Different programs for different careers
Paid programs after CPGE appeal to many students who want to combine academic excellence with an early professional status. Mostly accessible through competitive exams, they lead mainly to the civil service and the military, and from admission they come with a specific status, either military cadet or trainee civil servant. In both cases, students are paid throughout their studies, a point we will cover in a dedicated third part.
Beyond this special status, these programs award a degree recognized at master's level. In most cases, the same degree is also open to civilian students through a twin exam. There are exceptions, though. At the Écoles normales supérieures (ENS), civilian students are admitted only on application. Other programs are open only to trainee civil servants, such as the statistician-attaché program at ENSAI or the air traffic controller program at ENAC. Most military programs (Polytechnique, Saint-Cyr, École navale, École de l'air) are open only under military status, except for the military infrastructure engineers (IMI) at ENSAM and the armament studies and techniques engineers (IETA) at ENSTA Bretagne, which also have civilian tracks.
These programs usually come with a commitment to the civil service or the military for a total period, often eight years, from which the years spent at school are deducted. A normalien who goes straight on to a PhD started in the fourth year will therefore have only two years of actual commitment left to serve in the civil service at the end of their studies.
Access to these exams varies widely between CPGE tracks. The MP track offers the most opportunities, with access to 21 of the 23 paid post-CPGE exams, while other tracks are much more limited: the D1, ATS Génie Industriel and TB tracks offer a single paid option each, at ENS Rennes for the first two and at ENS Paris-Saclay for the third. The number of positions also varies significantly from one track to another.
The exam route can also shape the program itself. Except at ENS Ulm, where students can join any department whatever their exam, ENS Lyon and ENS Paris-Saclay usually assign departments according to the student's track, though students can ask for an exemption after admission to join another department.
The following table sums up this variety and the specific access routes, with the number of places open by track and by exam.
Nombre de places par formation
Several exams and routes of uneven level
The exams that lead to paid post-CPGE programs fall into several large exam boards, each with its own features and required level.
The ENS BEL board covers only the A/L track and mainly leads to the humanities departments of ENS Ulm and ENS Lyon: arts, history, philosophy, classics, geography, literature, human sciences and digital humanities. ENS Paris-Saclay has a single humanities department, devoted to English, and ENS Rennes does not recruit through this board.
The ENS BLSES board, for the BL track, leads to the economics and social science departments of ENS Ulm, Lyon and Paris-Saclay. It also leads to the trainee civil servant program for statistician-attachés at ENSAI and to other civilian programs (ENSAE, ENSAI). ENSG-Géomatique also recruits through this board
The ENS science boards cover the MP, MPI, PC, PSI, BCPST and TB exams for the science departments of ENS Ulm, Lyon, Paris-Saclay and Rennes, including biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, physics, earth sciences, civil engineering, mechanical engineering and electrical and digital engineering. These boards also lead to École polytechnique (MP, MPI, PC and PSI tracks). In PC, the board also leads to ESPCI, and in BCPST it gives civilian access to the Mines, the Ponts and the regional Centrales. In the TB track, ENS Paris-Saclay also uses the tests of the SCAV (Service des Concours Agro-Véto).
A few specific exams complete the picture, such as those of ENS Paris-Saclay for D2 (economics and management) and design, and of ENS Rennes for D1 (law and economics) and 2SEP (sport).
The ENS also recruit through shared exam boards :
The ECG track through the BCE board for ENS Paris-Saclay;
The PT track through the PT board for ENS Paris-Saclay and ENS Rennes;
The TSI track through the INP common exam for the same ENS;
The ATS Génie Industriel track through the ENSEA board for ENS Rennes.
École polytechnique uses the board it shares with the ENS for the MP, MPI, PC and PSI tracks. For the other tracks, it relies on the PT board (PT), the CentraleSupélec board (TSI) and the SCAV board (BCPST).
