There is a comparative analysis of decision-making in the situations of the university choices and studying programs for high school students and first-year university students. Samples of the empirical study were 59 high school students of 10 and 11 classes and 74 first-year students of St. Petersburg State University. The research methods were the author's questionnaire, which was proposed to estimate the decision about the education in university and the studying program, and a semi-structured psychological interview. The characteristics of the making-decision were close for first-year university students and high school students. However, high school students assessed the forthcoming decision as more difficult and rational but doubted about the correctness. The high school students' motivation factors were the interests, relatives and friends, the prestige of the university//profession, the possibility of "good earnings in the future." The motivation factors of first-year university students were the desi