This paper will analyse how parents from upper class backgrounds shape high status educational pathways for their children in contemporary France by focusing on processes of resource capitalisation and opportunity hoarding. It will show how parents adapt their modes of intervention from primary school to the first years of higher education. It will also compare and contrast the educational strategies of two upper-class groups, the ‘intellectuals’ and the ‘technocrats’, characterized by different volumes and types of economic, cultural and social capital. Methods/methodology The presentation will be based and will establish links between two research studies. The first focuses on parental choice of secondary schools and includes interviews with a large group of parents (n=137). The second focuses on the selection and socialization of students in four elite secondary students and four elite higher education institutions and is based on documentary analysis of institutional texts, on observations of activities and meetings in each institution, and on interviews with administrators, teachers, parents and a large number of students (n=280). Expected outcomes/results The interpretations will emphasize the importance of analysing parental strategies in relation to children and youngsters’ own perspectives and choices as well as in relation to the strategies of educational institutions.