The military schools have their own tests but also recruit through the big boards: the CCINP board for Saint-Cyr and the École de l'air (MP, MPI, PC and PSI tracks), and the CentraleSupélec board for the École navale. Saint-Cyr also recruits in A/L through a specific exam and in ECG through the BCE.
Apart from Arts et Métiers, with its own exam in PT and the CentraleSupélec exam in PSI (IMI), and the Institut Agro Dijon through the BCPST Agro exam (IAE), the other civil service programs mostly use:
The INP common exam (MP, MPI, PC, PSI) for ENAC (civil service programs), ENGEES and ENSAI.
The Mines-Télécom common exam (MP, MPI, PC, PSI, PT) for ENSTA, the École de météorologie, ENSG-Géomatique, IMT Nord Europe, EIVP and ENTPE.
The Geology, Water and Environment exam (BCPST) for the École de météorologie, ENSG-Géomatique, ENGEES and ENTPE.
According to DAUR's analysis, the selectivity of these programs varies widely. Some, like the ENS or Polytechnique, are extremely demanding, while others offer more open access to the civil service.
The following table details these differences in selectivity by track.
Tableau des sélectivités
The military programs in detail:
École polytechnique: polytechnicien
Degree : engineering degree of École polytechnique and Diplôme de l'École polytechnique
Reporting to : Direction générale de l'armement (DGA)
Positions open in 2025: 419 (excluding the foreign non-military exam)
Length of the program : 4 years
Pay during studies : 516 €
Students admitted to École polytechnique become military cadets (aspirants) when they start, and hold military status throughout the first year, the year of human and military training (FHM). They are paid and count as trainee civil servants of the state. Recruitment is through very selective science exams open to preparatory class students (MP (Info and P&SI), MPI, PC, PSI, PT, TSI and BCPST tracks).
Admitted students commit, in principle, to serve the state for 10 years from their entry into the school. Most polytechniciens, however, give up this commitment at the end of their studies and repay the "pantoufle", the cost of their training, to join the private sector or international organizations.
The program lasts four years and leads to the engineering degree of École polytechnique, accredited by the Commission des titres d'ingénieur (CTI) and conferring a master's degree. It has four stages:
Human and military training (1st year): military training at La Courtine (Army) or specific instruction (Navy, Air Force, Gendarmerie, Commissariat), and a six-month internship as a group leader in an operational unit (Army, Navy, Air and Space Force, Gendarmerie or a state service);
Multidisciplinary scientific training (2nd year): a high-level common core in mathematics, physics, computer science, economics, etc., with courses in social sciences, history and philosophy of science.
Gradual specialization (3rd year): choice of a track (applied mathematics, mechanics, biology, economics, computer science, etc.) with a laboratory internship, research projects and advanced courses.
Complementary year (4th year): a specialization year at a partner grande école, a French or foreign university (MIT, Stanford, Cambridge…) or in a government administration;
this year is not required for the engineering degree, but it is for the Diplôme de l'École polytechnique.
Since the officer corps regularly have unfilled places, École polytechnique gives motivated students access to a wide range of military careers without restrictive selection:
Army officer corps (active or staff officers);
Navy officer corps, including specialized officers;
Air and Space Force officer corps (pilots, mechanics, base officers);
Gendarmerie officer corps;
Armed forces commissariat corps (joint logistics, finance and HR).
Depending on class rank at graduation, the program also leads to the 4 major technical corps of the state (category A+), which open the door to senior management in the French civil service. The forecasts for 2025 are:
Corps des Mines: reserved for the top 10 to 15 of the class, it leads to senior positions at the Inspection générale des finances, in industry, energy regulation or strategic public companies;
Corps des Ponts, Eaux et Forêts: about 30 places, with the last admitted student's rank fluctuating within the top half of the class. It trains senior managers for the ecological transition, regional planning and infrastructure management;
Corps de l'Armement: 27 places planned in 2025, focused on the Direction générale de l'armement (DGA), cybersecurity, dual-use research and the defense industry.
