Nearly 500 bac+5 engineering training courses are offered on the Parcoursup platform, which opened this Wednesday, January 15. For final year students interested in this profession and who do not wish to go through a preparatory class for the Grandes Ecoles (CPGE), it is not always easy to navigate. Competitions, motivational interviews, study of the file… Although all post-baccalaureate engineering schools are accessible via the platform of the Ministry of Higher Education, not all of them have the same admission procedure. For some, such as INSA, CESI or UTC, students must pass an oral interview, in addition to posting their file online, common to all courses. Other establishments go further, and choose to test candidates with a competition. They then come together in competition banks.
Schools that recruit through competitive examinations
Today there are five banks of competitions which allow you to enter an engineering school:
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The Advance competition, on which EPITA, ESME, IPSA and Sup’Biotech rely.
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The Avenir Bac competition for Builders, ECE, EIGSI, EPF, ESIGELEC, ESILV, and ESTACA.
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The Puissance Alpha competition, which represents 19 schools including ESIEE Paris, ESTIA, ESEO and CPE Lyon.
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The Galaxy competition, with the CY Tech school, but also ISAE Supmeca and ESIEE-IT
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The Geipi Polytech competition, which unlike the three previous ones, allows access to public schools: those of the Polytech network, the engineering schools of universities, but not only, since ENSIBS, ENISE or Telecom Saint Etienne are , among others, accessible via this competition.
All competition banks work more or less the same way. A mathematics test is systematically compulsory, and adapted to the expert maths or complementary maths program according to each student. English is also assessed, except for the Geipi Polytech and Galaxy competitions. A science, physics-chemistry, SI, NSI or SVT test, depending on the student’s choice, is also planned, except for the Advance competition, which favors a motivational interview, and Galaxy.
Concerning students who do not have a scientific option other than mathematics, the competitions remain open to them: as explained above, the Advance and Galaxy banks do not evaluate this subject. For their part, the Avenir and Puissance competitions adapt their science test to the first year program. At the same time, it seems necessary to note that each school offers more or fewer places depending on the scientific courses followed by the high school student, and which ones.
However, let us note one particularity: the Puissance Alpha competition studies the candidates’ files, and thus selects around 15% of “high rankings”, who will not need to take the tests.
Select your wishes carefully on Parcoursup
Whether via a competition bank or not, the candidate must select on Parcoursup each school to which they wish to apply. If the procedure is obvious for schools recruiting on file, it can be confusing for others. “The high school student is not applying for a competitive exam, but for a campus in a schoolexplains Alexandre Recchia, general delegate of the Concours Avenir. For example, a student who wishes to join the EPF should add this school to their wishes. And since the establishment has several campuses, he will also have to indicate which one he is applying for.
The student can express a maximum of 10 wishes for non-apprenticeship training. However, applying to several schools in the same common competition is counted as one and the same wish. “Thanks to the Avenir competition, the candidate can, for example, apply for 19 engineering courses in a single application.», adds Alexandre Recchia. The same is true for the other competition banks.
Choosing your school and preparing for admissions
The range of choices being wide and the number of wishes limited, the choice of the selected establishments can be a headache. Several elements come into consideration when it comes to formulating your wishes. Among them is the student’s ability to project themselves into a sector of activity: certain schools are specialized, such as ESTACA in transport, or ESILV in digital technology. Others remain more general at least until the third year, like INSA. To find out more about each course, find the ranking of post-baccalaureate engineering schools on the L’Usine Nouvelle website. At the same time, the Parcoursup platform precisely explains the recruitment procedures for each training course.
In terms of price, application files range between 0 and 125 euros, depending on the school. Then obviously comes the price of training, which should not be underestimated: while most public schools only cost around 600 euros per year, the price of certain private schools rises quickly and can reach more than 10 000 euros per year. Here again the tuition fees of the schools are indicated on each sheet of those which are in our ranking
To prepare for the tests, and in particular for the written competition banks, there are several annals. If revisions have already started for some, the Parcoursup calendar should not be lost sight of: students must express their wishes before March 13. Most competitions take place between mid-April and the first days of May. Enough to give yourself a little time to revise.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
