The school has an annual intake of up to 400 young people aged 18 to 25, from "bac à bac +2" level - on 14 July 2008, for example, it had 224 students in total, including 55 women. The initial course lasts 18 weeks, followed by 6 months' specialist training (3.5 years for medical students) and 3 weeks complementary training in management. Students wear the rank badge of a "second maître maistrancier" (equivalent to quartermaster, 1st class), with the blue stripes bordered in red, and become second maîtres on graduation.