Corps des administrateurs de l'INSEE: leads to careers in official statistics, economic modeling, public policy evaluation or the management of central administrations.
ENSTA: armament studies and techniques engineer
Degree : engineering degree of ENSTA Bretagne
Reporting to : Direction générale de l'armement (DGA)
Positions open in 2025 : 44
Length of the program: 4 years
Pay during studies : 1,560€ / 1,560€ / 1,945 € / 2,117 €
Armament studies and techniques engineers (IETA) are trained at ENSTA Bretagne after passing a selective exam open mainly to students from science preparatory classes (MP, MPI, PC, PSI and PT). During their studies, students have military status and are paid from the day they start.
The three-year program combines advanced scientific and technical courses, training specific to the military environment and internships in operational units or at the Direction générale de l'armement (DGA).
After graduating, IETA engineers mainly join the DGA, where they hold a range of positions in the following areas:
Weapons program management: leading and monitoring projects to design and acquire military equipment.
Technical expertise and innovation: research and development of new military technologies in fields such as embedded systems, aeronautics, robotics and naval systems.
Testing and evaluation: organizing and supervising technical and operational tests of military equipment.
Operational and logistics support: keeping equipment operational and managing its technical upgrades.
The program leads to a demanding career in defense technology, with quick progression to significant technical and management responsibilities.
In addition, 1 or 2 IETA engineers a year join the Corps des ingénieurs de l'armement (IA) during their careers through an internal exam. It is one of the 4 major technical corps of the state, category A+ (with the Corps des Mines, the Corps des Ponts, Eaux et Forêts and the Corps des administrateurs de l'INSEE).
Arts et Métiers: military infrastructure engineer
Degree : engineering degree of ENSAM
Reporting to : Service d'infrastructure de la défense (SID)
Positions open in 2025 : 21
Length of the program: 4 years
Pay during studies : 1,560€ / 1,560€ / 1,945 € / 2,117 €
Military infrastructure engineers (IMI) are trained at Arts et Métiers (ENSAM) in partnership with the Ministry of the Armed Forces and the École nationale supérieure des ingénieurs de l'infrastructure militaire (ENSIM), which reports to the Service d'infrastructure de la défense (SID). Recruited through exams in the PSI and PT tracks, students join the IMI corps when they start and have military status and pay.
The program lasts four years and follows the regular Arts et Métiers engineering curriculum (on the Angers campus), with the Sustainable Construction Engineering and Management specialty as a requirement, plus modules specific to the military environment: the organization of the ministry, public law, real estate management, public project ownership, cybersecurity and infrastructure security.
IMI engineers are assigned to the Service d'infrastructure de la défense, which builds, maintains, renovates and manages the armed forces' real estate (air bases, barracks, naval ports, hospitals, etc.).
The main jobs after graduation are:
Project owner engineer: leading construction or renovation projects for military buildings;
Project manager or technical expert: monitoring works on site and managing safety and environmental standards;
Senior staff in central administration or headquarters: technical advice, strategic planning or management of complex projects.
An IMI's career alternates between operational postings in the field and responsibilities in central administration, with prospects of moving into command, expertise or management of major infrastructure.
ESM Saint-Cyr: Army officer
Degree : engineering degree of ESM Saint-Cyr (for students admitted in sciences) and Master in Social and Political Sciences (for students admitted in humanities and economics)
Reporting to : the Army
Positions open in 2025 : 160
Length of the program: 4 years
Pay during studies : 1,560€ / 1,560€ / 1,945 € / 2,117 €
Officer cadets at the École spéciale militaire (ESM) de Saint-Cyr have military status from admission, with the rank of aspirant, then second lieutenant at the end of their studies. They are paid throughout their training.
Recruitment is through an external exam, mainly open to students from science (MP, MPI, PC, PSI), economics (ECG) and humanities (A/L) preparatory classes. Admitted candidates commit to serve in the Army for at least 10 years.
