There are some students who leave their studies. How can this be explained? Are present day high school students satisfied with their choice of school or the courses they have chosen? How did they decide what to study in upper secondary school? The main focus of this study is to examine the factors that influence the decision making of young people when it comes to choosing schools, their educational ambitions, and finally their focus on grades in Upper secondary school.     The study is based on the quantitative method, extracting its results through a poll conducted at an upper secondary school. The target audience of this poll was students that are completing their second year.  A statistical analysis of the results was carried out and the results were then presented by relevant diagrams. This is followed by a discussion of both the results and methods. The results indicate that a large number of the students are satisfied with their choice at upper secondary school. Additionally, students with parents that have obtained a university degree are more likely to strive for a university degree than those with parents without higher education (the ratio is 75 vs. 64%). This result was not unexpected since previous research in the same area show similar results.  That is to say, the educational background and the cultural capital of parents is a more significant driving factor for student ambition than ethnic background.  An interesting and rather unexpected result is that students within this sample, with immigrant backgrounds show greater academic ambitions compared to students whose parents were born in Sweden.Furthermore, the study aimed at capturing the pupil’s perception of their future and also what they perceived as important for them. The results reveal that the students had a fairly realistic view on their future and about 90% of the students thought that it is important to own a property and have a permanent job before they reach the age of 35.