French emergency medicine (EM) has undergone rapid changes with the establishment of a diploma in emergency medicine (DES). We aimed to question medicine students on their knowledge of and apprehensions regarding this new DES. We conducted an email cross-sectional survey among second-cycle medical students before their choice of resident speciality. This included a demographic study and an evaluation of the willingness to choose emergency specialization. Two thousand and three fully completed questionnaires were analysed. Twenty-six per cent of the students (n=524) planned to choose emergency specialization and 54% of the students (n=1084) knew that emergency specialization would be proposed as a full speciality. Seventy-six per cent of students considered it tough to practice as an entire career. This study clearly shows that EM represents an attractive option for medical students. The establishment of DES represents a major step in the improvement of EM.