The program lasts three years at Coëtquidan, at ESM Saint-Cyr in the Morbihan, followed by a year at an application school. It trains high-level military leaders able to command, decide and adapt to today's challenges, in France and on overseas operations.
It combines:
demanding military training: command in the field, tactical maneuvers, leading troops in difficult terrain, commando courses, shooting and combined-arms training;
multidisciplinary academic training, depending on the entry route, in either:
Engineering sciences (SDI), with 3 majors: mathematics and computer science, battlefield electronics or mechanics;
Social and political sciences (SSP), covering political science, international relations, law, history, etc.;
training periods in regiments, immersion in operational units and a pre-deployment course at the end of the program.
One semester can be spent abroad through international military partnerships.
At the end of their studies, students are commissioned as Army officers with the rank of second lieutenant and join the application school of their branch (infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineering, signals, intelligence, etc.) for further training before their first command.
Saint-Cyr officers hold operational command from the day they graduate. Their first postings are as leaders of a combat platoon of about thirty soldiers. Possible career paths include:
Commander of a company (120 to 150 soldiers) after a few years of service;
Head of office or planning officer at headquarters;
Defense attaché or liaison officer in diplomatic or multinational missions;
Staff officer on overseas operations (OPEX), in peacekeeping, stabilization or counterterrorism missions.
Officers can also specialize in specific fields: intelligence, cybersecurity, airborne operations, civil-military actions, etc.
École navale: Navy officer
Degree : engineering degree of the École navale
Reporting to : the Navy
Positions open in 2025 : 85
Length of the program: 3 years
Pay during studies : 1,560€ / 1,560€ / 1,945 €
Students at the École navale are admitted as officer cadets under military status from the start. They hold the rank of aspirant, are paid throughout their studies and commit to serve the state for at least 10 years from admission.
The main recruitment route is an external exam after science preparatory classes (MP, MPI, PC and PSI tracks). The program lasts three years at Lanvéoc-Poulmic, in the Brest roadstead. It prepares students to become naval officers: ship commanders, combat leaders, high-level technicians and managers of people and logistics.
The program rests on three pillars:
Military and maritime training: navigation, ship handling, safety at sea and nautical instruction, with embarked training on warships and submarines (in France and abroad), physical training and leadership instruction;
Scientific and technical training: applied mathematics, mechanics, electronics and embedded systems, plus courses on naval weapons, propulsion, cyberdefense and weapon systems, and operational English;
Human, legal and strategic training: maritime law and the law of armed conflict, military ethics, geopolitics, operational planning, human resources management, leadership and command.
At the end of their studies, students are commissioned as naval officers with the rank of enseigne de vaisseau de deuxième classe, then join application schools according to their field: navigation, energy, naval aviation, submarines, surface or anti-submarine warfare, etc.
They begin their careers on a combat ship, a submarine or in an operational center ashore. École navale officers are trained to command and make decisions at sea. First postings include:
Officer of the watch on the bridge or in the operations room;
Executive officer (second in command) on a Navy ship;
Head of safety, navigation or propulsion;
Pilot of a carrier-based helicopter or aircraft (for those who go on into naval aviation);
Specialist in weapon systems, electronic warfare or cyberdefense.
École de l'air et de l'espace: Air Force officer
Degree : engineering degree of the École de l'air et de l'espace
Reporting to : the Air and Space Force
Positions open in 2025 : 76
Length of the program: 5 years
Pay during studies : 1,560€ / 1,560€ / 1,945 € / 2,117 € / 2,353 €
Pilot cadets at the École de l'air et de l'espace (EAE), at air base 701 in Salon-de-Provence, are admitted as officer cadets under military status with the rank of aspirant. They are paid throughout their studies and commit to serve in the Air and Space Force for at least 10 years. Recruitment is through an external exam, mainly after science preparatory classes (MP, MPI, PC, PSI). The program lasts five years, including 3 years of engineering studies with a common curriculum built on these pillars:
Academic training: mathematics, physics, electronics, aerodynamics, embedded computing, navigation and mission systems, aviation English and NATO interoperable communication;
Military and aeronautical training: leadership instruction, weapons handling and physical training, with initial flight training on trainer aircraft (such as the Cirrus SR20, Grob 120 and Pilatus PC-21, depending on the phase), internships in squadrons, tactical navigation and NATO procedures;
Human and strategic training: military ethics, air law, the geopolitics of air power, preparation for decision-making in crisis or hostile environments, and operational leadership.
