The school is very small in student numbers: its core of students, who are called normaliens, are selected via either a competitive exam called a concours (baccalaureate + 2 years) a secondary selection process centred on the preparation of a research project (baccalaureate +2–4 years) and a PhD selection (since 2010). Preparation for the concours takes place in preparatory classes which last two years (see grandes écoles). Two hundred normaliens are thus recruited every year, half of them in the sciences and the same number in the humanities, and receive a monthly salary (around €1,350/month in 2018), and in exchange they sign a ten-year contract to work for the state. Although it is seldom applied in practice, this exclusivity clause is redeemable (often by the hiring firm).
