Louise Sallé, edited by Ugo Pascolo 06:19, January 21, 2022

Since Thursday 11 a.m., high school students in Terminale and retraining students can register on the Parcoursup platform to formulate their orientation wishes.

To ensure a place in a training, it is advisable to be a minimum strategic, while taking the time to learn about the different choices.

Are you a high school student or a retraining student?

You can register on the Parcoursup platform since Thursday morning.

They will be no less than 800,000 young people to do so in the coming weeks, and will have to choose, as every year, from nearly 20,000 training courses.

Obligatory passage to be opened the doors of higher education, Parcoursup, through its system of wishes, can sometimes reserve unpleasant surprises. 

Be strategic

So to avoid finding yourself in this situation, the best strategy to adopt is simple: do not put your eggs in one basket.

Thus, in the ten wishes to be indicated on the platform until March 29, it is very important to choose both selective courses, which are often the most requested, and non-selective courses.

Thibaut Cojean works on post-baccalaureate orientation for the website and magazine 

L'Etudiant

.

He advises to "reserve a space, among the ten wishes, for non-selective training, even if it means trying your luck again the following year".   

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Learn about training 

It is also essential to be well informed about the content of the training courses and their selection criteria.

Summary sheets are available on the Parcoursup website on this subject.

Nevertheless, nothing beats discussions with professors and students of the training in question, on the occasion of open days for example.  

Finally, the choices of orientation are reflected in the family and the discussions with the parents can help to mature a project.

However, some advice should be taken with a grain of salt.

“Parents tend to project their desires onto their child,” recalls Thibaut Cojean.

"What can be interesting is to learn more about the job from colleagues or friends of the parents, it can give ideas."  

Being well informed about the training courses also allows you to take care of your cover letters.

The deadline for drafting them is longer than that for indicating the wishes.

Students have until April 7 inclusive to enter them into Parcoursup.