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French Polynesia is a particularly centralized territory, where the education system faces many difficulties, and where the job market offers limited professional opportunities. What are the educational and professional aspirations of young people in this context? Using data from a quantitative survey conducted in 2019 among all middle school students in Polynesia, this article looks particularly at the likelihood these young people would consider pursuing a degree in higher education. The article questions the “specificity” of these young Polynesians and shows that if their aspirations appear to be lower than in mainland France, these differences can be explained more by the students’ individual profiles (gender, social background, and educational trajectories) than by the context of the Polynesian archipelago.