Everyone will agree, the times are difficult to project into the future.
But health crisis or not, future baccalaureate graduates and students in reorientation can, from this Wednesday, register their wishes on the Parcoursup post-bac admission platform.
The students will have until March 11 to mature their reflections, project themselves as best they can and classify their wishes.
But for many, the stage is not easy, even though the trade fairs and open days usually organized in establishments have been canceled.
If, like every year, many students fear that their guidance wishes will not be accepted, most fear an entry into the labor market that promises to be chaotic.
For the past few months, Walid has struggled to sleep when he reflects on his future.
“It's a stress that never leaves me.
Because I know that my future will be played out now and I am still in total vagueness, ”he whispered over the phone.
Enrolled in a technological high school in Blois, the 18-year-old high school student has two hours a week to "think about his orientation".
“I have a few ideas, but nothing concrete.
I just can't project myself, ”he laments.
If the high school student could make an appointment with a guidance counselor to talk about his desires, he admits for now not wanting to do so.
“I have been in semi-face-to-face for two months now.
Seeing each other less often complicates discussions and makes them less natural, even with our head teacher, ”he said, before adding:“ to help me, someone would have to come and get me a little otherwise… ” .
"Nobody talks to us about our desires"
Walid is not the only one to be helpless in the face of his future.
Like him, Anaïs admits "still being lost in her choices".
This 17-year-old high school student has had a desire "since childhood", that of integrating medical studies, like her brother.
The current context is also not for nothing.
“Seeing the caregivers overwhelmed by the virus, I said to myself that we had to help them!
But with the reform of the PACES, I still have to see if the sector is possible for me.
It is not yet very clear… ”, explains the high school student from Chartres.
In his class, discussing Parcoursup and his orientation is anything but a priority.
“Even if we came back face to face, the teachers don't have time to do it on a case-by-case basis.
One of them even told us that he had to go for it to complete the program if ever we found ourselves confined again ”.
A few weeks before the opening of Parcoursup, a “little guide” explaining how the platform works was distributed to the students.
Not enough to reassure the most anxious.
“They help us with the administrative side, but no one tells us what we want.
We can say that we are on our own… ”, she sums up.
Wanting to take the lead, the high school student went through the StudyAdvisor platform a few months ago, putting future baccalaureate holders and students in contact.
The pupil seeking advice on his orientation selects the sector which interests him before entering into contact with students of the chosen field.
“As I was lost at the start, I had discussions with students from Sciences-Po, law, medicine… You ask them questions and they sincerely tell you how things are going for them.
This allows you to get a good idea of what you would like.
In the end, these exchanges brought me more than going to an impersonal living room, ”she says.
"Finding a job there will be complicated so I might as well continue my studies"
For lack of anything better, some students still rely on the "virtual open doors" organized by certain schools.
Among them, Margaux, 20, a second year student in BTS Architecture.
If she is preparing to graduate in a few months, the young woman no longer has any desire to enter the job market.
“I would like to reorient myself in psychology, I always had this desire in the back of my head.
Finding a job there will be complicated so I might as well continue my studies, even if it means doing something else, ”she remarks.
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The young woman who would have preferred to walk the corridors of her future university herself, will finally stand in front of her computer, during a day of virtual presentation of her sector.
“I would have liked to meet teachers, talk to the students and soak up the atmosphere a bit.
There I'll be sitting all day listening to a simple description of the license.
We won't even be able to ask questions when I have lots of them!
I obviously risk feeling frustrated… ”.
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For some more fortunate, the orientation is also decided with the help of family and friends.
Lou, 17, has always wanted to work in education, like his mother.
Ideally, she would like to teach Classics in high school.
"By making this choice, I know that I will not gain a lot, but I am almost sure to find a job, which is not negligible today", she notes.
"We say to ourselves that our bac will have no value"
Surrounded and motivated, the young girl had already gone to several exhibitions last year.
This week, she intends to refine her cover letters to integrate "literary preparation in Paris or double degrees Sciences-po".
If she admits having been "lucky" thanks to those around her who guide her, the period does not prevent her from being so anxious.
“Going to a platform to choose a future is necessarily anxious, especially given the times.
We also tell ourselves that our baccalaureate will have no value, that we will be penalized… But this period is also an opportunity to become aware of the difficulties that young people encounter in finding their way.
In the future, I believe that this can only tend towards improvements for the next generations, ”she concludes optimistically.
