Reorientation is not a bad thing. Just be sure of your decision if you want to succeed. One of the reasons why students decide to change direction is that their initial training is not suited to their intended career. It may also be that the course was chosen by default or as a result of family pressure.

To save time, the best thing to do is to reorientate yourself immediately after discovering that you’ve made a mistake. In the meantime, you should already have a new career plan. This will be the reason for reorienting yourself. What’s more, you will have to defend this project in front of juries. Don’t hesitate to make a list of the advantages that the new course will bring you.

Personal reasons may also prompt young people to change direction during the year. If, for example, they need to work more quickly because of their financial situation, they need to choose a shorter course. Consequently, reorienting during the year is one of the quickest ways of achieving this without wasting time.

The division into semesters within universities makes it easier to change direction mid-year. To begin with, you need to prepare a new career plan that’s more your own. Next, the procedures to follow depend on your level. The steps you need to take are different depending on whether you are in your first year, a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree.

In the first year of a bachelor’s degree, some students decide to continue attending lectures knowing that they won’t be sitting the exam or that they won’t get it. Finding a job in the course you want or starting to look for a sandwich course for the following academic year may be a more effective strategy for making the most of this latency period.

If the course you choose is closer to the course you originally chose, you do not have to lose a year. At the end of the first semester, you can ask your university to use a “passerelle”. This way, in the second semester, you will have completed another course. However, this practice is highly regulated. Only similar courses may complement each other.

Some schools, such as INSEEC, also offer staggered or reversed start dates, in February/March. After the first semester, you’ll still have the chance to change course, but this time you’re free to choose the course that suits you best.

Also known as the second start of the academic year, the February back-to-school period is an opportunity for you to change your course of study without taking a whole year off.

The February intake of the INSEEC Bachelor in Bac +1, or ” rentrée décalée”, is a “fast track”, accelerated and intensive course.

For entry to Bachelor 1, there is no specialisation; students follow an intensive course in a smaller class, which encourages even more personalised and individualised support.

The pace is intensive, with students attending classes from late February/early March to July, followed by a 5-week work placement from July to August. If the year is successfully completed, they enter the Bachelor 2 course in September of the following academic year.

The February intake of the INSEEC Bachelor in Bac +3, or “reverse intake”, is an opportunity for students with a Bac +2 who are reorienting or returning from a gap year. The course is also open to sandwich courses.

To enter Bachelor 3, students begin with several days of basic courses, followed by a period in a company. They then begin their training at the school.

For an initial course, students must complete and validate a 5-month work placement.

For all students, a professional practice dissertation will be due in January, followed by the defence and mid-term exams at the end of February.

In the meantime, you will have the opportunity to do work placements in companies. Once you’ve graduated, you’ll already have your first professional experience.

In the second year of the MSc programme, students can also start their studies at a later date. Students start their studies in March, alternating between school and work for 18 months.