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This article focuses on three processes that differentiate the trajectories of law students enrolled at universities in Île-de-France. First, we present a quantitative analysis of the post-Baccalauréat orientation of students toward different courses in order to determine how the distribution of students at the threshold of higher education produces a social-scholastic polarization of the student population. We then cross-reference these results with observations of the first day of the new academic year on three Île-de-France courses. We demonstrate that this socio-scholastic polarization of students is anticipated by the teaching teams of the various courses, and that this results in an adaptation of the practices and discourse of these teachers according to their audience. Finally, by comparing the discourse at the beginning of the academic year with the student trajectories represented by an analysis of sequences, we highlight a “school effect” that appears in the variations in student trajectories between three universities in Île-de-France.