The present paper focuses on the preparatory courses for the French grandes écoles (CPGEs), which are selective higher education programmes that enable ‘good’ students to bypass mass higher education and study under ‘favourable’ conditions. These CPGEs, originally intended to educate the children of the social and cultural elite, are now accepting young people from more diverse social backgrounds. Our investigation of this ‘new’ student population is based on a survey (1000 students and 350 teachers) and on interviews conducted with students (82) and teaching staff (24). Our research leads us to conclude that under the pretext of democratisation and adaptation to the labour market, CPGEs recruiting these new students are, paradoxically, helping to maintain social stratification.