While waiting lists and refusals increase stress, a guidance expert, herself the mother of a final year student, gives us a deeply reassuring message: Parcoursup is not the only way out for candidates.
Since June 2, the opening date of the admission phase, there has been panic for high school students registered on Parcoursup. On the one hand, there are the lucky ones who have received several offers and who worry about making the right choice, and on the other there are those who are stressed about still being on the waiting list, or worse, having only received refusals. And often, this anxiety is only added to that of the baccalaureate exams which arrive at the same time, and is amplified because of the parents, who worry almost more than the students themselves.
Faced with such enormous pressure from all sides, Julie Mleczko invites all future students and their families to “relativize”. Editor-in-chief of Studyrama and expert on the Parcoursup platform – and herself the mother of a teenager in her final year of secondary school – she knows that “some people put so much effort into the process that it can be complicated to manage”especially when you haven’t gotten any admission offers. However, while many tend to forget it, the specialist reminds us that we “don’t play your life on Parcoursup” and that “It’s not the end of the world.”because there are a whole bunch of possibilities to take into account.
First, before panicking, remember that the complementary phase still extends until September 10, after which there is still the CAES (commission for access to higher education) to support candidates who have not yet found anything. In other words, you will not be abandoned to your fate. “We must not forget that there are also training courses outside of Parcoursup”underlines Julie Mleczko. Indeed, many schools, generally private, offer registrations on their own. Be careful, however, to check their legitimacy carefully.
But even in the case of a young person who finds himself without any spare wheel, the guidance specialist points out that many other options are possible, and that higher education is not the only door for a high school graduate: “You can also decide to do civic service for a year before starting the Parcoursup procedure again, or to do an au pair stay, an internship, to work, to go and improve your English… Once again, no one dies!” For Julie Mleczko, a year is never wasted, and although it may be “difficult to digest” for teenagers and their parents, it is also for her a real “learning about life” : “We don’t always get what we want. My daughter, for example, I’m not sure she’ll pass the baccalaureate this year. I told her, but at worst, you’ll repeat a year. So for her, it’s unthinkable, but it’s nothing serious. If we have to start again a year or two at their age, it’s really not a tragedy, especially given the current state of the job market.”
Ultimately, this benevolent call to order sounds like a real breath of fresh air in the midst of Parcoursup’s algorithmic storm. Parents and high school students alike, you have the right to breathe and, above all, to feel free of guilt: your future does not come down to a “no” or a place on the waiting list. By reminding us that orientation is not a speed race, but a path with a thousand bifurcations, Julie Mleczko delivers a formidable message of freedom. There is no perfect route, only paths that we build step by step. Enough to approach the coming weeks with a little more serenity.
