Parcoursup: the first responses for high school students are available this Monday

"I'm waiting to see where I'll be accepted," continues this high school student from Auxerre. He has four choices for a degree in political science, and five for a degree in cinema in Paris, and hasn't really chosen between these two different paths yet. "I don't know if Parcoursup will decide for me," he continues, even though the public authorities are at pains to point out that it's not the platform's algorithm that selects, but the educational directors of the targeted programs.

For applicants, the first official responses will arrive at 7 p.m. This year, high school students had until mid-March to register their preferences on the platform, then until April 2 to complete their application and confirm their choices.

After two and a half months of waiting, Elsa, 18, a high school student in Strasbourg, has only three choices on Parcoursup and hopes to be accepted into an intensive social sciences degree. "I'll be very disappointed if I'm not accepted," she says. "I'm in the dark, because with Parcoursup, I feel like you don't really know what to expect."

Parcoursup, which succeeded APB in 2018, received applications from 980,000 higher education applicants this year, compared to 945,500 last year. Among them, the largest number are high school students: 650,000, compared to 183,000 students looking to change career paths and 112,000 applicants who are not enrolled and plan to return to school.

Several answers are possible for each course: to be accepted ("yes"), to be accepted conditionally ("yes if", for university courses which require the student to follow an educational or personalized support program), to be on the waiting list or to be refused (only for selective courses).

As every year, only the results will be available for viewing in the early hours. Candidates will be able to begin responding to the proposals later in the evening.

The main admissions phase will last until July 10, during which time applicants will continue to receive responses. Applicants are often placed on waiting lists, which can change quickly, so it's important to check Parcoursup regularly.

"What scares me is being accepted on June 2nd into several film degrees, but not yet into political science, and having to make a choice," explains Gabriel.

"In political science, I don't know how much they really expect excellence from students..." This year, to speed up the process, candidates with pending choices will be asked to rank in order of preference those they wish to keep between June 6 and 10.

The idea is to move the waiting lists more quickly, to "allow as many high school students as possible to receive at least one admission offer before the written exams" for the baccalaureate, which will begin on June 16, the Ministry of Higher Education indicated.

From June 11th to September 11th, applicants can submit new applications for programs that still have available spots. Each morning until July 10th, applicants' applications will be updated based on the status of waiting lists. Applicants and their parents will be notified by email and text message as soon as they receive one or more admission offers, which they must respond to by a deadline.

This entire process remains conditional on obtaining the baccalaureate, the results of which will be announced on July 4. In parallel with their Parcoursup procedures, high school students will take the philosophy exam on June 16, then the specialty exams between June 17 and 19, and the Grand Oral from June 23 to July 2.