After these 3 years, the program continues with 2 years of training specific to piloting and navigation.
At the end of their studies at the EAE, students are commissioned as Air and Space Force officers with the rank of second lieutenant, then join the military flight schools (in Cognac, Avord, Orange or Dax) according to their specialty (fighter, transport, helicopter). Operational pilot training then continues for several years, until operational qualification in a combat squadron.
Depending on their track, pilot officers can serve as:
Fighter pilot: air superiority, ground support, nuclear deterrence and interception missions;
Transport pilot: air-to-air refueling, strategic and logistics transport, medical evacuation and overseas deployment;
Helicopter pilot: search and rescue, infiltration and special forces support.
Navigator;
Remote aircraft pilot.
École de l'air et de l'espace: air base officer
Degree : engineering degree of the École de l'air et de l'espace
Reporting to : the Air and Space Force
Positions open in 2025 : xx
Length of the program: 3 years
Pay during studies : 1,560€ / 1,560€ / 1,945 €
Air base officer cadets are admitted to the École de l'air et de l'espace (EAE) as aspirants under military status and are paid during their training. They commit to serve in the Air and Space Force for at least 10 years. Recruitment is through a specific external exam, separate from the pilots' exam, mainly open to students from science preparatory classes (MP, MPI, PC, PSI).
The three-year program trains future Air and Space Force officers specialized in management, logistics, cybersecurity, armament, protection and support of air bases. The engineering curriculum is the same for air officers and base officers, but after the 3 years of engineering studies, base officers do not go on to the two years of flight training.
Students are commissioned as second lieutenants at the end of their studies, then join an application school according to their specialty: infrastructure, information systems, logistics, protection and defense, etc. They are then posted to air bases, in units that support air operations or secure the facilities. Air base officers play a key role in running air bases and preparing air missions. They can serve as:
Air traffic control officer;
Air operations planning and command officer;
Intelligence officer;
Air commando paratrooper officer;
Ground-based air defense officer;
IT specialist officer;
Human resources officer;
Administration and finance officer;
Communications officer.
École de l'air et de l'espace: air mechanical officer
Degree : engineering degree of the École de l'air et de l'espace
Reporting to : the Air and Space Force
Positions open in 2025 : xx
Length of the program: 3 years
Pay during studies : 1,560€ / 1,560€ / 1,945 €
Future mechanical officers of the Air and Space Force join the École de l'air et de l'espace (EAE) with military status and the rank of aspirant from admission. They are paid throughout their studies and commit to serve the state for at least 10 years. Recruitment is through a specific external exam, mainly open to students from science preparatory classes (MP, MPI, PC, PSI).
The three-year program leads to the engineering degree of the École de l'air, accredited by the Commission des titres d'ingénieur (CTI). It focuses on aircraft maintenance, embedded systems engineering and high-level technical logistics. The engineering curriculum is the same for air officers and base officers, but after the 3 years of engineering studies, it can be followed by a technical application school.
They then join maintenance or technical support units on air bases, in aeronautics, armament, electronics or cybersecurity. Mechanical officers are responsible for the safety, availability and performance of aircraft systems. They can serve as:
Aircraft and weapons carrier mechanical officer;
Aeronautical engineer officer;
Cybersecurity specialist officer;
Information and communication systems specialist officer;
Air firefighting officer;
Logistics officer;
Air transit officer;
Armament specialist officer.
