The aim of this study was to describe how retired nurses, educated in Uppsala, and students at Uppsala University's nursing program experience the importance of vocation in education and career choice. None of the participants had experienced vocation as a reason for choosing nursing as a career. The main reason was instead a desire to work with people. They also expressed that it was a profession like any other. The retired nurses said that the education was something of an up-bringing with religious elements. The current students felt that religion was not represented in education, except when nursing theories were studied.