These schools consisted of a regular course (four years) and advanced course (three years), totaling seven years of higher school (Gakushuin consisted of eight years because of merging of five years of middle school, which was equivalent to the regular course), and once enrolled in the regular course a spot at an imperial university was guaranteed.
これらの学校は尋常科（4年制）、高等科（3年制）からなる7年制高等学校（学習院は尋常科にあたる中等科5年を併設した8年制）であり、一度尋常科に入学すれば帝国大学への進学が保証された。