies and to respond to admission proposals in the first year of the first cycle of higher education training. (licenses, STS, IUT, CPGE, PACES, engineering schools, etc.).

Thanks to this, the ministry wanted to put in place a fair and transparent procedure for entering higher education. “Support has been put in place to put people back at the heart of post-baccalaureate admission and a lot of information on training will be available to help everyone in their reflection prior to the formulation of their wishes. ” Frédérique Vidal, Minister of Higher Education.

The following are affected by this procedure:

• high school students ;
• students looking for a reorientation;
• apprentices, who wish to enroll in the first year of higher education.

This does not apply to:

• students who repeat their first year (they must directly re-register in their establishment);
• international applicants subject to a prior admission request (DAP);
• candidates who only wish to apply for foreign higher education courses (they must apply directly to the courses that interest them);
• students who wish to resume the training in which they were registered at the end of their gap period (they have a right of reinstatement or re-enrollment at the end of their gap period).

Adults in retraining can also access and register on Parcoursup if they wish to make a wish in initial training.

Professionals in continuing education programs are best placed to advise people who have already held a baccalaureate or an equivalent diploma for several years. and who wish to be part of a process of promotion, retraining or resumption of professional activity.

To find answers adapted to their needs, Parcoursup.fr offers a module called Parcours +, accessible on the site. Parcours +, provides access to the continuing education offer identified in universities, in the regions, or to a professional development consultancy service.

The Parcours sup site details the different stages of the calendar. Thanks to video tutorials, students are guided in their registrations.

Beginning of November to January : the student informs himself and discovers the training courses

From January 20 to March 11 inclusive : registration and formulation of wishes. As places are not always sufficient in the courses, the student is invited to express several wishes, several registration wishes. Depending on the level of his academic record compared to other records offered to schools, he will get what he wants or not.

March 12 – April 8 included : complete your file and confirm your wishes. Students must provide the schools with various documents (identity card, transcripts of transcripts, baccalaureate diploma, mentions obtained, etc.). This period is the moment when the student chooses the orientation he will give to his training course and his life for at least one year. The choice of the course, the type of education (IUT, University, Institute, etc.) and also the geographical location. These choices can have a heavy impact on schooling: distance from family and friends, cost of transport, accommodation, food. The student must take into account all these criteria so that he can study in the best conditions to obtain his diploma. Some prefer to stay close to their homes, others will aim for school success rates, others favor the environment. To each his priority.

April to May: each formation organizes a commission to examine the candidacies on the basis of the examination criteria of the vows that it has defined. Details of these criteria are also available on the Parcours sup website or by calling the school secretariat directly.

From May 27 to July 16: main admission phase.

17 higher education courses are offered, including more than 000 in apprenticeship.

The majority of undergraduate university courses, both public and private, use Parcoursup to recruit their new students.

However, some establishments continue to organize their own recruitment. This is the case for 9 training courses, mostly private, which have their own system for registering high school graduates:

• training institutes in the paramedical and social sector;
• establishments which prepare for competitive examinations;
• apprenticeship training centers;
• vocational schools;
• Paris-Dauphine University, candidates are selected on the basis of a file submitted on the “Boléro” platform;
• many business schools and art schools.

Candidates can submit their wishes for assignment in a maximum of 10 training courses on the Parcoursup site. Certain registrations for selective training are subject to the payment of management fees. It is therefore necessary to find out beforehand the cost of the training before confirming your wishes.